The Mermaid of Zennor

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Along the Atlantic Coast of Cornwall, a few miles west of St Ives, sits the small village named “Zennor. Free parking along the one-way village access road is very limited; you might get lucky and find a space, or you might not! Hence if the villagers of Zennor had instructed a woodworker to carve them a mermaid to commemorate the tale, it is highly likely a mermaid in the classic pose with mirror and comb would have resulted anyway.

The Cornish coast is easily the most wrecked coast in all of the UK: an average of 24 for every mile of coast. And as any explorer of folklore will tell you, generally the more recent the version of the tale, the smoother the story runs. Today, the idea of sea creatures climbing onto land to do us harm is a tragic inversion of the incursions we make into the sea. It’s hard not to be captivated by your surroundings at Zennor, especially when the mystical feeling that abounds here is accentuated by Cornish folk tales and myths.Zennor folks tell the following story, which, according to them, accounts for a singular carving on a bench-end in their Church.

As the story begins: ‘On the rugged Cornish coast, where the land meets the sea, lies the village of Zennor. There was something in this person’s eyes, something that made the captain want to jump into the sea and never come back. When Senara became pregnant, the king’s mother falsely accused her of infidelity and the king cast her into the sea. Just like the mermaid reached into a safe human space, seal rock sits a literal stone’s throw from the ‘Lands End and Cape Bank’ Marine Protected Area (MPA). The captain tried to explain that Mathew looked quite happy with his life, but the people wouldn’t listen.It would be most interesting to discover if there was such a person, and indeed if he did disappear in mysterious circumstances. It is believed to have been constructed from old bench ends, and its ornate carved sides are believed to be around 600 years old.

From his songs, the fishermen of Zennor knew when it was safe to put to sea, and when it was wise to anchor snug at home. The mermaid had come to church every Sunday to hear the choir, and her own voice was so sweet that she enticed Mathey Trewella, son of the churchwarden, to come away with her; neither was seen again on dry land.All of our books are 100% brand new, unread and purchased directly from the publishers in bulk allowing us to pass the huge savings on to you! His old mother was heartbroken for a long time, but at least she had other grown children to comfort her. Charles Causley’s Cornish tale should be recommended for children above the age of four because it may help children to understand importance of imagination and how a place can be created into a story If fish could talk, maybe they’d have old stories about monsters that seduce their sons out of the water – monsters even more terrifying for infiltrating their sacred, protected space.