MYSTICAL BRITAIN
Top left: A bronze of
King Arthur overlooks
the Atlantic Ocean at
Tintagel Castle
Top right: St Michael’s
Church tower on
Glastonbury Tor,
SomersetEMILY WHITFIELDWICKS/IMRAN KHAN/ALAMYTintagel Castle
In August, the charity English Heritage
succeeded in completing a miracle worthy
of an Arthurian legend. The two halves of
Tintagel Castle, separated by a 190-foot
gorge, have finally been reunited after
more than 500 years.
The narrow strip of land that once
connected the 13th-century gatehouse with
the main courtyard on the headland had
long since eroded away, so it has taken the
installation of a jaw-dropping suspended
footbridge to reconnect the two. The castle’s
old Cornish name even makes reference
to the precarious path, with “Din Tagell”
apparently translating as “the Fortress
of the Narrow Entrance”.
Tintagel is inextricably linked with the
legend of King Arthur, after Geoffrey of
Monmouth, writing in the 12th century,
claimed the monarch had been conceived
here. And it was this claim that almost
certainly lead Richard, Earl of Cornwall,
to build his cliff-top fortress here a
centur y later.
As well as exploring the castle ruins,
you will also find a bronze statue of
King Arthur and the recently-excavated
footprints of houses on the headland
that date back as far as the 5th century
BC. The footbridge, meanwhile, was the
culmination of a wider £5 million project
and it was no understatement when English
Heritage’s Kate Mavor said, “Tintagel Castle
has been made whole again.”
While you’re in the area, be sure to venture
down Tintagel Road towards Boscastle.
Not only will you reach the Museum of
Witchcraft and Magic with its vast collection
of religious and mystical artefacts, but you
will also pass St Nectan’s Glen along the
way, a 60-foot waterfall hidden in a
tree-lined glade that locals believe was
once home to the namesake saint.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk