There is a lot of truth mingled with the old legends that tell of
the lost land of Lyonesse, a fertile and prosperous country that
once extended west from Cornwall as far as the Scillies. According to
those old traditions a vast number of villages and 140 churches were
overwhelmed on that day, over eight hundred years ago, when the angry
sea broke in and drowned fertile Lyonesse, and now, as an old rhyme
has it:
"_Beneath Land's End and Scilly rocks_
_Sunk lies a town that Ocean mocks._"
On that fatal day, November 11, 1099, a mighty storm raged all about our
coasts, but the gale was of unparalleled severity in the West. Those who
have seen a winter gale blowing across the sea that now flows above the
Lost Land will know that it is very easy to believe that those giant
angry waves could break down any poor construction of man's hand
intended to keep the wild waters in check.
For Lyonesse, they say, was stolen by the sea gradually. Here a bit and
there a bit would be submerged after some winter storm, until came this
grim November night, when the sea made a clean sweep of the country and
rushed, with stupendous speed, across the flat wooded lands until it was
brought to a halt by the massive cliffs of what is now the Land's End
peninsula.
There was a Trevilian, an ancestor of the old Cornish family of that
name, who only just escaped with his life from this deluge. He had
foreseen what was coming and had removed his farm stock and his family
from his Lyonesse estate, and was making one further journey to his
threatened home when the sea broke in upon it. Trevilian, mounted
on his fleetest horse, just beat the waves, and there is a cave near
Perranuthnoe which, they say, was the place of refuge to which the
sturdy horse managed to drag his master through the angry waters.
There used to be another memorial of this great inundation at Sennen
Cove, near the Land's End, where for centuries stood an ancient chapel
which it was said a Lord of Goonhilly erected as a thanksgiving for his
escape from the flood that drowned Lyonesse.
To-day all that is left of the lost land are the beautiful Scilly
Islands and the cluster of rocks between the Scillies and Land's End,
known as the Seven Stones. These rocks are probably the last genuine bit
of old Lyonesse, for their Cornish name is Lethowsow, which was what the
old Cornish called Lyonesse. Even now the local fishermen refer to the
Seven Stones as "The City," for tradition tells that there was situated
the principal town of the drowned land, and stories are told of how on
calm days ruined buildings may be discerned beneath the waters near
Lethowsow, and that in times past fishing-nets have brought up old
weathered domestic utensils from the sea bottom near at hand.
A lightship now marks the Seven Stones, and at low water on a rough day
the sight of the huge breakers dashing themselves into foam upon the
rocks is an awe-inspiring one.
The Scillies lie twenty-seven miles west of Land's End and are reached
by a regular service of steamers from Penzance. The journey across is
fascinating, and magnificent views of the rugged coast are to be
obtained.
And the Islands themselves provide a perfect place for a lazy holiday.
A winter climate they seldom know; flowers bloom right through the year,
and sea fishing and boating there are ideal. The Scillies consist of a
group of about forty granite islands, only a few of which are inhabited.
Many of the islets are joined together by bars of sand at low tide.
Though in the Scillies you may feel very far away from the great world,
quaint, fascinating Penzance, from which you start, is very near--in
time--from London. It is only six and a-half hours from Paddington,
although over 300 miles have to be traversed in the rail journey.
[Illustration: _The Seven Stones_]
[Illustration]