Pendour Cove is a beach in Cornwall

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...

, UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It is about 1 mile northwest of the village of 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...

, and immediately to the west of Zennor Head.

The name originates from the 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...

 'pen' (end, head) and 'dour' (water)

Mermaid legend

A local legend 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

Mermaid

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...

 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 lttle 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, howwver, 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

Brenda Wootton was a Cornish poetess and folk singer and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far away as Australia and Canada....

.

History

At the parish church of St. Senara, visitors to Zennor may see a carved bench-end, over 600 years old, showing an image of the legendary mermaid.

British abstract sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth

Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...

, who lived in Cornwall, produced Pendour between 1947 and 1948. It is now in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.