Tintagel Castle
Tintagel Castle (grid reference SX051889) is located near Tintagel, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was built by Reginald, Earl of Cornwall on Tintagel Head, where according to Cornish legends the ancient Kings of Cornwall held their court. The castle was built for propaganda purposes and had no real strategic value. It is often speculated that it was a summer residence for the rulers of Dumnonia.
It was claimed by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century that the castle at Tintagel Head was where King Uther Pendragon seduced Queen Igraine of Cornwall, while her husband, Gorlois, was under siege elsewhere. King Arthur was thus conceived and later writers made the castle his birthplace.
A Dark Ages Celtic fortress did exist there. The first excavations, which were undertaken by Ralegh Radford in the 1930s, have come under modern criticism, partly because the site documentation was slight, by modern standards Radford led a considerable interpretative shift when he suggested that Tintagel was in fact a Celtic monastery and not an "Arthurian" site. In the mid-1980s a fire on Tintagel headland led to considerable erosion of the topsoil, and many more building foundations than were recorded by Radford could be seen.[1] In 1998 the mis-called "Arthur stone" was discovered there that raised hopes for some basis for the legend.[2] The present-day ruins of the castle are situated on a rocky headland that overlooks the Cornish coast. Tintagel Castle is one of the landholdings of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The modern day village of Tintagel was known as Trevena until the 1850s, when it was renamed to promote tourism on the back of the King Arthur and Camelot legends. Strictly speaking, Tintagel is only the name of the headland.
Notes
- ^ "Early Medieval Tintagel: An Interview with Archaeologists Rachel Harry and Kevin Brady"
- ^ But see "Early Medieval Tintagel: An Interview with Archaeologists Rachel Harry and Kevin Brady".
External links
- Tintagel Castle information at English Heritage
- Illustrated Guide to Tintagel castle
- About Tintagel
- Tintagel Castle and haunted castles
Categories
Arthurian legend | Buildings and structures in Cornwall | Castles in England | English Heritage | Visitor attractions in Cornwall