The far west of Britain abounds with old legends of giants and piskies. There are superstitions, whose origins are lost in the mists of time, and many of the small coves around the coast have their own guardian spirits. One of these is the Whooper of Sennen Cove, not far from Land’s End.
Sometimes, on a beautiful day when the skies were a lovely clear blue, a strange, thick mist would gather over the cove. From this mist came a strange whooping sound. It was said that the Whooper could predict storms and had a marvellous ability to prevent fisherman venturing out whenever a storm was impending. However, on one occasion two intrepid fishermen managed to make their way out to sea by beating their way through the mist. Neither they nor the Whooper were ever seen again.
On a clear moonlit night, long ago in the mists of time, a sailing ship appeared close to the coast between Land’s End and Penzance. It came closer and closer to the coast, until watching villagers believed it was sure to crash into the rocks. But no! The ship continued to sail over the land until it finally faded from view close to Porthcurno.
Perhaps that ship had sailed from the lost land Lyonesse, believed to lie somewhere beneath the waters and once stretched from the Isles of Scilly to the Cornish shores. When this lovely land was suddenly flooded almost a thousand years ago, only one man, Trevilian, escaped on his white horse. The arms of that family show a horse rising from the sea.
