Our Sunday started out by going to the harbor village of Bude. Its importance was a source of sea sand useful for improving the inland soil. This was transported on the Bude Canal. With new rail links, it became a popular seaside destination in the 20th century. Leaving the car park we saw people in the quirky canal boats ... little automobiles!
The original plan had been to use barges to transport sand through the sea lock. However, this was not considered effective and a system of rail tracks designed for trucks pulled by horses was developed instead. Some of the rails are still visible today, running alongside the canal towpath and down towards the beach.
The walk down the canals was so enjoyable. We had a great time taking in the sights of Bude and their famous canals. As a plus, we learn so much on these outings!
Our next destination was Crackington and Boscastle. As we drove, I had to take a few pictures of these typical English lanes (or tiny roads!) that we travel all the time on these trips. It never ceases to amaze us of the skill it takes to drive on these very narrow lanes and be able to maneuver passing without scraping each car. Always a fun trip and we have complete confidence in our driver!!!
Crackington Haven is a coastal village with a stony shore … but a sandy beach is revealed at low water. The surrounding cliffs are well known for their visible folded sedimentary rock formations.
As we entered Crackington Haven we saw this home on the hillside with a thatched roof and the look as if it were just lifted out of a storybook!
Most of the village has these beautiful stone walls along the road properties.
And as all English villages, wild flowers abound! Stunning!
One hundred years ago, Boscastle was the only place where a boat could pull into harbor along 40 miles of the north coast of Cornwall. Boscastle was then a busy place with a commercial port for most of the 19th century. A flash flood on August 16, 2004 caused extensive damage to the village of Boscastle. Residents were trapped in houses as the roads turned into rivers: people were trapped on roofs, in cars, in buildings and on the river's banks and the village's visitor center was washed away. A total of 91 people were rescued but there were no fatalities. Around 50 cars were swept into the harbor and the bridge was washed away, roads were submerged under 9 feet of water, making communication effectively impossible until flood-waters subsided.
The old weathered river wooden bench in front of this entryway states in English "Rising River Rushes By" which we assume is the translation from what is written above in what we believe to be in the old Cornish language.
There are various shops and stores along the now lovely river running through Boscastle which was the same river that flooded the village in 2004.
We had an interesting time going through The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. It houses exhibits devoted to folk magic, ceremonial magic, Freemasonry, and Wicca, with its collection of such objects having been described as the largest in the world.
WITCH WEIGHING CHAIR
As attitudes to witchcraft changed, Weighing Chairs were actually used to help people suspected of witchcraft by weighing them against their local Church Bible. The Bible was thought of as a symbol of spiritual truth, which would identify whether a person was a witch or not - a kind of Christian magic. The person was only proven guilty if they weighed less than the Bible.
Again, we were amazed at how much water goes in and out of the rivers, canals, beaches and shores with the tides. It seems that everywhere we go that there are boats that sit on the sand and stone of the water's floor. Then to get the boats out, they are boarded when the tides come in and they are once again afloat!
Another wonderful day of sights completed! Sandra had found the Poldark Inn in Delabole to book us in for the night. We had reservations in their pub for dinner before retiring to our rooms for the night.
What an exciting day this Monday the 22nd held for us! We had a tasty breakfast at the Poldark Inn before departing to the village of Tintagel. There stands the castle of folklore of King Arthur, his Roundtable and the magic of Merlin!
Before the 20th century only the castle was called Tintagel. What is now the village was a hamlet called Trevena, which in Cornish means "the farm-holding on the hillside".
Arriving in Tintagel and parking in the car park we started our journey to Tintagel Castel. This took us though town where we passed a few shops, B&Bs and this highly decorated guided tour business to see all thinks concerning King Arthur. It looks as if they take you on quite a tour for pretty hefty price. I thought the outside of the building was photo-calling!!!
We continued through town and entered the path to climb to Tintagel Castle. The path to the castle is ahead of us and away we go! The entrance lobby and gift shop has King Arthur statuettes that we will see the full size original later by the castle.
Tintagel Castle
Tintagel was an important citadel and port between the fifth and seventh centuries AD and was probably the seat of Cornish kings. Later abandoned, the site became well known in the 12th century when Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britian, telling the legend of how an ancient king, Arthur, was conceived at Tintagel. A century later, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, built a medieval castle, choosing the site because of its links to Cornish Kings and the story of Arthur.
Even if a long hike to get to the castle, it is a beautiful and interesting one. There is much to see and look forward to as we get closer to the castle ruins.
Where History Meets Legend
Tintagel Castle has long been connected with the mythical King Arthur and its history entwined with legend. But what really happened here?
In the 5th and 6th centuries AD there was a large, high-status settlement on the headland. It was probably the seasonal home of a regional king.
Tintagel was first linked to King Arthur by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century who wrote that Arthur was magically conceived at Tintagel. It was also known in the Middle Ages as King Mark of Cornwall's castle which featured in the love story of Tristan and Iseult.
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, built a castle here in about 1230. He chose Tintagel because of its legendary associations that placed him in the long tradition of Cornish kings.
The Bridges at Tintagel
At the time of the early medieval citadel and Richard of Cornwall's 13th-century castle, a natural-land bridge connected Tintagel's headland to the mainland. But centuries of erosion and rock collapse have left the headland an isolated "island".
When the castle was built in the 13th century, there was a narrow but level approach to the headland, probably with a second gatehouse. A major collapse in the early 15th century created the huge chasm that you can see today between the mainland and the "island" courtyards.
A cantilever is a projecting feature that is not supported from below, for example a balcony. A slim steel cantilever projects from the mainland and almost, but not quite, touches a matching one extending from the headland, leaving a narrow gap in the middle of the two bridge parts.
Over the bridge we go! Looking down is a thrill!! There are beautiful wild flowers surrounding us. On that bridge is also a nice breeze! Fun day!
The ruins are getting closer! The magnificence of the castle must have been spectacular back in the day when it was built and was an active center of society.
The Northern Ruins
When this area was cleared by Ralegh Radford's workmen in the 1930s, they found the walls of simple buildings. We do not know the date of these structures, but they probably formed part of the Dark Age settlement.
With the collapse of the Roman rule in Britian at the end of the 4th century AD, there was a time of conflict, migration and invasion. The period is known as "Dark Ages" because few historical sources survive. In the south-west a powerful kingdom called Dumnonia emerged with Tintagel as its primary settlement.
You might spot a circular oven in the corner of one of these buildings, used to dry out cereals to prevent them from spoiling during storage.
Gallos is an 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture located at Tintagel Castle. The figure is only partly rendered, with open gaps left in the sculpture through which the viewer can see the landscape beyond, giving a spectral appearance. The name "Gallos" is Cornish for "power". It is a representation of a ghostly male figure wearing a crown and holding a sword. It is popularly called the "King Arthur statue", but the English Heritage states that it is not meant to represent a single person and reflects the general history of the site, which is likely to have been a summer residence for the kings of Dumnonia.
Well
This well is 5.5m deep. It was probably built at the same time as the castle, in the 13th century. It is fed from natural springs which emerge across the island. These springs would have provided fresh water for both the Dark Age settlement and the medieval
castle.
The Sheriff's tale
It is an autumn day in 1306. Thomas de la Hyde, sheriff and steward of Cornwall, is visiting the castle to check on the progress and costs of the repairs.
Arriving on horseback, passing the outer gate and deep defensive ditch, he rides through the main gatehouse. Greeted by the porter, who emerges from his lodging, Thomas dismounts and hands the reins to a servant who leads his horse over to the stables.
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, had constructed this castle about 70 years ago in the 1230s, and now the original buildings are in need of major repairs. There are carpenters rebuilding the stable roof, a lead-worker is mending the gatehouse tower roof and wagon-loads of slates are being unloaded.
Happy with the progress, Thomas walks on towards the second gatehouse and beyond the Great Hall to meet the constable and review the accounts.
A Complicated Ruin
The ruins in front of you are the remains of a series of successive halls and service buildings that once stood at the centre of the castle.
The original Great Hall was built in about 1230 and was at least 20m long, but it later had to be rebuilt on a similar scale when the far end collapsed with the erosion of the steep cliff.
After the death of Earl Richard in 1272, the royal family rarely visited. However, a constable, gatekeeper, porter and chaplain were kept on as paid staff and the buildings were occasionally repaired until 1387.
The last structure to be built within the footprint of the Great Hall was a small two-roomed lodging, probably connected with the use of the castle as a prison in the 1380s. Important people such as John of Northampton who had been Mayor of London, were held here.
The Great Hall was rebuilt several times within its original footprint, each time re-using the stone. The kitchens, pantry (for storing food), buttery (for storing wine barrels) and a salsary (or "salting house") stood in the area to your left.
Making the full circle of all of the castle ruins, we ended back at the bridge to cross to the mainland. We decided to take the steep, narrow wooden steps down the headland side and then up on the mainland side. There are a lot of steps in this journey! By climbing the steps we were able to see some gorgeous sights and look up at that magnificent feat of the new bridge.
On this alcove beach is the mythological Merlin's cave. The cave fills with water at high tide but has a sandy floor and is explorable at low tide. We did not go onto the beach but took it in from the wooden steps! Tennyson made Merlin's Cave famous in his Idylls of the King, describing waves bringing the infant Arthur to the shore and Merlin carrying him to safety through the caves. Tintagel is described as the island fortress where Arthur was conceived thanks to the magic of Merlin. Carved discreetly into the rock-face outside the cave, Merlin's profile can now be seen emerging from the stone. From the steps we were able to see Merlin's Cave. Not going onto the sand and to the cave, these pictures of the carved Merlin face are courtesy of the internet!
Ascending the mainline steps, we came to the Beach Cafe where we indulged in refreshments of drinks and cakes!
Finished we were off for our walk back into town. We so enjoyed this excursion with the mix of reality and that of myth and folklore. Was King Arthur, Merlin and the tales we have read and movies we have seen depicted reality? In our imagination all are true! In reality, each to their own conclusions!
Back in the village of Tintagel we went into the National Trust’s Old Post Office. It is a 14th-century stone house, built to the plan of a medieval manor house. It dates from around 1380 in the Victorian period when it briefly held a license to be the letter receiving station for the district.
The back gardens are brilliant as well. We loved the garden's small replica of the house as a garden ornament. The grass, bushes and the flowers are all so inviting!
Our next stop was at Trerice: an Elizabethan Manor House located at Kestle Mill, near Newquay. it is an Elizabethan manor house with fine interiors and delightful gardens.
We had a nice refreshment break on the patio at Trerice.
These homes are so beautiful and packed with history telling furniture, paintings and decor. Everything is so lovely! The National Trust really keeps all these properties in excellent condition.
The gardens are spectacular. So much is in bloom!
Trerice has one of the historic Knot gardens for all to enjoy. Eight hundred young yew trees grow in the Elizabethan-inspired knot garden planted at Trerice in 2013. The layout mirrors sections of plasterwork in the Great Chamber, a room in the house which overlooks the weaving paths and provides one of the best views of the design as it passes through the seasons.
Our final stop on the way home was the small fishing village of Padstow. We strolled around and took in the relaxation of the area and the great views of the waters.
All of the pictures are in this album link.
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