The
Ravenna Cosmography, of around 700, makes reference to Purocoronavis (almost certainly a corruption of Durocornovium), 'a fort or walled settlement of the Cornovii': the location is unidentified, but Tintagel and
Carn Brea have both been suggested. If this is correct then it would have been on the site of
Tintagel Castle. Excavations around Tintagel Castle have supported the notion of trade goods there, with ships from along the Atlantic Coast and the Mediterranean Sea bringing pots carrying wine or oil, in the Early medieval period. The site appeared to be one of the places where a local king or warlord, perhaps of
Dumnonia, and his entourage settled for a time, and traded with ships arriving from those far ports.
Excavations . Part of the village of Tintagel (Trevena) can be seen in the distance.|alt= Major excavations beginning with
C. A. Ralegh Radford's work in the 1930s on and around the site of the 12th-century castle have revealed that Tintagel headland was the site of either a high status
Celtic monastery (according to
Ralegh Radford) or a princely fortress as well as trading settlement dating to the 5th and 6th centuries (according to later excavators), in the period immediately following the withdrawal of the
Romans from Britain. Finds of Mediterranean oil and wine jars show that
Sub-Roman Britain was not the isolated outpost it was previously considered to be, for an extensive trade in high-value goods was taking place at the time with the
Mediterranean region. Finds from the excavations are preserved at the
Royal Cornwall Museum in
Truro. In 1998, excavations discovered the
Artognou stone, which has added to Tintagel's Arthurian lore, although historians do not believe the inscription refers to King Arthur. Two seasons of excavation work were undertaken in Tintagel churchyard in the early 1990s.
Antiquities The largest of the
Bronze Age barrows is at the highest point in the parish,
Condolden, another is at Menadue, and there are a number of others along the cliffs. In the
Iron Age there were probably
fortifications at Willapark and Barras Head, and inland at
Trenale Bury. Two of the Roman milestones found in Cornwall are at Tintagel (the earlier of the two is described under Trethevy: the later one was found in the walls of the churchyard in 1889 and is preserved in the church. The inscription can be read as '[I]mp C G Val Lic Licin' which would refer to the
Emperor Licinius (d. 324). There are many other relics of antiquity to be found here such as the so-called King Arthur's Footprint on the Island and a carved rock from Starapark which has been placed outside the
Sir James Smith's School at Dark Lane, Camelford. Rodney Castleden has written about these as Bronze Age ritual objects. "King Arthur's Footprint" is a hollow in the rock at the highest point of Tintagel Island's southern side. It is not entirely natural, having been shaped by human hands at some stage. It may have been used for the inauguration of kings or chieftains as the site is known to have a long history stretching back to the Dark Ages. The name is probably a 19th-century invention by the castle guide. Stone crosses, of which there are two, have both been moved from their original positions: the plainer of the two is Hendra cross (see
Bossiney). Aelnat's cross which was found at
Trevillet and then moved to the Wharncliffe Arms Hotel at Trevena, is finely carved. The inscription can be read as 'Aelnat fecit hanc crucem pro anima sua' (Ælnat made this cross for [the good of] his soul) – the back of the stone has the names of the four evangelists. The name of this man is Saxon, and together with Alfwy mentioned in 1086 he is the only Anglo-Saxon recorded in connection with the area. One of
Thomas Hardy's poems, "By the runic stone" (1917) was interpreted by Evelyn Hardy as referring to Aelnat's cross.
Notable secular buildings in 2009 The village has the
Tintagel Old Post Office, which dates from the 14th century. It became a post office during the 19th century, and is now listed Grade I and owned by the
National Trust. Tintagel Primary School was built at
Treven in 1914 to replace the old church school (founded 1874) and has been extended since. Those who go on to a comprehensive school attend
Sir James Smith's School, Camelford. The Gift House was purchased by the Trustees of Tintagel Women's Institute from
Catherine Johns and not donated as previously thought. It adjoins the Old Post Office. The former Vicarage was built in the early 17th century and substantial additions were made in the late 18th and mid-19th centuries. In the grounds is Fontevrault Chapel and a
columbarium which is one of the best preserved in Cornwall. The site and glebe lands were the home of the vicars as early as the mid-13th century when the benefice came into the hands of the
Abbey of Fontevraud in
Anjou, France. In 2008, the Diocese of Truro decided to acquire new accommodation for future vicars and to sell the vicarage. in 2009
King Arthur's Great Halls at Trevena is a substantial building of the early 1930s. It was built for custard powder manufacturer F. T. Glasscock as the headquarters of the "Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table", behind Trevena House. A variety of Cornish stones are used in the construction and the 73 stained glass windows illustrating the Arthurian tales are by
Veronica Whall; there are several paintings of scenes from the life of King Arthur by
William Hatherell. In 1927, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table was formed in Britain by Frederick Thomas Glasscock (a retired London businessman, d. 1934) to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. Glasscock was resident at Tintagel (in the house "Eirenicon" which he had built) and responsible for the building of King Arthur's Hall (an extension of Trevena House which had been
John Douglas Cook's residence and had been built on the site of the former Town Hall and Market Hall). The hall is now used as a Masonic Hall, and is home to four Masonic bodies.
Hotels The King Arthur's Castle Hotel (now called Camelot Castle Hotel) was built in 1896 and opened in 1899 as an enterprise of Sir Robert Harvey and the architect was
Silvanus Trevail. It was originally intended as the terminus hotel for a planned branch railway line from
Camelford that was never built. Its front has battered walls, a central entrance tower rising to five storeys and projecting four-storey corner towers; the towers have machicolations and rise above the three storeys of the rest of the building. The Great Hall on the first floor is designed around a replica of the Winchester Round Table and has Romanesque arcades with Italian marble piers. In 2010, an exposé of the hotel's business practices was broadcast by the
BBC television programme
Inside Out South West. There were two hotels on Fore Street, Trevena: the Wharncliffe Hotel and the Tintagel Hotel. The Wharncliffe has now been converted into flats (next to the King Arthur's Hall): the Aelnat Cross (Hiberno-Saxon) stands in the grounds. It is named after the
Earl of Wharncliffe who was the largest landowner in the parish until his holdings were sold at the beginning of the 20th century. Opposite the Wharncliffe is the former Tintagel Hotel, once commonly known as Fry's Hotel: this was the terminus for coaches in the days before the railway to
Camelford Station and stands on the site of the medieval chapel of St Denys. Near Dunderhole Point on Glebe Cliff stands a building from the former slate quarry that has been used as Tintagel Youth Hostel (managed by
YHA) for many years.
Churches and chapels in 2008
The Church of St Materiana (Tintagel Parish Church) has been
Anglican since the English Reformation. It was originally built in Norman times. Writing in 1951,
Nikolaus Pevsner was uncertain about the dating and suggests that the Norman work has some Saxon features while the tower may be 13th or 15th century in date. It stands on the cliffs between Trevena and Tintagel Castle and is listed
Grade I. The first church on the site was probably in the 6th century, founded as a daughter church of
Minster: these are the only churches dedicated to
St Materiana though she is usually identified with Madryn, Princess of
Gwent. The existing church may be late 11th or early 12th century: the tower is some three centuries later and the most significant change since then was the
restoration in 1870 by
James Piers St Aubyn. An area of the churchyard was excavated in 1990–91 by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit. There are modern stained glass windows, three modern copies of Old Master paintings, and a Roman milestone (described above under
Antiquities). The parish war memorial stands at the western end of the churchyard and a modern churchyard cross (c. 1910) near the south entrance. There was a Norman
chapel of St
Julitta at the castle, now in ruins, which was excavated in Ralegh Radford's excavations. It is a simple rectangular building and the chancel is of a later date than the nave. In the Middle Ages, there was also a chapel of St
Denys at Trevena: the annual fair was therefore celebrated in the week of his feast day (19 October). From 1925 until 2008 part of the Vicarage outbuildings were also in use as a chapel (the Fontevrault Chapel). The name commemorates the abbey in France which held the patronage of Tintagel during the Middle Ages (the commune is now known as
Fontevraud-l'Abbaye), founded by
Robert of Arbrissel. The Methodist Church has chapels at Trevena and Bossiney. Formerly there were more chapels of various
Methodist sects (Wesleyans, Bible Christians), including at
Trenale and
Trewarmett: the Methodist Cemetery is at Trewarmett. Wesleyan Methodism in Tintagel began in 1807 at Trenale and over the next sixty years gained many adherents though divided among a number of sects (Wesleyan Methodist, Methodist Association, Bible Christian): chapels were built at Trevena in 1838 and Bossiney in 1860. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Camelford Wesleyan Methodist circuit, which included Tintagel, underwent a secession by more than half the members to the
Wesleyan Methodist Association. The various Methodist churches were united again by the agreements of 1907 and 1932. Mary Toms, a
Bible Christian from Tintagel, evangelised parts of the
Isle of Wight.
St Paul's Church, Tintagel has a thirty-thousand piece mosaic of the saint within its walls. Since January 2008, when the church celebrated its 40th anniversary, a modern-day version of
Leonardo da Vinci's
The Last Supper by local artist Nicholas St John Rosse has hung above the main altar in the church. It has made international headlines due to its use of modern clothing and local people as the apostles. People from many other countries also come to Tintagel to view the names of their babies who have been lost due to miscarriage, stillbirth or other cause. The names are recorded in the
Miscarriage & Infant Loss Memorial Book which is kept at the church. At Trethevy is the Anglican
St Piran's Chapel. Another Anglican chapel (the church of the Holy Family) is at Treknow.
Quarrying The extensive
Tintagel Slate Quarries are largely responsible for the jagged coastline south of Tintagel and stretch all the way to Trebarwith Strand. The quarries were worked from the fifteenth until the early twentieth centuries. The slate was mainly used for roofing and the remains of quarry buildings and machinery strong points can be seen from both sea level and the
South West Coast Path. Tintagel's
youth hostel building formerly housed the office, powerhouse and smithy for
Lambshouse quarry. A 19th century engine house still stands above the
Prince of Wales quarry and
Bowithick quarry is now a waste disposal facility. The only slate quarries in Tintagel that remain operational are
Trevillet and Trebarwith Road Rustic Quarry. ==Geography and nature==