Lien Gwerin 'zine article listing

Contents: Issue 1

Saints, Demons and Conjurors by Alex Langstone

The Legend of St Ciarán/Piran by Alex Langstone

The Longstone: A Cornish Legend by Thomas Quiller Couch

How Jan Brewer was Piskey-laden  by  Enys Tregarthen

Encounter at Dolcoath Mine by John Harris

The Mermaid's Vengeance by Robert Hunt

Lundy Hole and the Devil  by Alex Langstone

Contents: Issue 2

Folklore of Looe Island by Alex Langstone

The Fisherman and the Piskeys by Jonathan Couch

The Piskies in the Cellar by Robert Hunt

The Cornish Otherworld by Cheryl Straffon

The Black Dog of Tregrehan by Alex Langstone

Giant Wrath of Portreath by Robert Hunt

The Giant Bolster of St Ann’s by Robert Hunt

Rillaton Folklore by Kathy Wallis

Piskey led by Buckaw on Bolenowe Carn by  John Harris

Tencreek’s Grey Lady by Old Looe Stories and Legends

The White Hare by Old Looe Stories and Legends

The Lady with the Lantern by Robert Hunt

The Small People’s Fair by  Enys Tregarthen

Colperra Day: Folklore on the Lizard by Alan M. Kent

Mermaids and the Hooper by William Bottrell

Peter the Devil by Robert Hunt

Contents: Issue 3

The Pencarrow Hunt by  Merv Davey

The Darley Oak by Rev. H. A. Simcoe

The Mysterious Carvings of Probus by Alan M. Kent

The Seaton Mermaid  by Old Looe Stories and Legends

Teflon Tracey and the New-age Squire by  Andy Norfolk

Cruel Coppinger by Sheridan James Lunt

Traditions of Parcurno by William Bottrell

Some North Cornwall Folklore by  Alex Langstone

The Battle of Vellan-Druchar by Craig Weatherhill

Contents: Issue 4

Crossing Water by Moonlight  by Alex Langstone

The Ringers of Egloshayle by   Merv Davey

Mysteries of the Lizard by Steve Patterson

Cornish Droll Tellers  by Ronald M. James          

Music in Cornish Folklore  by  Kiera Smitheram

Legend of Derwin and Mora by Alan M. Kent

Ghost-Layers and Ghost-Laying   by    R. Wilkins Rees

Contents: Issue 5

Cornish Witch Bottles - Alex Langstone

The Bagpipers of North Cornwall - Merv Davey

St Ninnie’s Well - Old Looe Stories and Legends

The Ancient Sea Cave Holy Well - Alex Langstone

Tristan and Iseult: Opera Kernow - Kiera Smitheram

Folklore of the Scillies - Cheryl Straffon

A Little Bit of Normality - Kathy Wallis

The Mermaid of Zennor - Alex Langstone

A Peep at the Pixies across the Tamar - Ronald James

Miraculous Healing - Rupert White

The Curse of Mother Ivey - Alex Langstone

A tribute to Craig Weatherhill

The Brythonic and Pre-Galfridian Folklore of Beunans Meriasek - Alan M. Kent

The Changeling of Brea Vean - Andy Norfolk

Contents; Issue 6

The Lark in the Morning by Merv Davey

Bizarre Beasts of Cornwall by Alex Langstone

T.F.G Dexter: Cornish Pagan by Rupert White

St Keyne’s Well by Robert Charles Hope  

Gwithti an Pystri: A Cabinet of Folklore and Magic, reviewed by Alex Langstone

Industrial Drolls: The Sub-Genre of the ‘Cousin-Jack Story’                                             

in Cornish Folklore by Alan M. Kent

Rambles and Ruminations around the inner life of                                         

the Fogous of Cornwall by Steve Patterson

The Stone Men of St Cleer by George Basil Barham

Donald R. Rawe and the ‘Night on Roughtor’ by Karen F. Pierce

Review: The Cornish Folklore Collection. Vol. 1

The St Allen Piskies by Alex Langstone

Contents: Issue 7

The Folklore of the Hal an Tow by Andy Norfolk

The Old Man of Cury by Robert Hunt

Cornish River Lore by Alex Langstone

Folk Dance Collectors in Cornwall by Merv Davey

The Morgawr: Elusive in Sea and Folklore by Ronald M. James

Passing through the Devil’s Eye by Karen F. Pierce

Book Review: Fern Seed & Fairy Rings

Hazel Trees in Cornish Folklore by Rupert White                                       

Black Prince Flower Boat by Kathy Wallis

Obituary: Dr Alan M. Kent

First and Last Folklore by Katie Giles

Contents: Issue 8

Milva Kernow - A Cornish Bestiary by Merv Davey

Folklore of the Tinners way by Cheryl Straffon

Old Looe Stories & Legends Series: Dosmary Pool

Whitfeld’s ‘Scilly and its Legends’ by Rupert White

The Myth of Santa Warna by Ithell Colquhoun

A Rare Treasure of Cornish Folklore by Ronald M. James

Uter Bosence and the Piskey by William Bottrell

Interview: Sheridan James Lunt

Mystery of Tregudda Gorge by Alex Langstone

Book Review

Games of Giants: West Penwith Quoits by Karen F. Pierce  

Found Folklore: Bodmin’s Berry Tower by Alex Langstone

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Grampound Wassail Song

Chorus:

Wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail

And joy come to our jolly wassail

Now here at this house we first will be seen

To drink the king's health such a custom has been

Now unto the master we'll drink his good health

We hope he may prosper in virtue and wealth

With our wassail, etc.

In a friendly manner this house we salute,

For it is an old custom, you need not dispute;

Ask not the reason from where it did spring,

For you know very well it's an old ancient thing.

Now here at your door we orderly stand

With our jolly wassail and our hats in our hand

We do wish you good health unto master and dame,

To children and servants we do wish the same

It has been the custom, as I've been told

By ancient housekeepers in days of old,

When young men and maidens together draw near

They fill up our bowls with cider or beer

Come fill up our wassail bowl full to the brim,

See, harnessed and garnished so neat and so trim

Sometimes with laurel and sometimes with bays

According to custom to keep the old ways

(Pause for drink)

Methinks I do smile to see the bowl full,

Which just now was empty and now filled do grow

By the hands of good people, long may they remain

And love to continue the same to maintain

Now neighbours and strangers we always do find

And hope we shall be courteous, obliging and kind;

And hope your civility to us will be proved

As a piece of small silver in token of love

(Pause for collection)

We wish you great plenty and long time to live

Because you were so willing and freely to give

To our jolly wassail most cheerful and bold,

Long may you be happy, long may you live bold

We hope your new apple trees prosper and bear,

That we shall have cider again next year;

For where you've a hogshead we hope you'll have ten,

That you will have cider when we come again

We hope all your barley will prosper and grow,

That you may have barley and beer to bestow;

For where you've a bushel we hope you'll have ten,

That you will have beer when we come again

Now for this good liquor to us you do bring,

We'll lift up our voices and merrily sing,

That all good householders may continue still

And provide some good liquor our bowl for to fill

Now for this good liquor, your cider or beer,

Now for the great kindness that we have had here,

We'll return our thanks, and shall still bear in mind

How you have been bountiful, loving and kind

Now for the great kindness that we have received

We return you our thanks and shall take our leave;

From this present time we shall bid you adieu

Until the next year when the time do ensue

Now jolly old Christmas is passing away;

According to custom this is the last day

That we shall enjoy along with you to bide

So farewell old Christmas, this merry old tide

Storm Woman of Dozmary Pool

The lonely and isolated Dozmary Pool has many mysterious tales to tell. But there is one which is truly remarkable. In the murky depths of the pool a powerful vortex is rumoured to exist, like an underground waterfall. This strange watery realm is reputed to be presided over by the Old Storm Woman, a ghostly moor-land mermaid, who dwells in the cool peaty waters below the still surface of the lake. It is she who creates the winds which rip across the moor from the centre of the lake, as she gathers the power of the aqueous vortex; she blows the winds across eastern Cornwall from the dramatic cliffs of the north coast, across the granite tors to the lush river valleys in the south. Maybe the strange and seemingly out-of-place ancient carving of a mermaid, which resides in the parish church at nearby Linkinhorne, is an old half-forgotten reminder of her story? 

Above: Linkinhorne church mermaid by Paul Atlas-Saunders

Enys Tregarthen retold this tale in her children’s story entitled The House of the Sleeping Winds originally published in 1911. The most famous legend associated with Dozmary Pool is that of Sir Bedevere casting Excalibur into the lake, where the Lady of the Lake receives Arthur’s sword for safe keeping. Maybe the Old Storm Woman Mermaid and the Lady of the Lake are one and the same?