Mr. Lysons says, “this castle, which is of great antiquity, is
reported to have been the birthplace of King Arthur, with respect to
whom it was the opinion of Lord Chancellor Bacon, ‘that there was
truth enough in his story to make him famous, besides that which was
fabulous.’ His history nevertheless has been so blended with the
marvellous by the monkish historians, that some authors have been
disposed to doubt of his existence; and the circumstances connected
with his supposed birth at Tintagel, are clearly not among those parts
of his story most entitled to credit. We find no mention of this
castle in authentic history till the year 1245, when Richard Earl of
Cornwall was accused of having offered an asylum at his castle of
Tintagel, to his nephew David Prince of Wales, in rebellion against
his uncle Henry the Third. Thomas de la Hyde was governor or constable
of the castle in 1307, Thomas le Arcedekne in 1313, and William de
Botreaux in 1325. It appears by a survey taken about that time, that
the castle was in a very ruinous state. The great hall was taken down
by John of Eltham. John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, was made
constable in 1388.” Mr. Carew states, p. 286 Lord Dunstanville’s
Edition, “that being turned from a palace to a prison, this castle
restrained one John Northampton’s liberty, who for abusing the same in
his unruly mayoralty of London, was condemned hither as a perpetual
penitentiary,” and Thomas Earl of Warwick was also a prisoner there in
1397.
Lord Treasurer Burleigh abolished the office of constable or governor
of this castle.
Norden has a print, accompanied by a description of the castle, as it
remained in his time, about 1584, when considerable portions of the
fortress appear to have remained both on the island and on the main
land.
The living belonged to the Great Benedictine Monastery at Fontevrault
in Anjou, distinguished by the peculiarity of being presided over by
an abbess, although the establishment consisted of monks as well as
nuns. Having been seized into the king’s hands with other benefices
belonging to alien houses, this parish was given by Edward the Fourth
to the collegiate church of Windsor, where the great tithes and the
patronage of the living still remain.
It is stated by Doctor Borlase, that besides the chapel within the
fortress, dedicated to St. Ulette or Uliane, two others existed in the
parish, one dedicated to St. Tiron and the other to St. Dennis.
I have retained the fabulous history of the Great Arthur, with
feelings similar to those which induced the Greeks to dwell on the
twelve labours of their Hercules, or the Scandinavians to recount the
exploits of Odin. In a manner similar to what took place with respect
to them, there exist reasons for conjecturing, at least that a
mythological personage of remote antiquity became blended with a
British warrior who opposed the Saxons, and that the constellation
Arcturus is in this way connected with the Cornish chief.
The tales translated from the Celtic by Jeffery of Monmouth, Bishop of
St. Asaph in 1152, are followed by the author from whom Mr. Hals
collected his materials; they are also copied into the romance of
Prince Arthur, where in Caxton’s edition is a print of the king
sitting in the middle of his round table, with the knights companions
surrounding its circle. And this print has evidently given origin to
the lines of our most facetious poet, proving from the round table
that knight errants were accustomed to eat like other persons. See
part I. canto 1, line 387.
Mr. Hals says this is the place called Donecheniv in Domesday Survey.
Dunechine, would mean the fortress or a chasm, corresponding precisely
with the situation.
Joseph of Exeter, from whom Mr. Hals has translated some lines on this
place, is mentioned with great commendation in Warton’s History of
English Poetry: “But a miracle of this age in classical composition
was Joseph of Exeter, commonly called Josephus Iscanus. He wrote two
epic poems in Latin heroic verse. The first is on the Trojan War; it
is in six books, and dedicated to Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury.
The second is entitled Antiocheis, The War of Antioch, or the Crusade.
The former is preserved; but a fragment only remains of the latter,
found in the library of Abingdon Abbey.”
In the retreat of Gothlouis before Uter Pendragon, Mr. Hals mentions
Exeter under the name of Caer Iske, but without much commendation of
the martial spirit possessed by its inhabitants. If either Iske is the
proper name of this river, or the general term for a river has been
changed into Ex, the Celtic name will exactly accord with the present
Ex-cester, as the word is still pronounced in Devonshire, the camp or
fortress on the Ex.
Tintagel parish contains 4001 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3674 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 499 10 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 649 | 730 | 877 | 1006
giving an increase of 55 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Charles Dayman, presented by the Dean and
Canons of Windsor in 1810.