Pendour Cove from Trewey Cliff - geograph

Pendour Cove () is a beach in west

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK. It is about 1 mile northwest of the village of

Zennor Zennor is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen (Zennor), Treen. Zennor lies on the north coast, ...

, and immediately to the west of

Zennor Head Zennor Head is a 750-metre (2,460 ft) long promontory on the Cornwall, Cornish coast of England, between Pendour Cove and Porthzennor Cove. Facing the Atlantic Ocean, it lies 1 kilometre north-west of the village of Zennor and 1.6 kilometr ...

. The name originates from the Cornish 'pen' (end, head) and 'dour' (water)

Mermaid legend

A local legend the

Mermaid of Zennor The Mermaid of Zennor ( kw, An Vorvoren a Senar) is a popular Cornish folk tale that was first recorded by the Cornish folklorist William Bottrell in 1873. The legend has inspired works of poetry, literature and art. Synopsis Long ago, a bea ...

says that if you sit above Pendour Cove at sunset on a fine summer evening you might hear the singing of Matthew Trewella, of Zennor, who fell in love with a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

and followed her out to sea. According to the legend, Matthew Trewhella was a good-looking young man with a good voice. Each evening he would sing, in a solo, the closing hymn at the church in Zennor. A mermaid living in neighbouring Pendour Cove was enchanted by his singing. She dressed in a long dress to hide her long tail and walked, a little awkwardly, to the church. Initially, she just marvelled at Matthew's singing before slipping away to return to the sea. She came every day, and eventually became bolder, staying longer. It was on one of these visits that her gaze met Matthew's, and they fell in love. The mermaid knew, however, that she would have to go back to the sea or else she would die. As she prepared to leave, Matthew said "Please do not leave. Who are you? Where are you from?" The mermaid replied that she was a creature from the sea and that she had to return there. Matthew was so love-struck that he swore he would follow her wherever she went. Matthew carried her to the cove and followed her beneath the waves, never to be seen again. It is said that if one sits above Pendour Cove at sunset on a fine summer evening one may hear Matthew singing faintly on the breeze. The legend is the subject of the 1980 song "Mermaid" by Cornish folk singer

Brenda Wootton Brenda Wootton (née Ellery) (10 February 1928 – 11 March 1994) was a British folk singer and poet and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far as Australia and Canada. Early lif ...

History

At the parish church of

St. Senara Saint Senara is a legendary Cornish saint with links to the village of Zennor on the north coast of Cornwall , UK. The Church of Saint Senara, Zennor is dedicated to her; the village, nearby headland Zennor Head, and the neolithic tomb Zennor Q ...

, visitors to Zennor may see a carved pew-end, over 600 years old, showing an image of the legendary mermaid. British abstract sculptor Dame

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

, who lived in Cornwall, produced
Pendour
' between 1947 and 1948. It is now in the collection of the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

References

{{coord, 50.19495, N, 5.57845, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SW447389), display=title Beaches of Penwith Coves of Cornwall Zennor