10 bizarre folklores from Cornwall

In 1998, a team of Russian researchers from the Institute of Metahistory in Moscow claimed that they had discovered the lost city of Atlantis 100 miles off the coast of Land’s End. This drowned city lay on Little Sole Bank, a rise of land out in the Atlantic Ocean on the edge of the Celtic Shelf. The researchers at the institute had studied ancient texts, in which the Greek philosopher Plato claimed that Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules – today’s straits of Gibraltar. The team also considered the myths of the sunken land of Lyonesse, said to have stretched from Land’s End to the Isles of Scilly and been submerged in a mighty flood at the time of King Arthur.

Cornwall has a rich body of tales in which church bells are said to ring below the waters and for centuries Cornish fishermen have reported glimpsing spires and castles beneath the waves. The Isles of Scilly are thought to be the old Lyonesse mountain tops; the last time the land was exposed was during the last Ice Age around 20,000 years ago.

How to find it: 9 miles south-west of Penzance on A30

In 1595, a fleet of Spanish ships appeared and burnt the village of Mousehole to the ground. Only the Keigwin Arms, now a private house, survived. Near the quay is a stone called Merlin’s Rock, and the Spanish attack was regarded locally as the fulfilment of a prophecy by the wizard. An old saying of the district, is: ‘There shall land on the Rock of Merlin Those who shall burn Paul, Penzance and Newlyn.’

Merlin’s other prophecies have still to be fulfilled. He said, for instance, that: ‘When the Rame Head and Dodman meet, Man and woman will have cause to greet (cry).’ The two headlands remain 40 miles apart.

Mousehole is also famous for its celebrations on Tom Bawcock’s Eve, which take place on December 23. Tom Bawcock was a legendary fisherman and widower who lived in the village during a time of terrible famine several centuries ago. Old and with little to lose, Tom braved terrible storms with his faithful cat to bring back a mighty catch for the starving villagers. The celebrations of this heroic event include a lantern procession, followed by a supper of stargazey pie – a dish of potatoes, eggs and pilchards, their heads poking out of the top, gazing at the stars. All of Mousehole harbour is illuminated with lights installed for the celebrations.

How to find it: On minor roads off B3315, 3 miles S of Penzance