Tintagel Castle and our quest for King Arthur.
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Why visit Tintagel?
It is the mythical birthplace and home of King Arthur, allegedly the greatest King of Britain. There are a huge number of legends associated with this place that are outlined below.
It is a fascinating ruin to explore.
It has beautiful views of the rocky coastline.
It is in English Heritage’s top five of most visited places.
What is there to see at Tintagel ?
The main gate to the castle.
The Upper mainland courtyard.
The arrow points to one of the two garderobes (latrines)
The view from the garderobe.
The gatehouse courtyard G, and D is where there was a double stairway to the wall walk.
Our version of a viral Instagram photo, at least according to the guide.
The once impressive Great Hall which was later subdivided in smaller buildings.
The wall you see dominating this photo is the castle’s curtain wall.
The arrows point to “Early Medieval” (formally known as Dark Age) buildings. These were in use when Tintagel was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia.
Above, the Arthurian world was temporarily excited over archaeologists excavating the early medieval buildings and finding a tile with scratched out letters spelling Artognou (pronounced Arthnuo). Unfortunately, as the dig leader pointed out, this did not spell Arthur. He made the point that the name Edward is not the same as Edgar despite having the same first two letters. The arrow shows roughly where it was found.
Above, a short unexplained tunnel. It was suggested it might be a medieval fridge but it is too far away from the Great Hall and kitchen to make sense. Another theory is that in the romantic legend Tristan and Iseult, (see the later paragraph on the legend) the adulterers secretly meet in a forest cave and this is Richard of Cornwall’s version of that cave. (See the later paragraph on all Richard of Cornwall)
More Early Medieval buildings probably from Dumnonia period.
“Gallos” by Rubin Eynon depicting Arthur
How did the story of Arthur evolve?
The kingdom of Dumnonia
The Romans left England in 410 and returned to Rome which was under threat. England now split into several independent kingdoms including Dumnonia which was made up of Cornwall, Devon and parts of western Somerset. A key constituent of Bronze that made it tough and fairly sharp, was tin, and Dumnonia had tin in abundance. Traders from all over Europe were desperate to get hold of Dumnonian tin and Dumnonia became a very rich part of the country. The building of Tintagel began in about 450AD and it quickly grew into a thriving trading centre with a population at least as big as London at that time. Archaeologists have discovered as many early medieval (‘Dark Age’) buildings at Tintagel as is believed existed in London at that time. Even more astonishing, is that they have discovered more mediterranean pottery than at any other site in Britain. In particular a huge amount of pieces of amphora have been found that would have contained wine or olive oil from the warm mediterranean countries. The photo below is from Colchester museum and on the left shows typical amphora made and used in Roman times.
They have also discovered glass that had come all the way from Turkey. Tintagel must have been a site of major importance and a fortress, or stronghold, of the Kings of Dumnonia. Large quantities of food and wine must have been consumed at Tintagel at that time. Tintagel was easy to defend being virtually surrounded by sea and was also a good place for ships to dock, laden with mediterranean products. In the photo below, the wall indicated by the green arrow once had a gate and this was where goods from the ships, docked below, passed into the settlement. By the 7th century Tintagel was still an important place but by the 8th century it had been abandoned. In 814, Dumnonia ceased to exist with Egbert King of Wessex adding it to his dominant kingdom.
Where does King Arthur fit in to all of this?
He doesn’t! Sadly, there is no evidence to link Arthur to Tintagel, but the story of Arthur is still a great story and he is a hero to this day. Looking at what has been written about Arthur, it appears that there are two Arthurs! Firstly, the one we all know with Merlin, Guinevere, Excalibur and the Knights of the Round Table being chivalrous, comes from the 12th and 13th century when knights were all over England. They are from the literature of their period and there is no proof of his existence. We would certainly have him in a royal family tree if King Arthur existed. The other Arthur is not a king but a commander, and comes from the fifth or sixth century when the Angles and the Saxons were coming to Britain and steadily moving across to modern day Wales and the South-west of England. At this time there weren’t any knights in shining armour living a 12th century lifestyle and being chivalrous. This is not stating that Arthur didn’t exist but that the earlier Arthur was a very different person than the one we all know.
What is the background to this early Arthur?
The first mention of Arthur comes from a poem, the Gododdin, which states that a warrior called Gwawrddur was skilled at slaying his enemies but was no “Arthur” . This doesn’t tell us much about Arthur other than he was such a great warrior that others were compared to him. However, he is mentioned in a book called “Historria Brittonium” by a Welsh monk called Nennius in the 9th century. He placed Arthur at the centre of the conflict against the Saxons and it is widely believed that he drew on the work of others such as Gildas and the Venerable Bede, although they do not mention him! Gildas was writing at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain ( late 5th to mid 6th century) and in his book, “The Ruin and Conquest of Britain” he refers to a series of battles. He names a man with Romano-British background, called Ambrosius Aurelianus who led a victorious fight against the invading Saxons but does not associate him with the victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon. Bede got some of his information from Gildas in about 730 AD. Nennius refers to Arthur as a battle commander and not a king, but a leader who won 12 battles against the Saxons, the 12th being Mount Badon. There is no evidence to prove the existence of these battles. Nennius goes on to add that even Arthur’s dogs were extra special because their paws made permanent impressions in stone! Arthur is also mentioned in the “Annales Cambriae”, fighting at Mount Badon and his last battle, at Camlann. However, this was written in the 10th century, hundreds of years later and thus, its reliability is also in doubt. Some historians have suggested that Nennius simply inserted a folk hero called Arthur into the scene set by Gildas. To summarise, Arthur’s existence is questionable but we cannot state definitely that he didn’t exist and, there is no mention of Tintagel as yet.
Geoffrey Of Monmouth takes the challenge in the 1130s and turns him into a superhero.
Geoffrey is the author who confuses the story of Arthur by telling us that Arthur’s story comes from the 6th century but then describes a man, his actions and events to do with him, who lives in a 12th century environment. This is the equivalent of one of my former students drawing a tank on a map of the Battle of Hastings (1066AD) because “that’s what people use to win battles”. In his “History of the kings of Britain” the monk and scholar, Geoffrey of Monmouth gives us Arthur’s father’s name, Uther Pendragon, as well as inflating him to being the conqueror and ruler of most of northern and western Europe. He is such a hero that he draws men to his court from all over Europe. He is now such a bold knight that he defeats a giant on St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. See the photo below. Geoffrey also tells us about Arthur’s magical Tintagel origins and introduces Merlin (based on a Celtic bard or wiseman called Myrddin). At the time, Arthur’s father, Uther, meets a beautiful lady called Ygerna and falls madly in love with her. The problem is that Ygerna was already married to Gorlois of Cornwall. To keep Uther away from his wife, Gorlois keeps her at Tintagel and when he is not there, he gives strict orders that no-one be allowed in. This should be fairly simple because of course, Tintagel is surrounded by sheer cliffs and is on a headland where there is only one, narrow way in. To get around this problem, a desperate Uther gets his armies to besiege Gorlois’ castles, thus keeping him away from Tintagel. He then contacts Merlin and is changed temporarily into someone who looks exactly like Gorlois. When Uther approaches the guards to Tintagel they let him in because, to them, he is their lord and he makes his way to Ygerna. Needless to say, one night with her and she becomes pregnant. Nine months later, Arthur is born. Geoffrey takes a Welsh story of a mythical hero who heroically fought against the Saxons and with a mythical sword called “Caledfwlch” and turns it into Arthurs magical sword, “Excalibur”. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s story is a blockbuster and is widely believed. No-one knows why he chose Tintagel but Geoffrey’s story becomes inflated by people such as William of Worcester who claimed that Arthur was born there and eventually, Tintagel becomes the real Camelot, Arthur’s base. False though this Arthur was, he became an excellent role model for others to emulate.
From this point onwards, Kings of England tried to forge as many links as they could with this revised version of the story Arthur or its successive updates. It was even better if they could add him as an ancestor to their family tree.
St Michael’s Mount where Arthur allegedly killed a giant,
Arthur’s grave is found by monks at Glastonbury abbey in 1191.
In 1191, monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have found the buried remains of King Arthur and his wife Guinevere. They discovered two skeletons, one much bigger than the other with the smaller skeleton having some blonde hair. Their proof was a lead cross that identified the skeletons as Arthur and Guinevere. Unfortunately, experts today state that the lettering on the cross is wrong for Arthur’s period. Glastonbury was projected as the “Isle of Avalon” mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth as the place Arthur was brought to recover from his fatal wounds suffered at the Battle of Camlann. The character Morgan le Fay or Morganna is also associated with Avalon, sometimes doing good, like trying to heal Arthur, and sometimes evil according to the various sources. She is mentioned by both Geoffrey Monmouth and Chretien de Troyes (see the next paragraph). She appears as a sorceress or witch and Chretien de Troyes even describes her as Arthur’s supernatural sister.
Was Arthur French?
Around 1155 AD a Frenchman called Wace translated Geoffrey’s book from latin into french and added the concept of “The Round Table”. Arthur ordered a round table to be built so that all of his guests would feel equally placed and no-one would be able to boast that he had the highest position at the table. After reading the translation, a Frenchman, Chretien de Troyes (approximately 1135-91) a poet and troubadour (singer songwriter), began creating poems on Arthurian romances such as Eric and Enide, Lancelot, Gawain, Perceval and Yvain. You may never have heard of Erec and Enide but it portrays Erec as a knight in Arthur’s court and features Guinevere. Superhero Erec defeats non chivalrous knights and rescues someone from a giant as well as appearing to come back from the dead. It is not, as some people might think , a Monty Python story! He introduces Lancelot , Arthur and Guinevere’s love triangle. He introduced the quest for the “Holy Grail”, a christian holy relic that, at this time, gained prominence because of the Crusades taking place. The Crusades being where various kings travelled with huge armies, to the Holy Land to remove Muslims whom they considered were invaders. Chretien describes the enchanted forest Broceliande which features Arthur, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, the Lady of the Lake and some of the knights of the Round Table. The forest is the place of Merlin’s retirement, imprisonment or death. Today, Paimpont Forest in Brittany is identified as Broceliande and as a consequence people from all over the world but especially France, leave messages to Merlin seeking his help and advice. This habit, as far as I know does not seem to take place in Tintagel.
In France today, is the Arthurian Imaginary Centre (Centred L’Imaginaire Arthurien-Bretagne) at Comper Castle in Concoret. Activities here include story telling “under the oaks”, a sorcerer’s school and a medieval market.
Tintagel becomes the centre of the story of Tristan and Isolde.
Once Tintagel gets placed as a magical island fortress it becomes the base for other stories. French and German poets now began placing the the 12th century romantic story of Tristan, Isolde (or Yseult) and King Mark of Cornwall, at Tintagel. This is another romantic story about a knight, an Irish princess and the king of Cornwall. Behind the king’s back, Tristan and Isolde commit adultery, and Tristan has to leave’ marrying a French princess, the daughter of King Hoel of Brittany, but never forgetting his first love. This story predates to a romantic story of the knight Lancelot falling in love with Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur and obviously, heavily influences it. In later versions, Tristan becomes a knight of the Round Table and even goes on a quest for the “Holy Grail”
Have a look at the short video on the story of Tristan and Isolde.
King Arthur rises to being a virtuous medieval superstar
For the next hundred years Arthur’s image gets better and better to the point where he is held up to be the christian ideal of a ruler, wise, chivalric and courageous.
Richard of Cornwall now builds his own version Arthur’s castle at Tintagel.
In 1225 Richard of Cornwall, second son of King John and the younger brother of King Henry III was given the title of Earl of Cornwall. He was one of the wealthiest men in Europe through Cornish tin mining and was an Arthur “superfan”. To this end he purchased Tintagel in 1233 and set to work building Arthur’s castle. He didn’t need Tintagel as a defendable fortress and so created many of the walls out of slate. It was deliberately constructed to look both old, romantic and to give reality to the whole story of Arthur. He ordered the construction of an impressive “Great Hall” to add extra authenticity (see the photo below) . In Victorian times it would be considered a “folly” but it impressed the Cornish people at the time and they willingly accepted Richard as their Earl because he had given the story of Arthur physical remains in their county. Having built Tintagel Castle, Richard didn’t actually spend much time there because he now attempted to become “the King of the Germans” by bribing 4 of the 7 electoral princes. He failed but he did get the lesser title, “King of the Romans” (note, not Rome in Italy, but the some of the eastern parts of the old Roman Empire including parts of modern Germany).
Arthur’s Round Table in the Great Hall of Winchester Castle 1275.
To link himself to great King Arthur, King Edward I had Arthur’s “Round Table” built in about 1275 with himself sitting at the top of the table. Later on Henry VIII had the table re-painted for the same reasons, except, this time the Tudor Rose was placed at its centre.
Sir Thomas Malory added to the strong of Arthur in “Le Morte d’Arthur in 1485
Sir Thomas Malory was a habitual criminal convicted of numerous crimes such as attempting to murder the Duke of Buckingham, to overthrow King Edward IV, theft and at least two rapes. Whilst in prison he had a lot of time on his hands and so collected stories of Arthur and synthesised them into “The Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of The Round Table”, a title changed by his publisher, William Caxton, to “Le Morte d’Arthur”. Experts have suggested that he translated and compiled both Middle English and French stories of Arthur rather than invent them. He translated the words on the cross found at Glastonbury as, “here lies Arthur, the king who was and the king who will be”.
The “Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson published 1859-85
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, people in Britain became fascinated with the medieval world. Revivalist architecture can be seen in the form of 19th c churches, follies and fake castles. Gothic novels were written with Sir Walter Scott producing a new version of Tristan and Iseult and creating a romantic Knight called Ivanhoe. Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur was re-issued for the first time since 1634 and in a series of 12 narrative poems written over 46 years, Tennyson retells the the legend of Arthur, his knights, the Round Table, his wife Guinevere as well as Arthur’s rise and fall.This was another blockbuster. People could not get enough of King Arthur! Artists were also now inspired and created Arthur themed paintings. Tintagel castle once more attracted visitors and in 1900, the nearest village to the castle changed its name to Tintagel.
Essential information
Getting there
By car Postcode : PL34 0HE No parking on site. Pay and display parking (not operated by English Heritage) in the village, 600 metres away. Regretfully, there is no disabled parking on site.
By bus Western Greyhound 595 (with connections available at Wadebridge, Camelford, Bude and Boscastle)
ADVANCED BOOKING
The only way to guarantee entry to Tintagel is to book in advance. We strongly recommend booking your tickets in advance as we have limited availability and during peak times can be fully booked.
Your booking is for the site/event only and does not guarantee a car parking space, which may carry an additional charge.
The time slot you book is the time when you can enter the castle and cross the bridge. Once on the island you can explore at your leisure and are welcome to stay for as long as you like.
If you are a Member and wish to book, your ticket will still be free. Please remember to bring your English Heritage membership card with you. Members are able to book tickets for those included in the membership only. Any additional bookings made will be chargeable on site.
Ticket Prices;
Member - Join now Free
With donation Without donation
Adult £17.30 £15.70
Child (5-17 years) £10.40 £9.40
Concession £15.60 £14.10
Family (2 adults, up to 3 children) £45.00 £40.80
Family (1 adult, up to 3 children) £27.70 £25.10
Overseas Visitor Pass (9 or 16 days unlimited) Click here
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