Tintagel Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Tindage; Tindagel

In the civil parish of Tintagel. In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Tintagel Castle lies on either side of the isthmus linking Tintagel Island to the mainland. Built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall between 1227 and 1233 AD with the Inner Ward on the Island, and the Upper and Lower wards on the mainland, with a bailey on either side of the isthmus. There is no keep. The Upper Ward is built around a natural crag, the main castle entrance being through the curtain wall in the Lower Ward. The Inner Ward contains the Great Hall built on an artificial platform with a thick retaining wall. Built as a double square in plan, the weight of the structure caused the platform to bulge, requiring the construction of 4 massive buttresses. A secondary curtain wall was added to the North of the Great Hall, and also buttressed, to provide protection for the new service wing built there. The gate tower is preceded by a narrow passage overlooked by an elongated enclosure wall on a rock outcrop which defenders could safely use, protected by the wall. The path descending to the sea is protected by the Iron Gate, controlling access to the beach. In the 14th century, the Great Hall was reconstructed on a smaller scale with modifications being made to the service buildings. A survey of the Duchy properties in 1337 records additional detail: two chambers over the gateway, an upper element above the Lower Ward entrance, a stable for eight horses. A cellar and a bakehouse are also documented. By the late 15th century the castle was noted as being strong but ruinous. (PastScape)
Castle built on site of Dark Ages stronghold. It seems the castle was built to associate the Dukes of Cornwall with the Authurian legends rather than for any military or economic reason. Although the major works are by Earl Richard some work was possible started c.1145, six years after Geoffrey de Monmouth's 'History of Britain' claimed Tintagel as the birthplace of Arthur, either by Earl Reginald (Radford 1935) or by the de Hornicotes, who changed their family name to de Tintagel at the end of C12 (Preston-Jones and Rose). The manorial centre was Bossiney Castle (qv) which seems to have maintained some administrative function and status after the foundation of Tintagel.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX051889

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 431862
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/tintagel/tintagel.php
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_south/200/tintagelcastle.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.316
    http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/content/537.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/tintagel.html
• Books
  • Barrowman, R.C., Batey, C.E. and Morris, C.D., 2007, Excavations at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, 1990-1999 (London: Society of Antiquaries)
    Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p42-4
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p23
    O’Mahoney, C., 1989, The medieval pottery from Tintagel (Redruth: Institute of Cornish Studies)
    Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p76
    Padel, O.J., 1981, Tintagel: an Alternative View', in C. Thomas, A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain and Ireland p28-29 (Redruth)
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p307
    Price, M. and H., 1980, Castles of Cornwall (Bossiney Books) p75-87
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, N. revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p201-2
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p845-6
    Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p26-33
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p124-6
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p16-8
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol1 (London) p499-500
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p362
    Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol3 Cornwall p. ccxl, plate xxiv, 304-6 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=403]
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p33
    Borlase, William, 1754, Antiquites, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall (Oxford) p352-3
• Journal Articles
  • Rose, P., 1994, 'The medieval garden at Tintagel Castle' Cornish Archaeology Vol33 p170-82
    Morris, C., Nowakowski, J. and Thomas, C., 1990, 'Tintagel, Cornwall: the 1990 excavations' Antiquity Vol64 No245 p843-849
    Thomas, C., 1988, The 1988 C A U excavations at Tintagel Island: discoveries and their implications' Cornish Studies Vol16 p49-60
    Padel, O.J., 1988, ‘Tintagel in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries' Cornish Studies Vol16 p61-6
    O'Mahoney, C., 1988, ‘Medieval pottery from Tintagel: a summary' Cornish Studies Vol16 p67-8
    Hartgroves, S. and Walker, R., 1988, ‘Excavations in the Lower Ward, Tintagel Castle, 1986’ Cornish Studies Vol16 p9-30
    Thomas, C., 1988, 'Tintagel Castle' Antiquity Vol62 No236 p421-34
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T.B., 1987, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1986' Medieval Archaeology Vol31 p119 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Vol25 p135-185 http://www.cornisharchaeology.org.uk/documents/CA25-5s2.pdf
    McAvoy, F.M., 1984, 'Tintagel Castle' Cornish Archaeology Vol23 p184
    Browse, R.G., 1982, 'Tintagel Castle' Cornish Archaeology Vol21 p189-90
    Radford, C.A.Ralegh, 1974, 'Tintagel Castle and Celtic monastery' Archaeological Journal Vol130 p248-50
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    Radford, C.A.Ralegh, 1942, Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall Vol25 p25-41
    Radford, C.A.Ralegh, 1935, Antiquarian Journal Vol15 p401-19
    Whitley, 1883-5, Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall Vol8 p269-70
    Kinsman, 1877, Journal British Archaeological Association Vol33 p170-5
    Kinsman, 1871-3, Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall Vol4 p42-6
    Wilkinson, 1870, Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall Vol3 p227-35
    MacLauchlan and Haslam, 1851, Royal Institute of Cornwall 32nd report p42-6 plates xxx, xxxi
• Guidebooks
  • Davison, Brian K., 2000, Tintagel Castle (London: English Heritage)
    1999, Tintagel Castle Souvenir Guide (London: English Heritage)
    Thomas, Charles, 1993, English Heritage book of Tintagel: Arthur and archaeology (London: English Heritage)
    Thomas, Charles, 1986, Tintagel Castle (London: English Heritage)
    Radford, C.A.Ralegh, 1939 (2edn), Tintagel Castle Cornwall (HMSO)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p144-5
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cornwalleng.html#cornwall1]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p64, 83
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p316-7 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft
    Harvey, J.H. (ed), 1969, Itineraries (of) William Worcestre (Clarendon Press) p21