Saint Sennen

Sennen (Cornish: Sen Senan) is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) 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. 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 2,284 acres (9 km2) of land, 6 acres (24,000 m2) of water and 64 acres (260,000 m2) 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 miles (507 km) west-southwest of London. Below the village is the harbour settlement of Sennen Cove. 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.