The end-of-the-world castle where Britain’s greatest legend was born

Tintagel feels like the end of the world, its dramatic cliffs looking out towards the endless Atlantic Ocean. But this coastal Cornish village is also where a world of legend begins.

King Arthur probably wasn’t a real person, but we’re long past the stage where that matters. The folk tales of wizards, knights, magical swords and a big round table have undergone countless retellings and reshapings.

The heroic king of Britain is one of those characters, like Odysseus, Robin Hood or William Tell, where the sheer weight of legend crushes the point of reality. Tintagel, in most tellings, is where he was conceived.

The single most influential book on Arthurian legend was Geoffrey on Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. Written in the 12th century, it told the fanciful tale of fifth century British king Uther Pendragon, who became obsessed with the Duke of Cornwall’s wife, Igraine.

The Duke, Gorlois, had Igraine kept out of harm’s way at the impregnable coastal fortress at Tintagel. But the wizard Merlin used magic to disguise Uther as Gorlois, and Uther snuck into the castle to sleep with Igraine. That night, the future King Arthur was conceived.

This all needs taking with a hefty fistful of salt, but it doesn’t stop hundreds of visitors descending on Tintagel Castle every day.

The castle is spectacularly sited, split between a grassy mainland and a rocky peninsula. A chasm separates the mainland and the “island″⁣, and the castle ruins are on both sides.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the original fortress built on the site. It’s a result of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s book, not a feature of it.

In the 13th century, King Henry III’s brother, Richard, was made Earl of Cornwall. Enthused by the Arthurian legend, Richard wanted somewhere impressive to receive guests. He built his defensively useless castle on the spot that best fitted Geoffrey of Monmouth’s description.

Alas, Richard’s successors showed considerably less enthusiasm for his new toy, and Tintagel Castle quickly fell into ruin.

That’s the state it remains in today, with the setting far more gripping than the explanations of which crumbled stone wall belonged to which room.

Another part of the legend lies below the castle at Tintagel Haven, however. This small, grey-sand cove has pockmarked cliffs on three sides, and one of those indents is a 100-metre long rock tunnel that cuts under the castle. It’s great fun to clamber through.

This tunnel has been known since the 19th century as Merlin’s Cave, with some retrofitted versions of the King Arthur story suggesting this was where the great wizard lived.

But if you’re wanting lots of Arthurian stories, Tintagel Castle is somewhat disappointing. Signage largely sticks to provable facts rather than knightly tales, and the small museum section of the visitor centre doesn’t devote much space to the legend.

Luckily, there is another attraction in Tintagel that does. King Arthur’s Great Halls is an eccentric labour of love that defies easy categorisation.

The two connected halls are the passion project of Frederick Thomas Glasscock, and have been open since 1933. The smaller hall features 10 paintings of scenes from Arthurian Legend by artist William Hatherell. They now form the basis of an audiovisual presentation which spotlights the paintings as the story is told, from Arthur’s conception at Tintagel to his death at the hands of his illegitimate son, Mordred.

The Great Hall is weirder still, with another grand throne, a stone-carved round table, suits of armour and the flags representing Arthur’s knights. Around the hall are 72 stained-glass windows, some representing the knights, some depicting Arthurian scenes such as the future king pulling the sword from the stone.

It’s a simultaneously impressive and bewildering place, like a cathedral, but devoted to a fictional king rather than a beloved saint.

Like the rest of Tintagel, this is somewhere best approached with suspension of disbelief. Questioning too hard brings no benefits. Now, time to see if I can find Merlin in that cave…

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Tintagel is on the North Cornwall coast, a four-and-a-quarter-hour drive from London Heathrow Airport. Tintagel Castle tickets cost from £15 ($31) and entrance to King Arthur’s Great Halls costs £8 ($17). See English-heritage.org.uk and kingarthursgreathalls.co.uk

STAY
Doubles at the Camelot Castle Hotel, overlooking Tintagel Haven, cost from £210 ($395), room only. See camelotcastle.com