| Kernow: Land of Myths |
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Page 1 of 8 There are more myths about Cornwall than any other region in the world; is there any truth in the stories we like to tell? The poet Ted Hughes was once asked why he loved the southwest. He simply replied that on the moors and cliffs he found places that were ‘unexorcised.’  Home of the Knockers? Disused mine buildings at Bottallack. Picture by Kelly Hancock. I know what he means. Whilst researching my novel: Storm of the magi- A Cornish Fantasy I visited many of the places that are the homes of the myths and legends that would feature in the book. I did indeed find a haunted landscape; places rich in atmosphere, history and myth, and in order to fully appreciate the nature of the stories I visited the sites, not in summer but in the depths of winter, in the gloom of grey, smothering sea mists and in the teeth of ferocious Atlantic storms. That moor you see from the A30 that is so prettily carpeted in gauze and heather in the summer months can be a dark, foreboding place when you’ve lost your way in the mist and the ‘path’ you followed is petering into nothing and a dark winter’s night is rapidly descending. The sea that is an inviting azure calm in summer can be ferocious and unforgiving, so much so that, as any sailor or fisherman will tell you, at times it seems possessed of a malevolent nature. And to stand on the cliff tops of Botallack, on a cold winter’s eve listening to the wind whistling through the deserted mine workings and the Atlantic swell crashing onto the rocks below, is to believe that…perhaps… Ted Hughes had a point. |
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