Sennen
title: "Sennen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sennen", "villages-in-cornwall", "civil-parishes-in-cornwall", "beaches-of-penwith"] topic_path: "general/sennen" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| static_image_name | The Last Church of England - geograph.org.uk - 169354.jpg |
| static_image_caption | Sennen parish church |
| country | England |
| map_type | Cornwall |
| coordinates | |
| official_name | Sennen |
| cornish_name | Sen Senan |
| population | 889 |
| population_ref | (2021) |
| civil_parish | Sennen |
| unitary_england | Cornwall |
| lieutenancy_england | Cornwall |
| region | South West England |
| constituency_westminster | St Ives |
| post_town | Penzance |
| postcode_district | TR19 |
| postcode_area | TR |
| dial_code | 01736 |
| os_grid_reference | SW358256 |
| mapframe | yes |
| mapframe-zoom | 11 |
| mapframe-point | none |
| mapframe-wikidata | yes |
| :: |
| static_image_name = The Last Church of England - geograph.org.uk - 169354.jpg | static_image_caption = Sennen parish church | country = England | map_type = Cornwall | coordinates = | official_name = Sennen | cornish_name = Sen Senan | population = 889 | population_ref = (2021) | civil_parish = Sennen | unitary_england = Cornwall | lieutenancy_england = Cornwall | region = South West England | constituency_westminster = St Ives | post_town = Penzance | postcode_district = TR19 | postcode_area = TR | dial_code = 01736 | os_grid_reference = SW358256 | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 11 | mapframe-point = none | mapframe-wikidata = yes
Sennen () is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately 8 mi west-southwest of Penzance.
Sennen parish is bounded by the sea to the west and bordered by the parishes of St Just to the north, St Buryan to the east, St Levan to the south. The main settlements are Churchtown, Trevescan, Carn Towan, Sennen Cove and Land's End. The population was 889 at the 2021 census.
For the purposes of local government Sennen elects a parish council every four years. The main local authority is Cornwall Council.
Geography
Sennen parish is situated at the western tip of the Penwith peninsula and is exposed to prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic. Geologically, it is located on the Land's End Granite, one of the five major granite batholiths that make up the spine of Cornwall (see Geology of Cornwall). Consequently, the parish has a bare moorland-like character with very few trees and no woodland.
The parish consists of 2284 acre of land, 6 acre of water and 64 acre of foreshore. It includes the Longships, a group of rocky islets situated off Lands End.
The church town, Sennen, is the most westerly village in mainland England and is 315 mi west-southwest of London. Below the village is the harbour settlement of Sennen Cove.
Demographics
::data[format=table title="Census population of Sennen parish"]
| Census | Population | Female | Male | Households | Source | 2001 | 2011 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 829 | 424 | 405 | 361 | |||||
| 921 | 469 | 452 | 394 | |||||
| 889 | 448 | 441 | 386 | |||||
| :: |
Church
Main article: St. Sennen's Church, Sennen
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Sennen_Church_Yard_Celtic_Cross_-geograph.org.uk-_941234.jpg" caption="A Cornish cross in the cemetery"] ::
Sennen parish church is dedicated to St Sinninus but has also been dedicated to St John the Baptist. There has been a church here since at least the 15th century. A visit by members of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society on their annual excursion in August 1893 translated a Latin inscription on a stone at the base of the font as ″In the year of the Lord 1441 [2, 3, or 4], this Church was dedicated on [the festival of] the beheading of St John the Baptist″. The present church has a chancel and nave, a south aisle and a north transept. A wall-painting depicting two round embattled towers was uncovered during restoration in 1867. There is also a headless alabaster figure representing the Virgin Mary in the transept. The church has a three-stage battlemented tower housing a ring of three bells.
There are five Cornish crosses in the parish. One is at Escalls and another at Sennen Green. Trevilley cross is one of only two crosses with a crucifixus figure on a cross carved onto the stone (there is a cross on the other side of the head). A cross on the churchyard wall came from a site near the Giant's Stone. A fine cross in the cemetery adjoining the churchyard was found in use as a footbridge near Trevear and moved to the churchyard in 1878. About 1890 it was moved to its present position.
Folklore traditions
On the old Christmas Day in the 1830s (and before) the farmers of St Sennen assembled for the festivities. One of the dishes was a pie made from 24 blackbirds. At midnight the young men went out to see the 'cattle kneel' and on their return they threw rushes onto the fire. The number of crackles, or the particular form assumed, told the fortunes of those who threw them into the fire.
Local magical practices were also reported. In the late nineteenth century, Sennen girls performed traditional love divinations on Twelfth Night involving ivy leaves, rushes, and a turf fire. These rituals were believed to predict future marriages and deaths. Additionally, a folk magician named Dionysious Williams, who lived in nearby Mayon, was reputed to have used counter-magic to trap a thief using enchanted furze. Another tale describes a Sennen man rescuing his housekeeper from malevolent spirits inadvertently summoned from a spellbook.
Notable residents
- William John Hocking of the Royal Mint
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Sennen_-Whitesands_Beach-_Doug_Parry.jpg" caption="The beach at Sennen from Cove Road"] ::
Gallery
File:Longships Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 188226.jpg|The Longships lighthouse and neighbouring islets are in Sennen parish File:Sennen Bay.jpg|Whitesand Bay is in Sennen parish File:Last Methodist Chapel in England - geograph.org.uk - 169335.jpg|Sennen Methodist Chapel
References
References
- Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' {{ISBN. 978-0-319-23148-7
- "Cornwall Council interactive mapping".
- "Key Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
- "Key Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
- "Parish Profiles". Office for National Statistics.
- [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/Sennen/] GENUKI website; Sennen. Retrieved June 2010
- (1893–94). "The Annual Excursion. 4th August, 1893.". Report and Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society.
- Langdon, A. G. (1896) ''Old Cornish Crosses''. Truro: Joseph Pollard; pp. 39, 289-90, 92-93, 105 & 107-08
- Rundle, S. (1884) "Cornubiana". In ''Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society''. pp. 347-358 at 350.
- S. Young, ''Magicians, Red Heads and Small People: The Legends and Folklore of Sennen and Sennen Cove'' (Pwca Books, 2022), 65-70.
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