Myth meets history at Tintagel Castle – a dramatic fortification set on a precipitous cliff. Legend says it was the stronghold of King Arthur and, although little links the man and the site, it’s still somewhere you won’t want to miss.

The main body of the castle perches on a tiny craggy headland. You get to it by walking across an impressive new slate and steel bridge which spans a plunging 190-foot gorge. It echoes a slender land walkway that was lost to erosion around 500 years ago.

On the headland, fragments of 13th century fortifications stick out from behind rocks, while the remains of low walls sketch out where buildings would have stood.

History

Although the headland at Tintagel was inhabited in the 5th and 6th centuries – around the time of the legendary King Arthur – there’s little concrete evidence to connect the place with the mythical warrior.