Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-07
TRUTH ABOUT TlNTAoEL
King Arthur Was Born There
(Amons other Plaees) and oe.
cupled a Castle Built Many
Centuries After He Died
BY GEORGE NOX MCCAIN
Tintagel, Cornwall, England.


MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY lost the
1'A opportunity Of his life by not being born
century earlier.
Also by not being born here on the bleak
storm beaten cliffs of-Cornwall.
Quay once said. petulantly, that he
wanted to own a Governor.
There are those who say he did once-own
a Governor of Pennsylvania.
l doubt 1t exceedingly.
However, II he had lived here in Tintagel,
he might have owned outright two mem.
bers Of Parliament.
One man did own them. It is, I think,
the only case in the history Of the British
Empire.
TN THE .olden days before the great war,
! and woman suffrage. and universal suf-
frage, they had. here in England, what they
called qualified electors"
In other words. to be voter you had
to possess certain qualifications.
Principally. you had to belong to the
better-off class or you couldn't vote at the
parliamentary elections.
4 voter must be "quali6ed" today; but
not as he was then.
1t so happened that the district in which
Tintagel was situated sent two members to
Parliament.
This, please remember. was back about
17S4.~
The Vicar of Tintagel was the only quail.
fled voter in the district, so great we're the
restrictions.
He selected the two men and cast the one
vote that elected them.
Quay never possessed such power.
If he selected II man for Office, he had sub
sequently to elect him.
The wears one vote was the solid vote
of the district.
TING ARTHUR OF THE ROUND
IL TABLE was born here at Tintagel.
Rather, I should say this is one OF the
places at which he was born.
King Arthur was like Homer and Christie.
pher Columbo and other celebrities.
Various cities contended for the honor OF
If you doubt the story that Arthur and
Launcelot and the other Round Table
knights once went clattering up and down
the single street Of this town, its people
Indignantly -refute you by pointing to the
remnants Of his castle.
That is the two castles; part of the same
one.
A deep ravne separates these two rem
nants, and that is what makes the story
smell fishy.
Once, ages ago, bridge is said to have
spanned the ravine. 1t must have been
wonder
Said ravine is now about 200 yards wide.
1t opens directly on the sea.
At its upper end there are about ntty
yards of shngle beach. 80
That is the Harbor of Tintagel!
CTANDING out in sharp black silhouette
- against the evening sky are the ruins
of considerable castle.
Arthur lived a dozen centuries or so ago.
The castle. part of 1t, antl1uarlans say,
dates from the Norman period.
Seems like the dates are all mixed.
One part stands on the 'lsland,' as it
Is called.
The other ruin stands on the mainland
Il t,n>
Just as these people show you King Ar
thurs castle. so down the country little
distance they show you pool of water.
Into this Arthur threw his great sword
"EXcalibur.'
1t is this same little lake-it's not large
or acknowledgements which the magic boat
carrying the Three Queens all in white came
slowly.
sailed away into eternity with him.
At least that's the story.
Tennyson and Mallory have glorifed the
theme.
r CAME up the Cornwall Coast for a spe-
l. cial purpose
wanted to see Tintagel again.
Also | wanted to see the place where l
once came within an ace OF being locked
nm all night with the spooks and ghosts and
spectcrs of King Arthur's castle.
1t happened a dozen years ago.
L
fully beautiful Cornish Coast for my lee
lures. ,
That portion of the castle on the
"Island," as 1t is called, Is environed by
inaccessible cliffs and n ruined wall that is
practically unscalable.
4 little door in the wall at the top of
n rocky path admits to the grounds, high.
stony and unkempt--then.
At the bottom. in the ravine, in cottage,
an old woman in not overly clean cap
Al nd nnIy
Likewise she kept the key Of the keep.
She was the chateaine of the castle, as it
As Baedeker would say: Cottage;
rf'mts; small gratuity!'
0N THIS particular afternoon, dozen
" wears ago, I had dutifuly clipped" the
old lady, but had resolutely refused to buy
her postal cards or candy.
There were several small parties Of
American and British tourists roaming
around when ! arrived.
As usual, there was the senseless chatter
the accompanying OH ing and Ah-ing and
the picking up of rocks for relies.
I had barely entered and closed the door
in the wall when n breathless Rritisher
with wife and cousins ana aunts hailed Inc
from the outside.
would | open the door? The old party
at the bottom had run out of keys. I
had the last one.
was obiging. i admitted him and asked
him TO leave the key In the door il he left
before 7 did.
lie left, all right; otherwise this would
have never been written.
T>WILIGHT was falling when descended
i to the door in the old wall. 1t was
locked.
| raced back up the hill. but not soul
was in sight.
The prospect of staying up there on a
shelterless cliff, with the Atlantic $50 feet
below on one side and the village half
mile below on the other. faced me.
began shouting to attract attention.
yelled till thought ! would take pneu-
monia. A.,