Tintagel Castle sits on a dramatic clifftop headland on the north Cornwall coast, split…

Tintagel Castle sits on a dramatic clifftop headland on the north Cornwall coast, split between the mainland and a jagged promontory jutting into the Atlantic. Long before any castle stood here, the site was a thriving settlement from the 5th to 7th centuries with trading links to the Mediterranean, possibly a seat of the kings of Dumnonia. Geoffrey of Monmouth named it as the place of King Arthur’s conception in the 1130s, and a century later Richard, Earl of Cornwall, built a castle here purely because of that legend, on a site with no military value whatsoever. The castle was already ruinous by the 1330s but the Arthurian myth has kept people coming ever since.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​