Lyonesse

Page 4 of 4

One possible explanation of the 11th/12th C sea flood events (if any took place in Cornwall at all) is that they were tsunamis. These are powerful, fast moving waves that arise from the sea bed following an earthquake, underwater landslide or volcanic explosion. They are capable of travelling thousands of miles, and strike the land unexpectedly with great destructive force. Most tsunamis occur in the Pacific (it is a Japanese word), but they have been recorded in the Atlantic and there is no reason why such an incident should not have affected west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Possible sites for the earthquake or volcanic explosion are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland or Macaronesia (the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands), however, Bill Collins, who studies Atlantic tsunamis for the US Geological Survey, thinks that a tsunami in west Cornwall would more be more likely to arise from a bolide or meteorite of suitable proportions falling into the sea. Dr Walter C. Dudley from the University of Hawaii's Kalakaua Marine Education Centre suggests that a submarine landslide is the most likely candidate. Relief maps of the Atlantic to the south west of Cornwall and Brittany show what appear to be massive slides from the continental shelf in the Meriadzek Terrace area into the deeper water beyond, especially a massive feature called the Celtic Sea Fan.

Places linked with Lyonesse - the Isles of Scilly, Perranuthnoe, Sennen Cove, Crantock - are all areas that, because they are low-lying, would be affected by a tsunami. However, unlike Papua/New Guinea or some of the Hawaiian Islands, because of the cliff-girt nature of the land, relatively little damage would be done by a tsunami in Cornwall generally.

Another possible, and maybe more probable, explanation for the 11th/12th C sea floods is that they were tidal surges of the kind that has necessitated the building of the Thames Barrier in London. Occasionally a mass of water travels across the Atlantic from the Newfoundland Banks area and, when it is compressed by funnelling into the North Sea or English Channel, it can cause a tidal surge and extensive flooding of low-lying coastal areas. The same can happen to the west and south of the Straits of Dover and affect Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly or Brittany.

Whatever its origin, the story of Lyonesse, through the legends of Tristan and King Arthur has been well-known all over Europe for many centuries and it still features in books, poems, films, music and other manifestations either under its own name or in transmuted form. The early Celtic peoples used to believe that there was a hidden world parallel to our own and that occasionally someone from here changed places with someone from there. These parallel countries were not necessarily more favoured than the visible world, but human beings always seem to have been intrigued by the concept of there being more in existence than they are normally capable of discerning. It may be that the idea of Lyonesse arose as a parallel world story, something hinted at by poet Edmund Spencer who, in his account of Tristan, says he was born in Cornwall, bred in Lyonesse and was taken to safety as a child to the Land of Faery. Maybe Lyonesse was the Land of Faery.

<< Back to Start | << Previous Page