Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

Photo Credit: Rawac
(Creative Commons)

The village of Tintagel is located in the county of Cornwall on the South West of the British mainland. Cornwall is justly popular with tourists for its natural beauty - it's also one of the historic Celtic nations with a legacy of myth and legend. Today the most well-known story regarding Tintagel Castle is probably that it is said to be built on the birthplace of King Arthur.

The castle - ruins today - has a long history. Most of the "modern" castle was built in the 13th century, probably around 1230, by the Earl of Cornwall. However the site had been occupied for many hundreds of years before then in some form or other. Archaeologists have found evidence of occupation much further back around the 5th or 6th century - which was the time of Arthur.

Birthplace of Arthur?

The connection between Tintagel and King Arthur was first popularised by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century. According to Geoffrey, Arthur was born - or at least conceived - at Tintagel Castle. The story goes that Arthur's father, King Uther Pendragon, seduced Queen Igraine of Cornwall (back then individual provinces of England had their own kings and queens). According to some versions of the story Uther was assisted in this by the magic of Merlin.

Geoffrey is known to be a fairly unrelible historian who liked to embroider fact with fiction and isn't necessarily the best source of information. However the choice of Tintagel Castle is a suitable one, whether fact or not: the area was, according to legend, popular with the Celtic Kings. And with its spectacular coastal location one can argue that if Arthur wasn't born at Tintagel then he should have been.

Arthur's Stone

The connections between Arthur and Tintagel were apparently strengthened in 1998 with the discovery of Arthur's Stone. This 1500 year old piece of slate contains a Latin inscription which has been translated as: Artognou, father of a descendant of Coll, has had this made.

It has been suggested that "Artognou" refers to "a descendant of Arthur". It's interesting to note that - according to Geoffrey - King Coll was a relative of Arthur.

Merlin's Cave

According to some stories, especially Tennyson's Idylls of King Arthur, Arthur was plucked from the sea by Merlin. The infant was taken by Merlin into what is now known as Merlin's Cave. This is an atmospheric cave on the coastline below the castle. It's easy to picture Merlin carrying the future king in his arms, the darkness lit only by magical light from his staff.

Be careful if exploring - the cave floods as the tide comes in.

The Tintagel area is also a breeding place for a variety of sea birds, lizards and butterflies. All this plus the combination of history, legend and coastal views make Tintagel Castle a popular tourist attraction for visitors to Cornwall.

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