Tintagel, Cornwall

Historical Description

Tintagel, a parish in Cornwall, on the coast, 4 miles NW of Camelford station on the L. & S.W.R. It contains the villages of Bossiney, Tregatta, Treknow, Trewarmett, Trenail, and Trevena, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Camelford. Acreage, 4422; population, 719. There is a parish council consisting of ten members. The manor belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall. Tintagel Castle stood on a cliff about 300 feet high; is alleged to have been the birthplace and the residence of King Arthur; was known at Domesday as Dunchine, signifying " Chain Castle;" became, soon after the Norman Conquest, a residence of the Earls of Cornwall; gave entertainment in 1245 to David, Prince of Wales; passed afterwards to the Crown; was used occasionally as a prison till the time of Elizabeth; went then into neglect on account of the great cost which had been incurred in keeping it in repair; and is now represented by dark and sombre ruins. Legends respecting King Arthur abound in connection with the castle, and some of them are graphically embodied in the poetry of Warton. Slate rocks around the castle's site have been weathered into curious and grotesque forms, variously columnar and cavernous, and some of the excavated ones are whimsically called " King Arthur's cups and saucers." The quarrying of slate was largely carried on, but has greatly diminished. Rock crystals, moonstone, and other interesting minerals have been plentifully found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; gross value, £300 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church is very old, contains remains of Saxon architecture and considerable portions of Norman, belonged once to Fontevrault Abbey in Normandy, was given by Edward IV. to the Dean and Canons of Windsor, and has been restored. There are Methodist and Bible Christian chapels.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Tintagel 1588-1812, Cornwall is available to browse online.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Tintagel from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Tintagel (St. Symphorina))

Maps

Online maps of Tintagel are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:

• Royal Cornwall Gazette
• Cornishman
• West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
• Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.