Where is Pelynt now? Statistics and heritage

Agricultural
Pelynt Parish has a working agricultural open and pastoral landscape. Typical of medieval farmland it is characterised by a pattern of fields enclosed by low irregular Cornish hedges with sparse tree cover around farms and small hamlets. Most of the higher rolling land is agricultural grades 2 and 3* whilst river valleys have extensive woodlands, much of the east being Ancient. East of the B3359 which runs through the heart of the parish is the Looe and Seaton Valley area of great landscape value.

Heritage
This landscape has many heritage features including prehistoric and mediaeval settlement and field patterns. There are listed buildings of historic interest and the important scheduled ancient monuments of the Hall Rings Hillfort, Bronze age ‘Mountain Barrows,’ Bake Rings and two other Iron Age hillforts. Much of the agricultural land has limited biodiversity value but the extensive areas of Cornish hedges and hedgerows with the stream and river valleys provide important wildlife resources and corridors. Many of the wooded valleys are formally declared Cornwall Wildlife Sites.

Demographics
The 2021 census recorded a parish population of 1427 people. The population was fairly stable from 2001 to 2011 but grew by 6.3% from 2011 to 2020 with the profile being characterised by older age groups. From 2001 to 2020 the working age range population fell from 52.6% to 41.6%. The proportion of people of retirement age and beyond grew from 33.2% to 43.7%. In 2011 22.9% of households were single people of 65 and over, England 12.4% and Cornwall 14.8%. The proportion of households where all the occupants were 65 or over was 21.3% (England 8.1%, Cornwall 10.8%). In 2011 7.8% reported bad or very bad health which compares badly to England (5.5%) and Cornwall (6.3%). 12.8% said that their day-to-day activities were greatly limited by ill health (England 8.3% and Cornwall 10%). Given the continued ‘ageing’ of the population from 2011 to 2020 these data have probably increased proportionally. This has significant implications for the future in terms of health and well-being with the risk that the needs of younger people will be obscured by the burgeoning needs of the old.

Deprivation
At 2011 Pelynt Parish was more deprived than the average for Cornwall, the South West and England. The data suggest that the depth of deprivation at that time was not severe. In the 2019 Indexes of Multiple Deprivation Pelynt Parish was deprived in 7 of the 9 indices of deprivation but there was a small improvement in the health and disability domain. The barriers to housing and services for all ages appear to remain a serious concern.

Income and wealth
The low proportion in senior roles may be seen as an indicator of lower wealth and worse ‘life chances’ amongst the community but may be counteracted by the presence of more retired people. Many may enjoy higher levels of unearned income (e.g. private pensions, share income) and may be part of the greater proportion of self-employed people. There may be a core of younger adults on lower incomes whose needs must be considered.

Traditional values and education
Data on marriage, ethnicity national identity, religion and belief suggests that traditional values will be shared within the community.
Compared to England and Cornwall a smaller proportion had higher level qualifications with a larger proportion have lower or no qualifications. Most local people held skilled trades and elementary occupations but there is a high proportion in managerial/director occupations, possibly reflecting the level of self-employed people and business owners living in the Parish.