Sennen () is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately 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 church town, Sennen, is the most westerly village in mainland England and is west-southwest of London. Below the village is the harbour settlement of Sennen Cove.
Demographics
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Census population of Sennen parish
|-
! scope=col width=18%| Census
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Population
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Female
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Male
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Households
! scope=col width=10% class="unsortable"| Source
|-
!scope=row| 2001
|| 829
|| 424
|| 405
|| 361
||
|-
!scope=row| 2011
|| 921
|| 469
|| 452
|| 394
||
|-
!scope=row| 2021
|| 889
|| 448
|| 441
|| 386
||
|}
Church
thumb|upright|A Cornish cross in the cemetery
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. A wall-painting depicting two round embattled towers was uncovered during restoration in 1867. There is also a headless alabaster figure representing the Virgin Mary in the transept. The church has a three-stage battlemented tower housing a ring of three bells.
Folklore traditions
On the old Christmas Day in the 1830s (and before) the farmers of St Sennen assembled for the festivities. One of the dishes was a pie made from 24 blackbirds. At midnight the young men went out to see the 'cattle kneel' and on their return they threw rushes onto the fire. The number of crackles, or the particular form assumed, told the fortunes of those who threw them into the fire.
Local magical practices were also reported. In the late nineteenth century, Sennen girls performed traditional love divinations on Twelfth Night involving ivy leaves, rushes, and a turf fire. These rituals were believed to predict future marriages and deaths. Additionally, a folk magician named Dionysious Williams, who lived in nearby Mayon, was reputed to have used counter-magic to trap a thief using enchanted furze. Another tale describes a Sennen man rescuing his housekeeper from malevolent spirits inadvertently summoned from a spellbook.
Notable residents
- William John Hocking of the Royal Mint
thumb|The beach at Sennen from Cove Road
Gallery
<gallery>
File:Longships Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 188226.jpg|The Longships lighthouse and neighbouring islets are in Sennen parish
File:Sennen Bay.jpg|Whitesand Bay is in Sennen parish
File:Last Methodist Chapel in England - geograph.org.uk - 169335.jpg|Sennen Methodist Chapel
</gallery>