Tintagel Castle

Tintagel Castle is precarious on a near sheer promontory, almost now an island, on the wave- and wind-battered north Cornish coast. More is known about Tintagel’s legends than its history; it is famous as the birthplace of King Arthur.

According to legend, Tintagel was the castle of Gorlois, a Cornish Duke. Gorlois’s wife, Igraine or Ygerna, was much desired by the powerful and ruthless Uther Pendragon. During a battle between Uther and Gorlois’s armies, the wizard Merlin disguised Uther in Gorlois’s form. Uther rode to Tintagel, seduced the unsuspecting Igraine, and nine months later she gave birth to Arthur, Britain’s greatest hero.

Other supporting legends grew up around Tintagel. Merlin’s Cave is a 100m-long sea cave which runs all the way under Tintagel. This was where, as described in Tennyson’s 19^th century poem Idylls of the King, Merlin found the baby Arthur washed up at his feet and raised him until he became king. The cave is accessible at low tide and is an eerie place with the booming surge of the sea echoing along its length. Folklore states if you take a stone from the cave you will have good luck. But woe betide if you take two!

                                   Merlin's Cave

The Arthur connection has traditionally been dismissed as fairytale by historians. The ruined castle visible today is a 13^th century fort built by the Earl of Cornwall, 700 years after Arthur’s time. But excavations in recent years have found evidence of a settlement dating to the late Roman period and a century or two afterwards, precisely the time Arthur supposedly lived. Archaeological finds suggest a high status settlement, perhaps home to a powerful warlord or a ruler of the kingdom of Dumnonia. Red slip pottery was imported from Africa and wine amphorae from the Mediterranean, present here in higher quantities than any other site in Dark Age Britain. It has been suggested Tintagel was a trading post, although the sheer cliffs and treacherous coastline appear an unlikely haven for trading ships.

The site is easily defensible, guarded by the cliffs, the sea and the narrow stretch of land which has to be crossed to reach it. Tintagel derives from the Cornish Din, meaning fortress, and tage, meaning choke, probably referring to the narrow access. It would make a good site for a powerful ruler.

            Archaeological work in 2017

The Arthur legend was written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12^th century, in The History of the Kings of Britain. Geoffrey claimed his work to be an accurate historical account, but it is generally now discredited as a blend of fact, myth and personal supposition.

But Geoffrey must have been inspired somehow. He claimed his work was factual so must have acquired supporting evidence, no matter how tenuous or fantastical, to back up his ideas. A legend likely survived of the great fortress at Tintagel, only a few hundred years before Geoffrey’s time, perhaps even of a great hero who was born here, and Geoffrey took that information and worked it into his story. Some of Geoffrey’s more outlandish ideas have been recently shown accurate. Perhaps his story about Tintagel will one day prove the same.