Cornish folklore
Encyclopedia
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. There is much traditional folklore in Cornwall, often tales of giants, mermaids, Bucca, piskies or the 'pobel vean' (little people.) These are still surprisingly popular today, with many events hosting a 'droll teller' to tell the stories: such myths and stories have found much publishing success, particularly in children's books. The fairy tale Jack the Giant Killer
Jack the Giant Killer
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a British fairy tale about a plucky lad who slays a number of giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterized by violence, gore, and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore and Welsh Bardic lore, but the source of "Jack the Giant Killer" is...
takes place in Cornwall.
Many early British legends associate King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
with Cornwall putting his birthplace at Tintagel
Tintagel
Tintagel is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is ....
, the court of his uncle King Mark of Cornwall
Mark of Cornwall
Mark of Cornwall was a king of Kernow in the early 6th century. He is most famous for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult, who engage in a secret affair.-The legend:Mark sent Tristan as his proxy to fetch his young bride, the Princess Iseult, from...
, father of Tristan & Iseult
Tristan
Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
the most famous Cornish lovers.
Overview
Cornwall shares its ancient cultural heritage with its 'Brythonic cousins' BrittanyBrittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, as well as Ireland
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
and parts of England such as neighbouring Devon. Many ancient tales of the Bards, whether the Arthurian Cycle, Tristan and Iseult
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
or the Mabinogion take place in the ancient kingdom of Cerniw
Dumnonia
Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brythonic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...
between Greater and Lesser Britains with a foot on either side of the 'British Sea'
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
Mor Brettanek/Mor Breizh.
Part of Cornish folklore is derived from tales of sea-faring pirate
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
s and smuggler
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
s who thrived in and around Cornwall from the early modern period through to the 19th century. Cornish pirates exploited both their knowledge of the Cornish coastline as well as its sheltered creeks and hidden anchorages. For many fishing villages, loot and contraband provided by pirates supported a strong and secretive underground economy
Underground economy
A black market or underground economy is a market in goods or services which operates outside the formal one supported by established state power. Typically the totality of such activity is referred to with the definite article as a complement to the official economies, by market for such goods and...
in Cornwall.
Legendary creature
Legendary creature
A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature.-Origin:Some mythical creatures have their origin in traditional mythology and have been believed to be real creatures, for example the dragon, the unicorn, and griffin...
s that appear in Cornish folklore include buccas, knockers and piskies
Pixie
Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
. Tales of these creatures are thought to have developed as supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
explanations for the frequent and deadly cave-in
Cave-in
A cave-in is a collapse of a geologic formation, mine or structure which typically occurs during mining or tunneling. Geologic structures prone to cave-ins include alvar, tsingy and other limestone formations, but can also include lava tubes and a variety of other subsurface rock formations.In...
s that occurred during 18th century Cornish tin mining, or else a creation of the oxygen-starved minds of exhausted miners who returned from the underground.
The knocker or bucca (Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
) is the Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
equivalent of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
leprechauns and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
brownies. About two feet tall and grizzled, but not misshapen, they live beneath the ground. Here they wear tiny versions of standard miner's garb and commit random mischief, such as stealing a miner's unattended tools and food - they were often cast a small offering
Votive offering
A votive deposit or votive offering is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural...
of food - usually the crust of a pasty to appease their malevolence.
Weather lore
"Mist from the hill / Brings water for the mill; / Mist from the sea /Brings fine weather for me." "Lundy plain, Sign of rain" (current in north Cornwall where Lundy Island is normally visible).
Enys Tregarthen
Nellie Sloggett of Padstow devoted much of her attention to Cornish folklore and legend. She collected and recorded many stories about the PiskeyPixie
Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
folk, fairies of Cornish myth and legend. She published most of her works in this category under her better-known pen-name of Enys Tregarthen
Enys Tregarthen
Nellie Sloggett was an author and folklorist who wrote under the names Enys Tregarthen and Nellie Cornwall.- Life and work :...
.
Books
- The Doll Who Came Alive (1973) ISBN 0-381-99683-2
- Pixie Folklore & Legends (reprinted 1995) ISBN 0-517-14903-6
- Padstow's Faery Folk (Paperback)
- North Cornwall Fairies and Legends (1906)
- The House of the Sleeping Winds and Other Stories (1911)
- The White Ring (1949)
North Cornwall
Dozmary PoolDozmary Pool
Dozmary Pool is a small lake on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK situated 16.9 km/10.5 mi from the sea. It lies about 15 km northeast of Bodmin and 2 km south of Bolventor: it originated in the post-glacial period. The outflow from the pool is into Colliford Lake...
is identified by some people with the lake in which, according to Arthurian
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
legend, Sir Bedivere
Bedivere
In Arthurian legend, Sir Bedivere is the Knight of the Round Table who returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. He serves as King Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with Sir Kay...
threw Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
to The Lady of the Lake. Another legend relating to the pool concerns Jan Tregeagle.
The Beast of Bodmin
Beast of Bodmin
The Beast of Bodmin, also known as The Beast of Bodmin Moor like The Beast of Exmoor, is a phantom wild cat purported to live in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom...
has been reported many times but never identified with certainty.
Doom Bar
Doom Bar
The Doom Bar is a bank of sand at the estuary of the River Camel where it meets the Celtic Sea on Cornwall's north coast. It represents a significant hazard to shipping, and there have been many ships wrecked there through the centuries...
According to legend, the Mermaid of Padstow created the Doom Bar as a dying curse, after being shot by a sailor. However, there are many different versions of the story and the precise details are unclear. Some versions start by stating that she used to guide ships up the estuary and others that she would visit and spy upon ships in harbour, yet more tell of how she used to sit upon a rock at Hawkers Cove. She then met a man, and one fell in love with the other. One version explains that she was love sick, and tried to lure him beneath the waves, however he escaped by shooting her. Another version suggested the man, Tristram Bird, fell in love with her and asked her to marry him, though she refused. In his rage he shot her. Another suggestion is that a fisherman, Tom Yeo, shot her because he thought she was a seal.
The ending of the legend is generally similar. With her dying breath, she leveled a curse at Padstow, or at the harbour itself, stating that the harbour will be desolate or unsafe. With that, a great storm came, wrecking many boats and creating the great sand bank known as the Doom Bar.
Penwith
Gulval
Gulval is a village in the former Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Penzance, Madron and Ludgvan in 1934, and like Heamoor, is now considered to be a suburb of Penzance...
parish lies the disused Ding Dong mine, reputedly one of the oldest in Cornwall. Popular local legend claims that Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.-Gospel references:...
, a tin trader, visited the mine and brought a young Jesus to address the miners, although there is no evidence to support this
At Zennor
Zennor
Zennor is a village and civil parish in Cornwall in England. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. It is located on the north coast, about north of Penzance. Alphabetically, the parish is the last in Britain—its name comes from the Cornish...
there is a legend of the Mermaid of Zennor and at Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...
, Tom Bawcock
Tom Bawcock
Tom Bawcock is a legendary character from the village of Mousehole, Cornwall. He appears to have been a local fisherman in the 16th century. According to the legend, one winter had been particularly stormy, meaning that none of the fishing boats had been able to leave the harbour...
is a legendary fisherman from the village who according to legend risked his life to go out and fish and managed to come back with enough fish to feed the village until the storm was over. All the fish was put into a big pie, and the pie called "Stargazy pie
Stargazy pie
Stargazy pie is a Cornish dish made of baked pilchards, along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust. Although there are a few variations with different fish being used, the unique feature of stargazy pie is fish heads protruding through the crust, so that they appear to be gazing...
".
The Merry Maidens stone circle at St Buryan
St Buryan
St Buryan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles west of Penzance along the B3283 towards Land's End...
: the local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. (Dans Maen translates as Stone Dance.) The pipers, two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle, are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. A more detailed story explains why the Pipers are so far from the Maidens - apparently the two pipers heard the church clock in St Buryan strike midnight, realised they were breaking the sabbath, and started to run up the hill away from the maidens who carried on dancing without accompaniment. These petrifaction
Petrifaction
In geology, petrifaction, petrification or silicification is the process by which organic material is converted into stone by impregnation with silica. It is a rare form of fossilization...
legends are often associated with stone circles, and is reflected in the folk names of some of the nearby sites, for example, the Tregeseal Dancing Stones
Tregeseal East stone circle
Tregeseal East is a heavily restored prehistoric stone circle around one mile northeast of the town of St Just in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The nineteen granite stones are also known as The Dancing Stones...
, the Nine Maidens of Boskednan
Boskednan stone circle
Boskednan stone circle is a partially restored prehistoric stone circle near Boskednan, around 4 miles northeast of the town of Penzance in Cornwall, United Kingdom...
, as well as the more distant Hurlers
The Hurlers (stone circles)
The Hurlers are a group of three stone circles in Cornwall, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor, and approximately four miles north of Liskeard at .-Location:The Hurlers are in the Caradon district north of Liskeard in the...
and Pipers on Bodmin Moor.
See also
- Peter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy TalesPeter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy TalesPeter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy Tales is a 1966 anthology of 34 fairy tales from Cornwall that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It was the first in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders....
- Culture of CornwallCulture of CornwallThe culture of Cornwall forms part of the culture of the United Kingdom, but has some distinct customs, traditions and peculiarities. Cornwall, a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county of England, a duchy, and a Celtic nation, has many strong local traditions...
- List of Cornish saints
- Jan TregeagleJan TregeagleThe historical Jan Tregeagle was a magistrate in the early 17th century, a steward under the Duchy of Cornwall, and was known for being particularly harsh; darker stories circulated as well, that he had murdered his wife or made a pact with the Devil...
- William Henry PaynterWilliam Henry PaynterWilliam Henry Paynter was a Cornish antiquary and folklorist who specialised in collecting witch-stories and folklore during the 1920s and 1930s - crucial years when witch beliefs were in decline in Cornwall...
- Matter of BritainMatter of BritainThe Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the body of literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and its legendary kings, particularly King Arthur...
- CorineusCorineusCorineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall.According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain , he led the descendants of the Trojans who fled with Antenor after the Trojan War and settled on the coasts...
- mythical founder of Cornwall - CormoranCormoranCormoran , also recorded as Cormilan, Cormelian, Gormillan, or Gourmaillon, was a legendary Cornish giant said to live in a cave on St Michael's Mount and terrorize the people of Penwith . He is best known as the first giant killed by Jack in the fairy tale "Jack the Giant Killer"...
- the Giant and his wife of St Michael's MountSt Michael's MountSt Michael's Mount is a tidal island located off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish and is united with the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water.... - Hunting of Twrch TrwythHunting of Twrch TrwythThe Hunting of Twrch Trwyth is described vividly in the early Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen.-Background:Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wife Goleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his...
- the Cornish Boar of Welsh legend - BlunderboreBlunderboreBlunderbore is a giant of Cornish and English folklore. A number of folk and fairy tales include a giant named Blunderbore, most notably "Jack the Giant Killer"...
- Cornish festivalsCornish festivalsThe cultural calendar of Cornwall is punctuated by numerous historic and community festivals and celebrations. In particular there are strong links between parishes and their patronal feast days...
- History of BrittanyHistory of BrittanyThe history of Brittany may refer to the entire history of the Armorican peninsula or only to the creation and development of a specifically Brythonic culture and state in the Early Middle Ages and the subsequent history of that state....
- the brother nation over the sea - Welsh MythologyWelsh mythologyWelsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
- King ArthurKing ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
& CelliwigCelliwigCelliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic, is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.-Literary references:... - Tristan and IseultTristan and IseultThe legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
- a Cornish love story - LyonesseLyonesseLyonesse is a country in Arthurian legend, particularly in the story of Tristan and Iseult. Said to border Cornwall, it is most notable as the home of the hero Tristan, whose father was king...
& YsYsYs , also spelled Is or Kêr-Is in Breton, and Ker-Ys in French , is a mythical city that was built on the coast of Brittany and later swallowed by the ocean...
- the Cornish & Breton Atlantis
Further reading
- Addicoat, Ian & Buswell, Geoff Mysteries of the Cornish Coast: legends, ghosts and extraordinary events from Cornwall's south-west peninsula. Tiverton: Halsgrove, 2003 ISBN 1841142557
- Baring-Gould, Sabine A Book of the West. II: Cornwall. London: Methuen, 1899
- Bottrell, William Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall. 3 vols. Penzance: printed for the author, 1870, 1873, 1880
- Couch, JonathanJonathan CouchJonathan Couch was a British naturalist, the only child of Richard and Philippa Couch, of a family long resident at Polperro, a small fishing village between Looe and Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall.-Biography:...
The History of Polperro. - Couch, Mabel Cornwall's Wonderland. London: J. M. Dent, 1914 (Contents: How Corineus fought the chief of the giants.--The giant of St. Michael's Mount.--The legend of the Tamar, the Tavy, and the Taw.--The strange story of Cherry Honey.--The fairies on the Gump.--The fairy ointment.--The exciting adventure of John Sturtridge.--The true story of Anne and the fairies.--Barker and the Buccas.--Lutey and the mermaid.--The wicked spectre.--The story of the lovers' cove.--The silver table.--Cruel Coppinger, the Dane.--Madge Figgy, the wrecker.--How Madge Figgy got her pig.--The story of Sir Tristram and La Belle Isoult.)
- Courtney, Margaret Ann Folklore and Legends of Cornwall. 1890
- Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. 1911
- Gary, Gemma Traditional Witchcraft: a Cornish Book of Ways. Troy Books, 2008
- Jenkin, A. K. Hamilton Cornwall and the Cornish: the story, religion and folk-lore of ’The Western Land’'. 1933
- Lach-Szyrma, W. S. "M. Sebillot's System as applied to Cornish Folk-lore". Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society. New Series, 1882, pp. 132-150.
- Matthews, John Hobson (1892) A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack, and Zennor, in the County of Cornwall; chapter: Legendary Lore. London: Elliot Stock (Reprinted: St Ives: St. Ives Trust and St. Ives Library, 2003)
- Paynter, William H. & Semmens, Jason The Cornish Witch-finder: The Witchery, Ghosts, Charms and Folklore of Cornwall. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 2008
- Semmens, Jason The Witch of the West: Or, The Strange and Wonderful History of Thomasine Blight. Plymouth, 2004.
- Semmens, Jason “A Case of Witchcraft in Camborne during the Late Seventeenth Century?” Old Cornwall 12, No. 3 (1998) pp. 3, 4.
- Semmens, Jason "The Usage of Witch-Bottles and Apotropaic Charms in Cornwall.” Old Cornwall 12, No. 6 (2000) pp. 25–30.
- Semmens, Jason "The Magus in Cornwall: An Unknown Chapter in the Life of Francis Barrett, F.R.C.” Old Cornwall 13, No. 1 (2003) pp. 18–21.
- Semmens, Jason "An Account of One Ann Jeffries: Notes on the Background to the Curious Case of the Maid of St. Teath.” Old Cornwall 13, No. 3 (2004) pp. 10–15.
- Semmens, Jason '“Whyler Pystry”: A Breviate of the Life and Folklore-Collecting Practices of William Henry Paynter (1901–1976) of Callington, Cornwall.” Folklore 116, No. 1 (2005) pp. 75–94.
- Semmens, Jason "A Cure from the Cunning.” Cornish World 42 (2005) pp. 62–67.
- Semmens, Jason “Old and a Trouble”: Notes on the Life of Granny Boswell.” Meyn Mamvro 57 (2005) pp. 20–22.
- Semmens, Jason "Tales of Cornish Witches.” Old Cornwall 13, No. 7 (2006) pp. 22–27.
- Semmens, Jason "Folk-magic in East Cornwall: A Nineteenth-century Conjuror’s Archive from North Tamerton.” Old Cornwall 13, No. 10 (2008) pp. 20–26.
- Semmens, Jason "On the Origin of ‘Peller.’” Old Cornwall 14, No. 1 (2009) pp. 43–50.