Tintagel….. King Arthurs Birthplace ?
Since I was a small lad, living in North Devon, I’ve been a frequent visitor to Tintagel and it’s famous castle.
Craggy coves like the one you see below could and often were used by local people as safe harbours. Sometimes a fishing village would develop around the beach, protected by its headlands. North Devon and North Cornwall have hundreds of such coves ( particularly Devon).
If the village became an important place for trade and fishing, then someone might build a castle……perhaps on top of the community’s own defensive banks and ditches.
Tintagel itself shows signs of multiple layers of communal life and trade. It’s history is a rich one.
Archaeology has proven that Phoenicians and Romans traded in the small harbour/beach, and that it was a good trade. Pottery, oils, tin and wool are all example of the goods that exchanged hands. This was a profitable place to be.
The castle straddles the mainland and the island, today, but historically there was a neck of land that connected the two things, and the castle would have encapsulated this too.
One of my favourite pastimes was going for walks around the coastline, following what we’re public trails then, but what is now known as the South West Coastal Path. It’s a dramatic walk and in some places the cliffs are vertical and drop hundreds of feet to the ocean below.
What always struck me was archaeology that was to be found everywhere along this coast. Everything from Bronxe Age tombs to WW2 gun emplacement….. it’s a very rich area indeed and as a Seymour Travels and a Rick Steves guide, I look forward to returning to it with a small tour group, in the Spring.