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Pendeen Vau

Fogou

Folklore

Pendene vowe, a holl or deepe vaute in the grounde, wherinto the sea floweth at high water, very farr under the earth: Manie have attempted, but none effected, the search of the depth of it.
From John Norden's "Speculi Britanniæ pars: a topographical and historical description of Cornwall", written in the beginning of the 17th century. (I have transcribed this from the scan on Google Books.) I take it he didn't go in. But then I'm a coward as well.

Borlase (in 1769) didn't think much of his story - "but the sea is in truth more than a quarter of a mile from any part of it. The common people also thereabout tell many idle stories of like kind, not worth the reader's notice, neglecting the structure, which is really commodious, and well executed."

I think he rather liked the place, saying "Of all the artificial Caves I have seen in Cornwall, that called Pendeen Vau (by the Welsh pronounced Fau) is the most entire, and curious", and "You see nothing of this Cave, either in the field or garden, 'till you come to the mouth of it, as much privacy as possible being consulted."
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
31st March 2010ce
Edited 2nd August 2011ce

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