St Senara's Church, Cornwall

St Senara's Church, Zennor, Cornwall

Visited October 2019

The churchyard of St Senara's Church in Penwith, to the far west of Cornwall, was a lovely little spot to visit in mid October last year, after a night of rain but with the skies clearing to a clear blue autumn day. There are views from it both towards the sea, and over the moors to old tin mines, that quinessential Cornish view!

Inside the church is the 600 year old Zennor Mermaid, carved on a bench end. Surrounding the Norman church is a circular graveyard which has been enclosed, according to archaeologists, since the Bronze Age, which contains a number of Celtic crosses and other memorials. There's a lovely sundial on the south wall with memento mori of skulls and angels, but sadly the light was wrong to get a decent photo of it, and I missed the memorials inside, including one to 'a hen-pecked husband'. So I guess that's another visit to be made!

The Zennor Mermaid