Evening star., 1934-05-10
GHOST OF ARTHUR
CL|NGS TO TOWN
Beautiful Stone Memorial
Built to Mythical War;
rior and Knights.

Modern critics may doubt thai
King Arthur and his Knights of the
Table Round ever existed, but in
Tintagel, Arthurian legend is sc
strong that a stone memorial hall has
been erected to the mythical warrior
who Is supposed to have led the
Christian kings of Britain against the
Saxon kings of Kent in the sixth
century.
"Tintagel is lonely, wind-swept
village on the northwest coast OF
Cornwall whose chief csaim to fame
is the crumbling ylsjia of a gray old
cliffSide castle-one of the most re-
markable monuments of antiquity in
England" says a bulletin from the
headquarters of the National Geo.
graphic Society.
Whether King Arthur ever con-
Quoted his Table Round in the ancient
stronghold that crowns Tintagel Head
1t Is certain that it dates back to an
unfathomable age. To Cornishmen il
seems logical that a legend which has
survived so many centuries must have
a respectable origin. So stories of
King Arthur, Merlin the Enchanter
and others are preserved. if not
strictly believed, in Tintagel.
Mind Pictures Romance.
"At Tintagel, as a matter of fact
what the visitor brings measures what
he takes away Come full of the
Arthurian legend; come with Tenny-
son. with Geoffrey of Monmouth, with
Mol1nru in, TO of ha
vou will SAVIOR nothing but romance
Nowadays, Tintagel castle is but
a tracery of crumbling walls on a
vast headland, at the foot of which
the most superb seas of Cornwall
crash and glitter. So far below is the
water that even when the thinneSt
mist is in the air it is hardly possible
to see the white foam of the breakers.
"The castle is in two parts, Sepa-
rated by deep ravine which, legend
Says, was once bridged. That it was
impregnable before the days of ar
tillery or aircraft is evident, de-
Tended as it is by steep cliffs and the
sea. Roman. Saxon and Norman
built here before the Cornish earls of
recorded history.
To-day scores of sheep pasture
fearlessly on the slippery slopes which
plunge so swiftly to the sea. But
the iron studded door of the keep
as in days of yore, is still the only
exit or entrance to the headland.
Narrow, steep stone steps lead from
1t down the cliff to the high. mar
row causeway linking the headland
with the mainland
Born of Battle.
1.-THE banqueting hall of the castle
Is open to the sky, and the sun and
stars look down in turn upon its
turf-clad floor. Grasses grow where
once Ygrayne, wife of the Duke of
Cornwall, watched the siege of Castle
Terrabil on the mainland. When
Terrabil fell Uther Pendragon, its
conquerer, slew the Duke and speedily
married his widow the same day. 1t
was from this marriage that King
Arthur was born, legend relates.
THE village of Tintagel (also called
Trevena) lies about mile from the
castle and sea, at the head of a long
winding ravine. 1T Is not port, al
though occasionally a boat with sup.
plies comes in under the cliff t(
the steep, shingle beach. In addi.
ton to a few Summer hotels and cot
tages the village possesses a four.
teenth century stone house with q
sagging slate roof that gives it the
appearance of sway-backed horse.
Perhaps this old dwelling was once
the residence of minor nobility, In