The Tearing Ledge: a poem inspired by Valhalla
C.P. Nield visited the Valhalla museum in the summer of 2024 and wrote a poem inspired by the dramatic figureheads. It was recently published in The Spectator
Fascinating figureheads
Visiting Tresco’s Valhalla Museum over the summer, I was fascinated by its display of figureheads hailing from every compass point of the world.
Mascots and protective deities, these carvings must have carried the hopes of sailors through the roughest storms – bringing cargoes of emeralds, rubies, silk, tea and tobacco safely to harbour – only for all of their ships to come to grief on the treacherous rocks of the Scilly Isles.
This line of heads creates an uncanny spectacle. The chubby, cherubic faces of merchants stare out into space, alongside elegant ladies clutching posies, as if trying to appease the ocean waves. Above, in a surreal gesture, a chipped-off hand languidly offers the visitor a flower.
The long nameboard of the Genoese barque Indipendenza strikes a haunting note. Our dreams of freedom and power are so casually humbled by nature. I can imagine that brave boast of independence washing ashore even as the ship’s wheel was breaking apart on the seabed.
A few days later, I visited St Warna’s Well on St Agnes. Here, local folklore says people would drop bent pins into the water to wreck ships for plunder. This was such a macabre image that I thought it might be a good starting point for a poem, which I started the same evening.
The Tearing Ledge
Islands, illusions,
our dark wrecking spell,
five twisted pins at St Warna’s Well.
Islands, illusions
in a Bryher of mist,
Bishop Rock Lighthouse serpent-kissed.
Islands, illusions
from East to West Porth,
seas without God, skies without north.
Islands, illusions
near this world’s edge,
storm petrels circle the Tearing Ledge.
Islands, illusions
on lost sailors’ lips,
the Dogs of Scilly devour their ships.
C.P. Nield
The Tearing Ledge, located south west of Tresco, was, in fact, the site of a maritime disaster in 1707 when a whole fleet of ships ran aground. Four warships sank and more than 2,000 sailors perished. This was such a catastrophe that it led directly to the discovery of longitude to help prevent future calamities, putting the Scilly Isles right at the heart of global history.
My poem was published in The Spectator at the New Year, and I hope it inspires more people in 2025 to explore this magnificent part of Cornwall, with its wild natural beauty and stories full of shipwreck and wonder.
