Zennor Head is a 750-metre (2,460 ft) long promontory on the Cornish coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, between Pendour Cove and Porthzennor Cove. Facing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, it lies 1 kilometre north-west of the village of

Zennor Zennor is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. Zennor lies on the north coast, about north of Penzance,Ordnance Survey ...

and 1.6 kilometres east of the next promontory, Gurnard's Head. The

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 under ...

(

Killas Killas is a Cornish language, Cornish mining term for metamorphic rock stratum, strata of sedimentary origin which were altered by heat from the intruded granites in the English counties of Devon and Cornwall. The term is used in both counties. ...

) cliffs rise over from the sea and the highest point of the headland is above sea level, with an

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

triangulation station A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

. Zennor Head is on the South West Coast Path, which follows the cliff edge closely, skirting the entire perimeter of the headland. The promontory is part of 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 local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after ...

Heritage Coast, and is the largest coastal feature in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

that begins with the letter "Z". It gets its name from a local saint, Senara. Zennor Head was mined for copper and tin in the

Victorian Era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. There is no longer any residential or commercial occupancy on the headland, but it is occupied by a variety of coastal animals and plants, such as kestrels and gorse.

Etymology

The name "Zennor Head" originates from the name of a local saint, Senara. According to local legend, Senara was thrown off a headland in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

in a barrel after being falsely accused of adultery by her husband and washed up on the Cornish coast, founding Zennor and giving her name to the eponymous village (and subsequently Zennor Head, Zennor Quoit and Porthzennor Cove), before continuing to Ireland. The "s" changed to a "z", an occurrence common in the West Country but rare elsewhere, and as such is the largest coastal feature in the United Kingdom to begin with the letter "Z".

History

The headland is bordered by Cornish granite hedges, and the farming system dates from about 4000 BC, the time of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

in Cornwall. The surrounding area and village of Zennor has been continually occupied for over 4,000 years. Zennor Head was mined extensively for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

in the 19th century, and drainage

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...

s remain visible on the eastern side. The promontory was donated to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in December 1953. The Southwest Coast Path was created in 1978, and runs along the top of Zennor Head as part of its ,Zennor Head Walk – National Trust
retrieved 30 October 2012 following the edge of the cliffs closely. ''

Zennor in Darkness ''Zennor in Darkness'', was the debut novel from English author Helen Dunmore, published in 1993. It won the 1994 McKitterick Prize which is awarded for debut novels for writers over 40. Until that point, Dunmore was primarily a poet though she ...

'', the 1994 McKitterick Prize-winning novel by

Helen Dunmore Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer. Her best known works include the novels ''Zennor in Darkness'', '' A Spell of Winter'' and '' The Siege'', and her last ...

, was partly set around Zennor Head. In 2009 the headland suffered flooding which affected the cliff-top footpath. The promontory has been designated as part of the

Heritage Coast.

Geography and geology

Zennor Head is located on the north coast of Cornwall, England, facing the Atlantic Ocean. A headland extending some , it is surrounded by steep cliffs plunging into the sea below. It is west of the town of St Ives, and north-east of the town of Penzance. The nearest human settlement is the village of Zennor, and the headland is flanked by two coves, Pendour and Porthzennor. The nearest headland is Gurnard's Head, 1.6 kilometres to the west.''The Z to Z of Great Britain''
Dixie Wills, Icon Books, 2005, , Access is from the South West Coast Path, or the

B3306 road The B3306, also known as the West Cornwall Coast Road, is a major road of southwestern Cornwall. It connects St Ives in the east to St Just in the west, and eventually joins the A30 road to the northeast of Sennen in the southwest of the Penwi ...

(West Cornwall coast road). There is a deep inlet known as Horseback Zawn on the western side, where seabirds nest. The headland is topped by an

Trig Point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

".Ordnance Survey Landranger Map 203, Land's End & Isles of Scilly, 2002, The Killas strata, which is exposed over the majority of Zennor Head, is a

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

formation laid down in the Devonian period, between approximately 415 and 375 million years ago ( myr). Zennor Head is on the surface boundary of the so-called "Land's End Granite", part of the

Cornubian batholith The Cornubian batholith is a large mass of granite rock, formed about 280 million years ago, which lies beneath much of Devon and Cornwall, the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. The main exposed masses of granite are seen at Dartmoor, Bo ...

which dates from 279 to 274 myr. However, the intrusion of the granite into the Killas strata altered it metamorphically into a shale-type rock.

Fauna and Flora

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax -Penwith -Cornwall -flying-8b

Zennor Head is home to a variety of wildlife, including the Cornish chough (''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax'').

Grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

s (''Halichoerus grypus'') have been sighted off the coast. Many seabirds nest on the cliffs, especially around Horseback Zawn, including herring gulls (''Larus argentatus'') and

fulmars The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on ...

(''Fulmarus glacialis''). Kestrels (''Falco tinnunculus'') hunt inland of the shoreline. The headland is primarily covered with grass, as well as heather (''Calluna vulgaris''), bracken (''

Pteridium aquilinum ''Pteridium aquilinum'' (bracken, brake or common bracken), also known as eagle fern, is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres. Originally native to Eurasia and North America, the extreme lightness o ...

''), thyme ('' Thymus polytrichus'') and western gorse (''

Ulex gallii ''Ulex gallii'', the western gorse or dwarf furzeA R Clapham, T G Tutin, E F Warburg, ''Flora of the British Isles'', Cambridge, 1962, p. 332 is an evergreen shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to the Atlantic coasts of western Europe: sou ...

''). In 1962, specimens of the comparatively rare western clover ('' Trifolium occidentale'') were found on Zennor Head. The lichen ''Dirina massiliensis'' has also been found high on the acid

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

cliffs on the north-, seaward-side of the headland. The parasitic plant dodder (''

Cuscuta epithymum ''Cuscuta epithymum'' (dodder, lesser dodder, hellweed, strangle-tare) is a parasitic plant assigned to the family Cuscutaceae or Convolvulaceae, depending on the taxonomy. It is red-pigmented, not being photosynthetically active. It has a fi ...

'') is found growing on gorse. There are also typical coastal flowering plants such as kidney vetch (''

Anthyllis vulneraria ''Anthyllis vulneraria'', the common kidneyvetch, kidney vetch or woundwort is a medicinal plant native to Europe. The name ''vulneraria'' means "wound healer". Description ''Anthyllis vulneraria'' reaches of height. The stem is simple or more ...

''), sea campion ('' Silene uniflora''), and thrift (''

Armeria maritima ''Armeria maritima'', the thrift, sea thrift or sea pink, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is a compact evergreen perennial which grows in low clumps and sends up long stems that support globes of bright pink flow ...

'').

Gallery

Perched rock, Zennor Head - geograph.org.uk - 78399.jpg, Perched rock at the foot of Zennor Head Common-Kestrel-4.jpg, Common kestrel Zennor Head - geograph.org.uk - 912882.jpg, Eastern flank Zawciag nadmorski Ameria maritima maritima.jpg, Thrift, a coastal plant Trewey_farm_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1483707.jpg, Zennor Head from inland Foka szara mateusz wlodarczyk.jpg, Grey seal Horseback Zawn, seaward end - geograph.org.uk - 1459372.jpg, Horseback Zawn

References

{{good article Headlands of Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Zennor