“With East Anglia having such a long coastline, it would be expected that the region abounds in traditions of magic and mystery concerning the denizens of the deep, namely mermaids and their kin. With one notable exception (which I will describe below), this is however not the case. It may be that these tales have now been lost, as there are many church pews and bench-ends carved into the likenesses of mermaids by the mediaeval craftsmen that made them, or it may be that, not having a wild and rocky coastline, these stories never developed as they did in other areas. However, East Anglia does have a tradition of 'land-based' mermaids, continuing the theme of a living landscape and the magic thereof begun in the previous chapter, and these are known as 'Meremaids' or 'Merewives'.”
—
The Devil’s Plantation:
East Anglian Lore, Witchcraft & Folk-Magic
Chapter 2: ‘Mermaids, Giants and Spectral Hounds’
by Nigel G. Pearson
