Sennen Cove ( kw, Porthsenen) () is a small coastal village in the parish of

Sennen Sennen (''Cornish: Sen Senan'' or ''Sen Senana'') is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...

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, United Kingdom. According to the

Penwith Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. ...

District Council, the population of this settlement was estimated at 180 persons in 2000. The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

passes through Sennen Cove.

Geography

The village of Sennen Cove overlooks the southern end of

Whitesand Bay Whitesand Bay ( kw, Porth Senan, meaning ''cove at Sennen'') is a wide sandy bay near Land's End in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It stretches for one mile between the headlands of Pedn-mên-du and Aire Point. and contains the villa ...

. There is not a cove in the usual geological sense. The village (as distinct from Sennen Churchtown), is on a spur road which joins the A30 trunk road about two miles (3 km) from

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

. Thus it is the first village from Land's End along the north coast. The road descends gently for about 300 yards and then steeply for another 300 yards to the village which lies above the beach. The beach extends further north along Whitesand Bay. There are a few dozen houses built primarily of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and some of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

, arranged mainly in terraces, typical of many of the villages in Cornwall. Several submarine telecommunications cables reach land at Sennen Cove and are connected via landlines to the cable terminating equipment at

Skewjack Skewjack is the name of a plot of land in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated about 1.5 miles (2 km) east of Land's End on the B3315 road. It was the site of RAF Sennen, and is now the site of a Fibre-optic Link Around ...

together with others from

Porthcurno Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ec ...

Sea and seashore

Lifeboat

Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations for the sea around Land's End, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The first lifeboat was stationed at Sennen Cove in 1853. Since 20 ...

is a

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

base founded in 1853. It is run by volunteers and operates a all-weather

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

and an inshore lifeboat. They are manned by a crew of 24 people who ensure that the boats are operational and on call 24 hours a day, throughout the year. Next to the lifeboat station is the restored Roundhouse, now used as an art gallery and

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

shop, but originally used to house a

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...

for hauling boats up from the beach.

Surfing

Sennen Cove has become renowned for its surfing conditions and is highly regarded by local and non-local surfers alike. Sennen tends to be slightly more protected from winds and swell than Gwenver at the other end of Whitesand Bay. Sennen is good at most tides, except extreme high tide, but works best with a westerly swell and a light easterly wind. Surf gear can be hired at the beach, next to a car park and beach café.

Bilbo the canine lifeguard

The beach was home to Bilbo, the first ever UK canine lifeguard. The

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

first started working on the beach in 2005, but the dog was suspended from service on the beach when the lifeguards were taken over by the RNLI in early 2008 (see below), because Bilbo was not being allowed to walk on the sand (the beach is strictly dog free in the summer), and the new RNLI regulation that restricts the carrying of more than one person (or dog) on the beach's quad bike. During the three years he was in service (2005–2007), he raised many tourists' awareness of the dangers of swimming outside the designated zones controlled by the lifeguards, led by the 'Bilbo Says' campaign. Since the restriction of just 4 hours a week in 2008, there has been a public cry for Bilbo's reinstatement. A number of petitions have been posted online, and a paper petition has been created inside the Old Success Inn, Sennen Cove. Bilbo died in May 2015, and his death was noted in many national newspapers and news sources. In 2005, the popular children's book ''Shanti The Wandering Dog of Sennen & The Land's End'' was published, and tells the story of a collie dog who goes off on his lone wanderings around Sennen Cove, whilst his owner, an old man who spends his day looking out to sea from his hill-top house window, snoozes. The old man never knows that Shanti goes off alone around the cove. ''Alfie The MerCat of Sennen Cove'' is an illustrated story book by one of Cornwall's youngest published authors, Charlie Rose Elliott Peake. The story has a subtle sea-safety message and is about a ginger feral kitten named Alfie whose life is literally transformed by some mermaids who live in the bay.

Economy

The village is heavily dependent on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and is particularly popular with sea surfing enthusiasts. The main tourist season runs from spring until autumn, peaking in the school holidays in August. "The Old Boathouse", a surf shop called "Chapel Idne", and a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

are located here as well as various small cafes, ice cream stands, souvenir shops, and small private

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

, most of which are only open during the tourist season. The

passes through Sennen Cove, being about half an hour's walk from

. On 8 June 1881 the ''Faraday'' landed the eastern end of the trans-atlantic cable known as the "Direct American line". A temporary hut was erected about west of the Cowloe Rocks. immediately below the ″hevva″ station (seine fishery) and close to the road leading out of the cove. The western end of the cable was at Sable Island, off Canada. A small fishing fleet of seven is protected by a breakwater built in 1908. Mullet used to be an important catch in the bay with the fishery beginning at the end of January and continued towards the end of April. Sennen Cove was the most important seine fishery in Cornwall and, in

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

times, large schools were still entering the bay with as many as 12,000 caught at one time.

Seining Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be de ...

continued into the 20th century with 1200 stone caught on 3 March 1977. The area of cliffs known as "Pedn men du" in the cove is also popular with rock climbers, having non-tidal access.

Transport

First South West First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. First South West includes the Kernow, Truronian, Adventures by Bus and Buses of Somerset brands. Histor ...

runs bus services to Sennen Cove. Service A1 calls at Sennen Cove on the journey between

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

and

Lands End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

roughly every hour during the daytime. In summer, open top bus A3 calls into the cove on the trip between St Ives and

. Until their demise in 2006, Sennen Cove was a popular destination with enthusiasts of the

Bristol VR The Bristol VR was a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was manufactured by Bristol Commercial Vehicles as a competitor to the Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline. Development The Bristol VR was originally designed for s ...

bus due to the steep incline leaving the cove.

Music

Shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

indie-rock band from the UK,

Ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicent ...

titled a track in their 1990 album Nowhere after Sennen Cove, named 'Sennen'.

Art

The horizon at Sennen serves as the inspiration for a collection of 365 paintings entitled "Sennen: A Moment in Time" by renowned

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

ist Tony Davie.

References

External links

Gallery

File:Surfers in sea at Sennen.jpg, Surfers in sea at Sennen File:Surfer Coming from Sea Sennen Cornwall.jpg, Surfer Coming from Sea Sennen Cornwall File:Sennen Cove Beach 8.jpg, People enjoying at Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 3.jpg, The far end of Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 6.jpg, Sand at Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 2.jpg, Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 7.jpg, Waves at Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 1.jpg, Beautiful Scene at Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 4.jpg, Toddler at Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen Cove Beach 5.jpg, Sennen Cove Beach File:Sennen cove in monochrome.jpg, Sennen cove in monochrome {{authority control Villages in Cornwall Beaches of Penwith Surfing locations in Cornwall Populated coastal places in Cornwall Coves of Cornwall Sennen