Zennor, Cornwall

Historical Description

Zennor, a parish in Cornwall, on the coast, 5 miles SW of St Ives, and 7 from Penzance station on the G.W.R., with a post office under St Ives; money order and telegraph office, St Ives. Acreage, 4360; population, 496. Gurnards Head promontory is on the coast, descends precipitously into deep water, consists of slaty felspar, hornblende, and greenstone, and seems to have been anciently fortified as a cliff castle. Zennor Cliffs extend nearly half a mile in the vicinity of Gurnards Head, are on the junction-line of slate and granite, and have a' romantic aspect. Several baylets, one of them called Porth Zennor Cove, alternate with small headlands. Stone is largely quarried and exported. Barrows, a kistvaen, a cromlech, and part of a Druidical circle are on the moors. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; net value, £170 with residence. The church, a granite building, was restored and partly rebuilt in 1890. There are Wesleyan chapels, and in the churchyard two ancient crosses. The parish has a council of seven members.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1592-3.

Churches

Church of England

St. Senara (parish church)

The church of St. Senara, probably erected in the 12th century, and enlarged during the 15th, when the tower was added, is a building of granite, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of six bays, aisles separated from the nave by arcades of six Perpendicular arches, small transept, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 3 bells, of which the treble is plain; the remaining two bear invocations to St. John and the Blessed Virgin: there are two good oak bench ends, now forming the sides of the sedilia, one of which is carved with the figure of a mermaid: the font is of the Decorated period: the east window and the window west of the porch are Early English: the church was restored in 1890, at a cost of £1,538, and affords 200 sittings.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Zennor from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Zennor (St. Sennar))

Maps

Online maps of Zennor are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:

• Royal Cornwall Gazette
• Cornishman
• West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
• Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.