To stand on the cliff’s edge at Tintagel is to feel the weight of a thousand years of legend pressing down on you.

Perched precariously on Cornwall’s dramatic, storm-battered coastline, the ruins of Tintagel Castle are not so much a historical site as they are a physical manifestation of myth itself and that of King Arthur.

The Magic Castle (s)

Tintagel Castle was once the stronghold of post-Roman Cornish rulers. It’s a place saturated with folklore and legend, not just because of a thousand years of storytelling, but also due to the sheer ruggedness and raw feel of the magic location itself.

While archaeologists have uncovered the post-Roman settlement that existed here, the soul of Tintagel belongs to a king who may have been and a wizard and who has lived in the imagination for a millennium.

This is not a place of careful fact and meticulous history, but a landscape where the boundary between reality and folklore has been blurred and erased by centuries of crashing waves and powerful storytelling. One that when I was there recently I not only felt, but could still see, not the Camelot Castle (the stuff dreams are made of) but the rugged and ancient ruins that were once the magnificent, romantic Tintagel Castle.

A Cornish King and an Irish Princess

In about the year 1200 new life was breathed into Tintagel (once a settlement; it having been an inhabited site even before the Roman’s, and possibly with as many as 100 buildings situated here and serving it’s people) by Richard Earl of Cornwall ( who was the brother of Henry lll). It seems he had a bit of a thing for the stories by Geoffery of Monmouth (about 1095-1150)or/and Tristan and Yseult (a Celtic legend about a Cornish Knight and an Irish Princess – told by poets in medieval times, and also a fascination with the area and Arthur. So he built Tintagel – a Castle. He gave it gardens, a chapel on a cliff, beautiful landscapes and a grotto, with not too much thought to any strategic military value; was he just an old romantic?

Richard’s grandparents were Henry ll and Eleanor of Aquitaine – They were the power couple of Europe, although he locked her up for years at a time, they had true devotion for each other, a bit like a Celtic romantic legend.

Perhaps Richard saw something in that?

Once the castle fell into ruin, (after the 14th century, the Earls of Cornwall more or less abandoned it) it lay dormant and shrouded in mystery and folklore for nearly 500 years. A vast stretch of sea now separated the remains, as erosion had chipped away at the low-lying land that once served as the castle’s natural drawbridge. This now has been replaced by a huge bridge which you can walk today – I hate bridges but this one once on it, felt safe and heavy and if you didn’t look from side to side you wouldn’t know you were on a bridge.

The ruins themselves are sparse, scattered across the wind-whipped headland and the mainland cliff. They are not the soaring walls of a medieval stronghold but the foundations of an earlier, more mysterious era. In the 5th and 6th centuries, as said earlier, this promontory was a high-status settlement, a trading hub for the British elite who exchanged goods with the Mediterranean world.

The approach to the castle is part of the experience. You descend a steep path, the air thick with the spray of the Atlantic, and cross a dramatic, modern footbridge that spans a dizzying chasm. This bridge, which links the mainland to the rocky headland, feels like a portal into a different world. On one side, you have the rational, modern world; on the other, the crumbling stones of a fortress and the potent ghost of Arthurian legend.

This historical reality, while fascinating, is often overshadowed by the power of myth. It was Geoffrey of Monmouth, (he was a popular Christian cleric)in the 12th-century and his writings; History of the Kings of Britain, who first placed the conception or finding the infant King Arthur at Tintagel, is woven into a tale of deception and magic. It was here, he wrote, that the Wizard Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon ( King Uther – a legendary King of the Briton’s)to look like the Duke of Cornwall, (Gorlois of Tintagel and an adversary of Arthur’s father) thus enabling him to enter the castle, and sire Arthur, with the duke’s wife!

Camelot or Camelot Castle (The home of Kind Arthur and his famous knights of the round table) is of folklore and legends

It is the mythical, romantic court associated with King Arthur but no precise location has been confirmed. There are many locations that have been associated with Camelot, not least Cadbury Castle, the village of Queen Camel in Somerset, and Camulodunum (modern day Colchester). It’s also been connected to the lottery, a TV series, a theme park and a musical! To find Camelot, I think we shall just have to wait and see what the archaeology turns up.

Where is Merlin’s Cave?

This myth, more than any historical truth, has defined Tintagel Castle though. Standing amidst the ruins, it is impossible not to feel the pervasive influence of those stories. Merlin’s cave too has just as much a pull.

If you listen quietly you will hear the wind that seems to whisper the names of Arthur, Merlin, and Guinevere. The jagged rocks and the crashing waves feel like they are straight out of an epic poem. The landscape itself seems to become a character.

This sea cave, which cuts through the headland from one side to the other, is a place of deep mystery and at low tide, you can walk through it. The cool, damp air and the echo of the sea creates a sense of being in a truly enchanted place.

Folklore claims it was here that Merlin lived, a solitary figure communing with the wild, magical forces of the sea and land. In a place where myth and geology meet, the cave feels less like a simple natural formation and more like the very heart of the magic that on a good day you can still feel in the air.! The sound of the water, a constant, presence, is like a secret being whispered by the earth itself.

Who was King Arthur?

Back in the 12th century when Geoffery of Monmouth was writing about events of the day and even history – based on the works of earlier medieval historians –

One of his favourite works was The History of the Kings of Britain ( Historia Regum Britanniae)and everyone loved it -It mentions King Arthur and how he came to be ( books 8-12) It was translated into many different languages and people would have had his version of things to reference what was going on in Britain at the time. Today these works have been reimagined many times and are now considered historically unreliable but with everything – I think there is always some truth in it .

The association with the cave and King Arthur seems to have unfolded during the early Victorian days with the revival of Arthurian literature, like the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) (Idylis of the King), popular with romantics, students of history,and academics of the time, a bit like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings today.

Thereafter the sight became known as Merlin’s Cave and was popularised by guide and tourist books.

But the story from Monmouth suggests while hanging out near the sea cave at Tintagel, Merlin discovered an infant boy washed ashore by the sea. This he tells us, was King Arthur. The wizard Merlin advised King Uther his son should be raised in secret to protect him. The country was in high power struggles after the Romans had left and Merlin here in secret could give guidance to Arthur on how to be a rightful king.

As a teacher and wise councillor he protected Arthur until he was old enough to protect the country himself.

This awe-inspiring location—a fortress on a cliff’s edge, which has kept generations captivated and inspired -perpetually battered by the elements—provides a perfect stage for the grand, dramatic tales of kings and wizards, (did Earl Richard act them out here, to lavish parties?.

The physical place becomes a metaphor for the legend: beautiful, perilous, and ultimately, a little bit out of reach.

Can we ever truly find Arthur? I don’t know but we can stand in the place where his legend was born, feel the salt spray on our faces, and imagine the events that shaped the cultural identity of a nation.

The Magic of Cornwall and Castles

There are as many as 30 Castles (a large fortified medieval structure) in Cornwall, and Tintagel with it’s salty spray and balanced on it’s rocky outcrop on the North Coast is one of its most magical.

Sitting on its island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (or Trevena – meaning farm stead, estate or on the hill- middle Cornish) it is not only steeped in magic, poets, and folklore but wealth, power and royalty.

In the end, Tintagel Castle is a testament to the power of a story. The ruins themselves may be a puzzle for archaeologists, a collection of stones with a verifiable history. But the spirit of the place, the feeling that draws countless visitors to this remote corner of Cornwall, has nothing to do I don’t think with pottery shards or carbon dating. It is about a collective belief in a romantic and heroic past.

It is the belief that in this wild and beautiful place, magic was real, a king once stood here, and a wizard held the secrets of the world. It is the haunting, beautiful knowledge that even if the physical walls have crumbled, the stories they inspired will stand forever (or as long as Camelot remains a mystery).

Stay in Cornwall

Fancy a stay? What about a Castle stay – Not confusing the ‘real’ Camelot Castle this elegant stay or just afternoon tea should serve you well HERE

Or maybe a bit of Camping? HERE

How about if you need something for a larger group? HERE

A bit of romance? to keep the feeling of medieval tales and chivalry going? HERE

Arthur was brought up in obscurity, and proved his right to the throne of Britain by pulling the sword from the stone (Geoffery of Monmouth) Merlin then revealed that he was really Uther’s son and he dedicated the sword to truth and knightly deeds.

I commend you farewell until next time dear friends…………