Post 15/2025 Cornwall UK: “Discover the land where history meets legend,” invites the welcome flyer for Tintagel Castle. “Legend, history and archaeology all suggest that this rocky headland was a royal settlement and thriving trading port, used by the Cornish kings of Dumnonia between the fifth and the seventh centuries.”

Further: “In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth named it as the place where the legendary King Arthur was conceived. It was almost certainly the link to the literary hero that inspired Richard, Earl of Cornwall, to build the castle here during the 1230s.”

There you have it. Legend, history, archaeology together reveal the high status settlement of Kastel Dintagel a’gas dynnergh (Cornish, Welcome to Tintagel Castle). It is owned by English Heritage.

Sculpture, kingly figure “Gallos.”

Castle booklet: “The Gallos sculpture on the headland of Tintagel evokes the idea of both the historical kings of the Britons and the legendary figure of Arthur.”

Bluebells near the top of the island.

The Tintagel Old Post Office

The Tintagel Old Post Office in the village welcomes visitors, too. It’s a National Trust property. We visited both properties with friends Marilyn and Steve. We started with coffee and a cookie at a café and then walked across the street to the 600-year-old post office.

We learned the building started out as a farmhouse, housing both the family and animals and thereafter adapted to other uses. “The building is recorded as having been used as a greengrocers, dressmakers, and shoemakers. The final use of the building was a the letter-receiving office for the village, sometime between 1870-1878.” In 1903 the National Trust agreed to buy and look after the house.

Boscastle

Boscastle is a village and fishing port about four miles northeast of Tintagel. We had late afternoon tea in the village, at a restaurant overlooking the channel that run through the village’s step-sided valleys. An August 16, 2004 storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in several hours, causing the rivers Valency and Jordan to burst their banks and rush into the village, flooding 58 properties and sweeping away 150 cars.

Another wonderful day out. Thank you Marilyn and Steve!

-John