I crossed the footbridge slung over the chasm that separates the mainland part of Tintagel Castle from the part on its massive, rock-like promontory, known as Tintagel Island. Here, protected by sheer cliffs on all sides, a prosperous community traded tin for Mediterranean pottery and glassware in post-Roman times. And, if the ancient chroniclers and poets can be believed, Arthur the Once and Future King was conceived here.
Was Arthur born at Tintagel? Or was he washed up there on a tempest-driven wave, to be raised by Merlin in the cave that still underpins Tintagel Island? And what of the ancient stone inscribed with Artognou (which is similar to the Welsh name Arthneu), unearthed at Tintagel in 1998? I pondered these signs and wonders as