MysteryFamous
The Zennor Mermaid
She sang in church for years. Then she took the singer home.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Granite church with carved mermaid bench-end
- Legend from
- Bottrell, 1873
- Tone
- Eerie
The best singer in the parish followed a stranger home from church. He never came back.
In Zennor church a carved bench-end shows a mermaid. William Bottrell, in 1873, recorded the story the villagers told about it. For many years a beautiful, richly dressed lady came now and then to services and outsang everyone, yet never seemed to grow older. She took a liking to Mathey Trewella, the parish's best singer. He followed her home and was never seen again. Then one Sunday a ship anchored off Pendower Cove, and a mermaid rose beside it and asked the captain to lift his anchor, which was resting on the door of her home. The villagers knew then who their visitor had been.