Zennor

The village of Zennor lies above the high, rocky cliffs of the coast and the rugged, boulder-strewn, granite hills and moors. In this ancient community, where evidence has been found of Bronze Age settlers, the 12th century St Senara’s Parish Church is famous for a bench end that depicts a mermaid holding a comb and mirror and resembling the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The carving relates to a local legend according to which a mermaid lured a handsome chorister, the squire’s son Matthew Trewhella, to the sea, from which he never returned. Her name, it is said, was Morveren. An enchanting singer herself, on a warm summer’s evening it is said that their voices can be heard rising from beneath the waves.

On the left of the church doorway, is a memorial to John Davey, who died in 1898 stating that he was the last person to have any great knowledge of the native Cornish language, Kernewek. Behind the church is a stone where it is said that the Giant of Zennor would sit. He was not a typical Cornish giant as he was fond of people and liked their company. One day he patted a human on the head in a friendly way but inadvertently fractured the poor man’s skull. The giant was so full of remorse that he died of a broken heart soon afterwards.

For an insight into the history of Zennor and the surrounding area, the Wayside Folk Museum is the oldest private museum in Cornwall covering every aspect of the region’s past from 3,000 BC to the 1930’s. The museum houses a collection of over 5,000 items covering local mining and quarrying, agriculture, archaeology and domestic history. In the delightful grounds are two waterwheels from the mining industry and a collection of corn-grinding querns and stone tools dating as far back as 3,000 BC. The ‘people of Zennor’ exhibition details the lives of many who lived in the area, including DH Lawrence.

Though the village retains no trace of Lawrence’s presence today, you might invoke his memory in the Tinners Arms (built in 1271). It was at this pub that DH Lawrence spent many hours while living with his wife Frieda in the village during World War I. His enthusiasm for the village was gradually eroded by the hostility of the local constabulary and the residents, who were suspicious of a controversial writer living with a German wife so close to the coast. The couple spent a year and a half in Zennor and while here, under police surveillance, he wrote Women in Love.

Behind the Tinners Arms, next to the church, a fairly level path leads less than a mile northwest to the sea at Zennor Head, where there is some awe-inspiring cliff scenery above the sandy Pendour Cove (the fabled home of Zennor’s mermaid). In the opposite direction, just to the southeast of Zennor on the granite moorland, lies the Neolithic chamber tomb, Zennor Quoit. Thought to be some 4,500 years old, the tomb has a huge capstone that was once supported on five broad uprights, with two standing stones marking the entrance to the inner chamber. Another such ancient monument to be found in this area is Mulfra Quoit, 2 miles to the southeast of the village. The whole thing has partially collapsed, with the 5-ton capstone lying against the uprights at an angle.

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