Lyonesse Cornwall's Atlantis

There are tales the world over of lost civilisations, of cities swallowed up by the ocean. These stories range from the coast of India, through the Mediterranean and include the legendary city of Atlantis. Lyonesse is the Cornish equivalent of these lost cities, with the added intrigue of links to Arthurian legends.

Cornish stories tell of a land lying off the coast of the county, between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles. This Cornish Atlantis was known as Lethowstow rather than Lyonesse. Lyonesse was actually an English interpretation of the French, Lonois, which related to the Latinised name for Lothian in Scotland. It wasn’t until the reign of Elizabeth I that the name Lyonesse was linked with Cornwall.
Arthurian legends stated that Lyonesse was ruled by the knight Tristam’s father, Meliodas. Upon Meliodas’s death, Tristam inherited the throne and the land. Tristam though was away at the court of his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Before he could return home the land had been swept away into the sea. This is of course in contradiction to the Alfred Lord Tennyson version of the stories which depicted Lyonesse as the setting for the final battle between Arthur and Mordred.

Lyonesse - Robin222 - CC-BY-SA-3.0

Lyonesse also appeared in other myths, with a prominent role in the Celtic stories of Cornwall and Breton. As the Celtic stories though were overtaken by new Christian beliefs, Lyonesse was perceived as the Cornish version of Sodom and Gomorrah. Christian tales would say how the land was swallowed by the sea as retribution for the unholy activities that took place there.

So how much truth is there in the stories of Lyonesse disappearing beneath the waves? There are legends of drowned lands around the world. There is Cantref Gwaelod in Cardigan Bay and Leonais in Brittany to name but two. It is easy to see how stories arise, even in recorded history the city of Dunwich in East Anglia has disappeared beneath the waves of the North Sea.

The coastline of Cornwall has certainly changed in the past two thousand years. Roman description of the Isles of Scilly appears to refer to it as one land mass, rather than individual islands, a land mass that may have stretched to Land’s End. Oceanographic research shows that a drop in sea levels of 10 metres today would result in solid land stretching from Cornwall to the Isles.

Lyonesse - Gerritse from NL - CC-BY-SA-3.0

There are even written reports of the disappearance of the Cornish lands. The Saxon Chronicle gives a date of the 11th November 1099 as the night when the waves drowned Lethowstow. The Chronicle reports on the demise of one hundred and forty churches, as well as additional chapels, baptisteries and holy wells. The Chronicle though did not record the number of people and livestock lost.

Many local stories were gathered in the sixteenth century by William Camden, a local antiquarian. These gave many other dates as opposed to 1099 for the disappearance of Lyonesse/Lethowstow, these dates ranged from 1089 back through to the sixth century. Locals also stated that the capital of Lyonesse was The Town’ which stood where the Seven Stones reef is today, some eighteen miles west of Land’s End. Locals would also tell of how the bells of the drowned churches could still be heard on rough and stormy nights.

Local legends tell of only one survivor. A member of the Trevelyan family from Launceston, who saw the disaster coming and escaped on the back of a white horse, which was said to run on the crests of the waves. He is said to have found shelter in a cave near Marazion, from which he witnessed the total disappearance of the countryside. Even today the coat of arms of the Trevelyan family still displays a white horse rising from the waves.

It seems unreasonable though to suggest that there are no other records to substantiate the local tales. If there were one hundred and forty churches on the landmass, surely there would be records attaching them to a cathedral, abbey or priory? Even in the Dark Ages there are such written accounts for other parishes.

What is certain though is that on a calm day it is possible to see remnants of walls beneath the surface of the sea. Field boundaries can also be observed along the Sampson Flats between the islands of Tresco and Sampson. People still claim to have heard the church bells chime on stormy nights even today.

Whether there is a lost city off the coast of Cornwall is unknown there is certainly enough archaeological evidence to show some sort of habitude. Local tales also indicate knowledge of when a dry land existed in the area. More important though than any evidence is the romantic image of bells of long lost churches still being heard today.

Copyright - First Published 29th March 2008