Designated in 2010, it saw over 400 hours of fishing in 2018 and 360 tonnes of carbon is churned up by deepsea trawling on the small patch every year. There are alternative versions of the story but the overriding consensus is that after miraculously washing up on land she gave birth to her son and then spent her time converting people to Christinity in Ireland and Cornwall.

Senara may have been a Breton princess named Asenora, a devout Christian, who was married to a king named Goello. Another view is that the bench was carved because of the story being passed down by word of mouth through the generations, long before Bottrell took up his pen and recorded it. Much of his poetry centres on Cornish stories, such as ‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, which narrates a notorious murder in Bodmin in 1844. In some versions of the legend, the mermaid was spotted several years later by a fisherman who had weighed anchor off the coast. It’s a pretty neat encapsulation of why MPAs are a flawed concept, often subject to less than perfect execution.

For considering the age of the chair, one would have expected the tale, having being told in the local area for generations, would have been rounded off over the years in much the same way it has been by various storytellers and authors in the years after Bottrell's account brought the legend to a wider public. So yeah, I need to go have some Moomaid the next time I’m in Cornwall, and maybe I’ll even visit Zennor! Hundreds of years ago a very beautiful and richly attired lady attended service in Zennor Church occasionally—now and then she went to Morvah also; —her visits were by no means regular, —often long intervals would elapse between them. In the choir were some fine singers, but none finer than Mathy Trewhella, a handsome young man who sang a clear high tenor: his voice could be heard all over Zennor Churchtown when he wished. His stories were longer than similar versions published by others and reflected the way the old story tellers embellished the basic tales to increase the entertainment value.

A series that has resonated with me since I read the books when I started secondary school is the Ingo chronicles written by Helen Dunmore. It’s one of Cornwall’s most famous legends – the tale of a mermaid enticing a handsome Cornish lad to live with her beneath the ocean forever and ever. From his songs, the fishermen of Zennor knew when it was safe to put to sea, and when it was wise to anchor snug at home. It is aimed primarily at children, as it is their young minds who take most keenly to the existence of mermaids.This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. To begin with the mermaid is depicted in accordance with traditional folklore rather than Victorian fairy tales. and the watch, looking overboard, saw a mermaid with green eyes and tawny-gold hair swimming beside them.

Legend has it that many, many years ago a richly dressed and beautiful lady occasionally attended the church at Zennor. In one case Eleanor was engaged in the Hells Mouth a Cornish adaptation of Greek theatre by Nick Darke, based on the final play of Sophocles’ Oedipus Trilogy , The Thebans was staged by Kneehigh Theatre in the clay workings near St Austell in mid Cornwall. These activities fostered a keen interest in Cornish folklore which has extended into her adult life. Whatever form their legs may take, the folklore surrounding mermaids across the globe agrees on their ability to disguise themselves as human.

In the north wall is the Burma Star window, dedicated to armed forces who served in Burma during WWII.