TINTAGEL CASTLE. 227 



he indaungers the head ; and lookinge to saue the head indaungers 

 the footinge, accordinge to the olde prouerbe, ' Incidit in Scyllam 

 qui uult vitave Charybdin.' He mnste haue eyes that will scale 

 Tyntagell." " Moste parte of the iland buyldings are ruyned." 



The first mention of Tintagel is about 1150, by Geoffrey of 

 Monmouth, to whom we are indebted for the marvellous exploits 

 of King Arthur. He makes some one describe Tintagel thus : " It 

 " is situated upon the sea, and on every side surrounded by it, and 

 " there is but one entrance into it, and that through a straight 

 " rock, which three men shall be able to defend against the whole 

 " power of the Kingdom." 



Whether the account of King Arthur be true or false, this 

 descrij^tion of Tintagel is sufficiently accurate to prove that there was 

 a tradition of a fortress here belonging to the British Earls of 

 Cornwall. This I conceive to have been little more than a rude 

 fortification of earth, strengthened by the stone on the spot, after 

 the manner of Treryn and other Cornish Cliff Castles, and relying 

 for protection principally on its insular position. 



Probably the Cornish Princes had here all along a place of 

 defence, which, Avhen the great Castle-building age came, was 

 chosen as the site of the building whose ruins now remain. Had 

 a Castle existed here during the Conqueror's reign, it would have 

 been mentioned in Domesday, like Launceston and Trematon. 

 From the omission, we must conclude that it was either a rude 

 Cliff Castle, and as such not entitled to be named amonsr Norman 

 Castles, or that if it had ever oeen more, it had then become 

 entirely dilapidated. 



Both the ruins and the description of them given by Leland, 

 Carew, and Norden, are to my mind convincing proofs of their 

 Plantagenet origin. 



The Castle, like others of that period, consisted of two baileys 

 or courts. The outer bailey or base court was on the mainland, 

 surrounded on the right (E and N) by a wall, outside of which 

 was a moat, " a fals braye dyged and walled." On the left, a line 

 of rocks, strengthened with masonry, where requisite, separated 

 the court from a^trip of high ground running along the clifi", north 

 and south. The gate-way was surmounted by a tower. Adjoining 

 the east wall were stables for eight horses. On the high ground 

 was a very strong semicircular wall, at least seven feet thick, 



