Tintagel Castle

History

Excavations in the 1930s and again in 2016 and 2017 found evidence of a much older settlement on the site, a high-status stronghold of the 5th or early 6th century with trading links to the Mediterranean, likely connected to the kings of Dumnonia. Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, built his stone castle here in the 13th century partly to capitalise on the site's growing Arthurian reputation, though it fell out of use and into ruin within a few generations. Antiquarian and tourist interest grew through the 19th century, well before archaeology confirmed the earlier occupation.

Architecture

What survives are the fragmentary walls and foundations of Richard of Cornwall's 13th-century castle, split by a deep chasm between mainland and island courts that were once linked by a bridge or causeway now lost to erosion.

Worth knowing

Geoffrey of Monmouth named Tintagel as the place of King Arthur's conception in his 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae, cementing the site's Arthurian legend centuries before the castle itself was built. Archaeological digs in 2016 and 2017 uncovered a 5th or 6th century palace with imported Mediterranean pottery and an inscribed slate.