by hilary jean gibson
Pen ink drawing on watercolour cp
h: 15 w: 124 d: 1 (cms).
One Sunday a mysterious, beautiful woman with long golden hair, came to hear Matthew Trewhella’s mesmerising voice as he sang in the Church of St Senara, Zennor. She came again and always sat at the back until one Sunday Matthew followed her. They were never seen again. Years later the mermaid appeared to fishermen friend’s of Matthew in Pendour Cove. She asked them to lift their anchor which was blocking the door to her underwater home where her husband and their children lived, next the fishermen saw Matthew with his Mer family swimming in the cove. But who was the mermaid, was it Matthew, who lured the woman as he sang? There is some truth to this myth, Matthew was a choir boy and lived in the Parish, but there is no record of his death. Did he drown, or commit suicide? Did he run away with a mysterious ‘foreigner’? The story blurs the symbolism of anchor, church and bible with siren, selkie and mermaid. The c.16th carved Medieaval Mermaid Seat can be seen in the Church to this day.
£225
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