A4 OBSERVATIONS ON TINTAGEL CASTLE. 
in this direction extended from the present door-way of the Island 
portion of it, to the opposite side, and parallel to the existing pre- 
cipice. Iam not only led to this conclusion from the state of the 
cliff in each direction, but also from portions of ancient masonry 
on the Island part of the ruin, close to the Door, which, evidently, 
were connected with walls no longer in existence. It is moreover 
manifest that the existing boundary wall on the southern portion 
of the ruin on the mainland was originally, either a partition or 
built for protection after the fall of the cliff, and not’ an outer 
and boundary wall, and that the massive circular wall, which at 
present forms a striking feature of the ruin, originally extended 
on the cliff (which has since fallen and now forms the precipice). 
for at least 30 or 40 yards. 
After repeated observations, I feel convinced that the present 
picturesque appearance of Tintagel Castle is entirely attributable 
to a succession of slips of the strata, which are a soft schistose clay- 
slate, both on the western and the northern sides. Any one 
looking at the north wall of the Great Court on the mainland 
will see, not only how exactly it corresponds with that portion on 
the opposite side of the chasm on the Island, but how by the 
process of land-slips on either side—(a process which is even 
at this day in action)—the great interval has been caused. I 
can, therefore, only conclude that this great boundary of the 
Castle on the northern side was unbroken and continuous, ex- 
tending, originally, from the N.E. angle of the Great Court to 
the Island. 
The site of the Castle then, I conclude, at first represented a 
promontory terminating in Tintagel head. It is probable indeed, 
that this promontory always presented an irregular outline, and 
that at the point where the Castle originally stood that irregu- 
larity assumed somewhat of a peninsular appearance; but that 
originally the Castle, now disunited by a vast chasm, was a con- 
tinuous and unbroken fortress, I entertain no doubt whatever. 
The fullest ancient record of the Castle is, I believe, that given 
by Hals, who states, upon the authority of Carew, that the draw- 
bridge which connected the two parts of the Castle “was extant 
within man’s remembrance” when he wrote his Survey of Cornwall, 
which was published in 1602. Now we have the evidence of the 
caption or seizin of the Castle taken in the reign of Edward the 
