‘King Arthur’s bridge never existed’! Heritage charity defends its decision to spend £2.5m restoring a legendary crossing at a Cornish castle that experts say is a total fantasy
- English Heritage are spending £2.5m ($3.3m) to restore a bridge they say existed in the time of King Arthur
- Prominent historians say King Arthur is a legend and there has not been a crossing for ‘thousands of years’
- English Heritage claims archaeological evidence among others shows it stood in the 15th century
- The bridge is said to have joined two parts of Tintagel castle in Cornwall, one of which is on a rocky outcrop
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English Heritage has defended its decision to spend £2.5m ($3.3m) rebuilding a bridge in Cornwall that it says existed hundreds of years ago during King Arthur’s reign.
The new bridge is to join two parts of Tintagel castle that were once thought to be joined by land but are now separated by a 190ft (57m) gorge.
Historians have however contested the decision by saying that not only is King Arthur a legend, that there has been no crossing for thousands of years where the restoration is taking place.
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English Heritage has defended its decision to spend £2.5m ($3.3m) rebuilding a bridge in Cornwall that it says existed hundreds of years ago during King Arthur’s reign (artist’s impression)
The bridge is believed to have been extremely narrow, permanently guarded by three guards and have a drawbridge in the middle.
During the reign of King Arthur and his father before him, the bridge at Tintagel was thought to be a key part of the fortress.
But historian Nikolai Tolstoy, an author on the Arthurian legend, thinks its all fictitious assumptions.
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He said to The Telegraph: ‘As every geologist knows, the gulf between the promontory and the mainland has existed since prehistoric times.
There never was a bridge linking the two features, and the assertion that Geoffrey of Monmouth refers to one is untrue.
What that notorious fabulist actually wrote was that Merlin crossed by a narrow, rocky ridge i.e., a feature very similar to the approach that exists there today.’
The new bridge is to join two parts of Tintagel castle that were once thought to be joined by land but are now separated by a 190ft (57m) gorge (artist’s impression)
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English Heritage has hit back by arguing that there are multiple sources of evidence that says that the bridge once existed.
Dr Jeremy Ashbee, Head Properties Curator, English Heritage, told The Telegraph:’ Archaeological, architectural and documentary evidence all concur that the site formerly extended into the present gap.
Bernard Richards, an emeritus English fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford said: ‘I was appalled to read of the proposal to build a bridge between the mainland and the island at Tintagel in Cornwall.’
According to folklore, the castle (located here) was home to the king and the birthplace of Arthur, after the monarch enlisted the help of Merlin in crossing the gorge and bedding the wife of the Duke of Cornwall
Last week, plans of the bridge were revealed in a video released by English Heritage with details of what it would look like and how it could be constructed.
Tintagel Castle received a £2.5m ($3.3m) cash donation to rebuild a connection that once allowed Uther Pendragon to sire his son, Arthur.
The donation came from Julia and Hans Kristian Rausing, heir to the Tetra Pak fortune, as well as smaller contributions from more than 1,000 people.
English Heritage is leading the project following the donation from philanthropists Hans and Julia Rausing which adds to smaller contributions from more than 1,000 people. All contributors signed a piece of slate to mark their monetary donation
The crossing will link the separate parts of Tintagel Castle – on the mainland and on a rocky outcrop – via a bridge 187ft (57m) above sea level.
Sections of the castle are on both land masses and a medieval drawbridge once joined them together but disappeared centuries ago.
According to folklore, the castle was home to the king and the birthplace of Arthur, after the monarch enlisted the help of Merlin in crossing the gorge and bedding the wife of the Duke of Cornwall.
A 190 foot gap separates the two locations and they are currently only accessible by foot via a rocky path.
The solution, according to English Heritage, is to build a 98 foot (30 metres) long bridge made of two separate cantilevers,
The two-pronged design is to leave a 1.5 inch (4cm) gap in the middle to allow people to appreciate the moment they step to the other side.
The original bridge that joined the two parts of the castle together crumbled some time between the 14th and 17th century and the modern day replacement will be built in the same location.
The charity says it is simply rebuilding a historically and culturally significant site that has been lost from the Cornish coast.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR?
The facts around the real King Arthur are mired in myth and folklore, but historians believe he ruled Britain from the late 5th and early 6th centuries.
Many historians agree that while the king was a genuine historical figure in early Britain, he could in fact be a composite of multiple people from an age of poor record keeping.
There are many versions of the Arthur legend, but some common threads are interwoven throughout them.
In 410 AD, the Romans pulled their troops out of Britain and, with the loss of their authority, local chieftans and kings competed for land.
In 449 AD, King Vortigern invited the Angles and Saxons to settle in Kent in order to help him fight the Picts and the Scots.
Guinevere leading a wounded Lancelot from The Rochefoucauld Grail. The illuminated 14th century manuscript containing what is believed to be the oldest surviving account of the legends of King Arthur
However, the Angles and Saxons betrayed Vortigern at a peace council where they drew their knives and killed 460 British chiefs.
The massacre was called the Night of the Long Knives, which, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, occurred at a monastery on the Salisbury Plain.
Ambrosius Aurelianus, became King and consulted the wizard Merlin to help him select an appropriate monument to raise in honour of the dead chieftains.
Merlin suggested that the King’s Ring from Mount Killarus in Ireland be dismantled and brought to England.
The king’s brother and Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, led an expedition of soldiers to bring the stones from Ireland to England.
Merlin magically reconstructed the stones as Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain around the burials of the dead British chieftains in the monastery cemetery.
Some legends say Arthur was born at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall and was taken by Merlin to be raised by Sir Ector.
Shortly thereafter, civil war broke out in England and Uther Pendragon was killed.
When Arthur was a young boy he drew a sword called Caliburn from a stone.
Some legends say Arthur was born at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall and was taken by Merlin to be raised by Sir Ector.
One version of the legend states that the sword was made at Avalon from a sarsen stone that originated either from Avebury or Stonehenge and whoever drew the sword from the stone was the true King of England.
Arthur was coronated in the ruins of the Roman fort at Caerleon in Wales.
In another version, King Ambrosius Aurelianus led a battle against the Saxons at Badon Hill.
Aurelianus was killed and his nephew, Arthur, took control of the soldiers and won the battle. Later, Arthur lost Caliburn in a fight with Sir Pellinore but was saved by Merlin’s magic.
Arthur received a new sword (Excalibur) and a scabbard from Nimue, the Lady in the Lake at Avalon.
The scabbard was magical and as long as Arthur wore it, he could not die.
Arthur had three half-sisters who are sometimes referred to as sorceresses.
Arthur fell in love with Morgana, not knowing that she was his half-sister and they had a son named Mordred.
When Arthur discovered the truth, he was horrified and ordered all male infants born at the same time as his son to be brought to Caerleon.
The babies were put onto an unattended ship and set out to sea, which crashed on some rocks and sank.
Film, ‘King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword’, (2017)Jude Law’s sneering Vortigern
Mordred survived the sinking of the ship and was found by a man walking on the shore and taken home.
Arthur fell in love again with a woman named Guinevere who was the daughter of King Lodegrance of Camylarde.
They married and her dowry included a round table and many knights. Arthur established his court at Camelot
The round table became a symbol of equality amongst his knights, for no knight was seated in a position superior to another.
In addition, a mealtime rule at the table was that no one could eat until they told a story of daring.
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