Introduction

Mermaids are the essence of any sea faring adventure. 

This can be seen in all kinds of media. From the pages 

of books to ballads, films and paintings. I grew up with

films like Jason and the Argonauts and in recent years 

the Peter Pan adaptions that have come to the screen.

The Mermaid of Zennor sounds like a title for such an 

adventure. It is a locally grown story in Cornwall. For

once this mermaid is seen in a positive light. She doesn’t

lure sailors to a water grave. Attracted to humans and

pulled by an inner force to visit the world of men.

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Location

Zennor is a fishing village on the Cornish coast near

St Ives Just 4 miles away, And yet it feels but feels

more like ten miles. 

Today we can easily access the village by car or bus

less than half n hr from Penzance along windy country

lanes. Two hundred years ago the Journey would have 

taken much longer on horse back or by carriage. And

if on foot the journey would have been less attractive.

Zennor’s location to the rest of England is remote even

by todays standards of travel. Although in holiday times

it may appear to be quite the opposite. 

 

When the original mermaid story was penned the sense

of being on the edge of the world and far from society

to the outsider visiting the area would have been like

visiting a foreign land. 

 

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Those working the land, going to sea or mining for tin

with the danger’s associated with these places and activities where challenges for all in the community both old and young male and female. For women especially they faced early deaths with the dangers of childbirth.  The spiritual and the supernatural world would be very evident and close by. Even one making incursions into the other as people faced the challenges of everyday life. It could literally be a fight for life, the sense of right and wrong, good and evil, dark and light, Angels and demons, witches, magic, fairy folk and the people of the sea would always be there and old beliefs butted up against the immovable teaching of the. If something went wrong the supernatural made sense, and some times superseded reason. It may be God’s will or it might be a dark force at work. Simla beliefs are still held by people today across every faith group. Good versus evil. In researching and thinking about how this story came about, what society and communities believed, I have had to reflect on my own faith and belief in the supernatural and that of colleagues and friends. Belief and faith shape us into the people we are and how that sits in a society that is calls itself secular. What is evident today people will label themselves has 'spiritual'. And unlike the middle ages it is a ‘stylish’ or in thing to be delving, playing or claiming to be pagan in some form.

So has a Christian approaching a six hundred year old folk story that mixes ‘Christian’ elements and belief in creatures from the supernatural world of what I would call myth has had a challenge for me. For me there is a clear line dividing my personal belief and that of those villagers. The edges of belief are blurred for them and boundaries easily crossed.

Out of the shadows of time I have attempted to re-interpret the story with a sympathetic ear. Taking a position that also allows me to inject my own experience into the centre of this story.