The Mermaid of Zennor

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Mermaids and mermen were often portrayed in carvings and paintings in Cornish churches, but this is one of the very few which have survived. This is a three-week Writing Root for The Mermaid of Zennor by Charles Causley in which children begin by exploring the story and language of the book before making predictions and creating some letters to characters in the story. Others say that while she was out on the ocean a-fishing of a Sunday morning, the anchor was dropped on the trap-door which gave access to her submarine abode. However, over the years the rivermouth has become so choked up with drifting sand as to be more or less useless to anything but small craft. If you go down to the village of Zennor, and take a walk to the church, you’ll find something interesting.

The small village of Zennor huddles around the medieval churc hbetween the West Cornwall moors and North Cornish coast not far from St Ives. Brenda Wootton’s song ‘Mermaid’ is inspired by the Zennor legend, and its melody, which rises and falls much like the waves, gives the tale an ethereal beauty of its own. In the past it had been deep enough for even the largest of vessels under the care of a 'merry maid' (mermaid). As the weeks went on, she grew bolder and even dared to attend the church itself to listen, appearing in the disguise of a well-dressed noblewoman.We met just over two months ago on a dating site, but because of coronavirus restrictions, we weren’t able to meet for two months. So I have to say, I had a lovely time in Cornwall and, if I do move in with my girlfriend, I’m really looking forward to being so close to the sea.

He would sing soft and high if the day was to be fair, deep and low if Llyr was going to make the seas rough. Sailors are always very respectful to mermaids, who have powers to cause shipwrecks and disaster, and often use them if they are annoyed. The general consensus is that it was first written down in 1873 by William Bottrell who was a keen collector of Cornish folklore. Charles Causley (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a celebrated Cornish poet who was born and died in Launceston.Despite this, the figure of a mermaid is often associated with Christianity in Cornwall, as the dual nature of woman and fish mirrors the dual nature of Christ as both human and divine. As the story begins: ‘On the rugged Cornish coast, where the land meets the sea, lies the village of Zennor. Every night at evensong the mermaid would come to hear him until one night as Mathew sang a particularly lovely verse Morveren let out a tiny sigh. According to the tale she was forced into a barrel as punishment which was then nailed shut and cast into the ocean. This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States.

The fisherman initially dismissed the encounter as a bad omen, but, as written in Bottrell’s telling of the story ‘When Zennor folks learnt that a mermaid dwelt near Pen-dower, and what she had told the captain, they concluded it was this sea-lady who had visited their church, and enticed Trewella to her abode. Legend has it that many, many years ago a richly dressed and beautiful lady occasionally attended the church at Zennor.

So it’s kind of like a pie that you can carry around like a sandwich, and any Cornish person will tell you, any person from Cornwall will tell you, that you really have to go to Cornwall to get the best Cornish pasties, even though they are sold throughout the country. In a land of piskies and druids, a mermaid represents a definitively Cornish monster, taking one back for old times’ sake. I don’t post very official stuff there, I just post selfies, uh, pictures from my everyday life and travels and so on, so you might like to go over there and follow me.

Medieval wall paintings of mermaids can still be seen in other Cornish churches, such as Altarnun and Breage. Every week she would leave the depths of the sea to listen to the lad, who finally fell for her scaly ways with a mermaidy flick of her tail and an equally alluring song.The rest of Zennor knew her as “that one woman who’s been coming for years but never looks any older” (red flag no. She was seen by medieval Christians as a symbol of lust and a warning against the sins of the flesh. One of these local men was Mathew Trewella, a handsome young fellow with the best singing voice in the village. At first, she listened only from the rocks at Pendour Cove, a small inlet of land along the rugged coastline barely a stone’s throw from the village. I think being by the sea brings me a huge amount of peace, so it’s a lovely place and I’m going to put some pictures of my trip at EasyStoriesInEnglish.