'Driftwood by Starlight' in Cornwall: (3) Zennor and the Mermaid

Zennor, the road to St Senara's church

Those of you who have read the last couple of posts will know that on our recent visit to Cornwall we revisited some of the settings for the poems in my new poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight, published by The Seventh Quarry Press in Swansea, and available here at the UK price of £6.99.

The photo above shows me in Zennor, a village with many literary associations; writers from D.H. Lawrence to Helen Dunmore and Michael Morpurgo have written about this area. It features in one of my favourite poems, 'Zennor', by Anne Ridler (which I once requested successfully for BBC Poetry Please). It is also the setting for my poem, 'Zennor Voices', p.19 in Driftwood by Starlight.

 

  

The churchyard holds a number of interesting memorials. The one below is in memory of Dr William Borlase (1696-1772), Vicar of Zennor and well-known antiquarian.

 

This following photo shows a plaquel commemorating John Davey, one of the last fluent speakers of Cornish before plans were laid to breathe new life into the language in our own day.  

The slate sundial (1737), which adorns the south wall of the bell tower, bears the name of its maker, Paul Quick. Another local person to bear the surname 'Quick' was Henry Quick, also of Zennor, who was known for his poems.

And finally ... we come to the 'mermaid chair', linked to the local legend about a mortal man who fell in love with a mermaid. How does the story end?
 

Third Prize in Milestones Competition judged by Brian Patten

The Milestones Competition, organised by WriteOutLoud on behalf of the Milestone Society, was judged by Brian Patten. The results have just been announced, and I am delighted to say that my entry, 'Penwith Finger Stone' gained me Third Prize from a field of over 500 entries. Huge congratulations to my fellow poets who took First and Second Prize, and to the winner of the Under 16s section: their names are listed on the web and you can follow the 'results' link above.

My poem can be found here, together with bio-details etc.

Thank you to Brian Patten, Steve Pottinger, Greg Freeman and all who have been involved with the competition in one way or anther. Thank you, too, to Paul McGrane at The Poetry Society for this press release.

At Zennor Quoit in the 1980s

The milestone I wrote about stands in Penwith, near the coastal village of Zennor, with its 'mermaid chair' in the church and other notable features. The poem, 'Zennor', by Anne Ridler is discussed here, and is among my favourites.

Sadly I do not have a photo of the stone, so I am posting a few of my photos of this magnificent and rugged area between Land's End and St Ives in which it lies. 

At Zennor Church on a rather grey day, about 2001

The legendary Zennor Mermaid with her mirror

A plaque in Zennor Churchyard in recognition of John Davey, speaker of the Cornish language

1737 sundial, Zennor

July 2018 Update: For my own interest as much as anything, I thought I would add relevant sites as I encounter them...

• Guidepost, Morvah
• Finger Stones, Penwith

Immagine e Poesia: the 2017 Anthology of Poetry and Art Pairings can now be downloaded

Zennor mermaid chair (dating from 1400-1500) in St Senara's Church

One of the joys of poetry is the opportunity to experiment and create collaboratively either with other poets or with practitioners in another art form. For the last few years I have submitted a poem to the annual eBook produced by Immagine e Poesia, based in Italy. Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan and Caitlin's daughter, became Patron of the Immagine e Poesia movement in 2007.   

The annual eBook contains pairings of poems and visual art from across the globe. My poem in this year's anthology was written in response to an artwork entitled 'Voice of the Sea' by South Korean artist, Jongo Park. There have, of course, been many takes on the mermaid-meets-mortal story, but this Zennor mermaid was uppermost in my mind. Zennor is one of my favourite villages in Britain. It lies on the Cornish coast in West Penwith, between Land's End and St Ives. The village has many literary connections, including 'Zennor', a favourite poem of mine by Anne Ridler (which was once played at my request on BBC Poetry Please).

This year's anthology, containing contributions from visual and word artists from 35 countries, has been produced by Huguette Bertrand and Lidia Chiarelli.

You are invited to download a copy - here.

Just for Fun? (1): Cornish Pasty and Crisps?

The Zennor Mermaid
(as seen on Britain's Best Drives BBC4 last night)

You may like your pasty and chips, but have you tried the Cornish Pasty-flavoured crisps? Lusty Pirate crisp packets are adorned with literary legends such as King Arthur, the Giant of St Michael's Mount and the Zennor Mermaid!

On a serious note, you can read about the composer-poet, Ivor Gurney, and his travels around Zennor on Philip Lancaster's blog.