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Tintagel: The Castle and Celtic Monastery, Interim Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

Extract

In 1929 the Duchy of Cornwall exercised its powers under the Ancient Monuments Acts, and placed Tintagel under the guardianship of the Commissioners of H.M. Works. During the clearance of the medieval castle it seemed desirable to investigate the earlier history of the site, in order to test the basis of the Arthurian traditions. In 1933 a fortunate discovery revealed dry-built walls on a terrace on the north-eastern cliffs. Subsequently an examination of the area surrounding the chapel disclosed indications of similar buildings, and trial excavations during 1933 and 1934 showed that these buildings belonged to a Celtic monastery.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1935

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References

page 402 note 1 For a fuller account see the official guide to Tintagel, which will shortly be published by the Stationery Office for H.M. Office of Works.

page 402 note 2 Victoria County History, i, 71a.

page 402 note 3 Hist. Reg. Brit. viii, 19: ‘Etenim situm est in mari, et undique circumclusum ab ipso, nee est alter introitus, nisi quem angusta rupes praebeat; ipsum tres armati milites prohibere queunt, licet cum toto regno Britanniae astiteris.’

page 403 note 1 Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series), p. 64; Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 68.

page 403 note 2 Robert of Torigni (Rolls Series), p. 268.

page 403 note 3 In 1199/1200 he held 2½ knights’ fees; later in the reign these had increased to 5. See Liber Rubeus (Rolls Series), 121 and 161.

page 403 note 4 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 215.

page 403 note 5 Pipe Roll, 9 John (quoted in Maclean, Trigg Minor, iii, 147).

page 403 note 6 Excerpta e rotulis finium, i, 58.

page 403 note 7 Complete Peerage, iii, 430.

page 403 note 8 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 215.

page 403 note 9 Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora (Rolls Series), iv, 485.

page 403 note 10 Caption of Seisin (Duchy of Cornwall Office), 1337.

page 403 note 11 Receiver-General's Roll (Duchy of Cornwall Office).

page 403 note 12 Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith), 177.

page 404 note 1 Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith), 317.

page 406 note 1 The whole area within the chapel had been disturbed in modern times.

page 407 note 1 To simplify reference I have indicated the same stratum with the same letter over the whole of site A.

page 412 note 1 The yard was not divided as appears on the plan, the stones indicated being the remains of a wall of period I below the later floor-level.

page 413 note 1 Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith), 317.

page 413 note 2 Journ. Arch. Assn. Ireland, 4th Ser. vii, 233, 245, and 247. Cf. the account of Skellig Michael in Dunraven, Notes on Irish Architecture, i, 34.

page 413 note 3 Rees, Lives of the Cambro-British Saints, 171: ‘reconditum in medio quadrangularium lapidum erecte insistentium in cimiterio, cruce lapidea supposita.’

The Life dates from the twelfth century, and the writer confuses St. Sampson, bishop of Dôl (flor. c. 550), who was buried there, with Abbot Sampson of Llantwit (flor. c. 875); but the monument was probably still in existence when he wrote. Westwood (Lapidarium Walliae, p. 11) suggests that the cross of St. Sampson at Llantwit is that mentioned.

page 415 note 1 It was only found early this spring, and does not appear on the general plan.

page 415 note 2 e g. Tober Molaise on Inishmurray (Journ. Arch. Assoc. Ireland, 4th Ser., vii, 296).

page 415 note 3 Two fragments of similar bowls have now been recognized among the finds from Porthmeor, a native site in West Cornwall (cf. Antiq. Journ. xiv, 193). I have recently, by the courtesy of Colonel Hirst, examined the pottery. This covers the period A.D. 100–300 or even later. The difference between the finds from the two sites is very striking.

page 415 note 4 I am indebted to Dr. R. E. M. Wheeler for this suggestion. Since writing this article I have seen a similar ware from late Roman and sub-Roman sites in Southern France and Catalonia.

page 416 note 1 S. W. Williams, Strata Florida, pl. facing p. 204.

page 416 note 2 R. A. S. Macalister, Clonmacnoise Memorial Slabs.

page 416 note 3 Journ. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland, 6th Ser. ii, 229.

page 416 note 4 Westwood, Lapidarium Walliae, pl. 68, I.

page 416 note 5 Tirechan in Tripartite Life of St. Patrick (Rolls Series), ii, 325.

page 416 note 6 H. C. Lawlor, The Monastery of Saint Mochaoi of Nendrum, p. 144, pl. xv.

page 416 note 7 e.g. Françoise Henry, La Sculpture Irlandaise, fig. 58.

page 417 note 1 Antiquity, viii, 395–413.

page 417 note 2 Victoria County History, ii, 22. Late fourth-century coins are rare in Cornwall.

page 417 note 3 Antiq. Journ. iv, 106.

page 417 note 4 Journ. R. Inst. Cornwall, xxii, 196.

page 417 note 5 Uisneach (Proc. R. Irish Academy, xxxviii, c. 69) is the only excavated example, but this confirms the surface indications and the texts which indicate a fortified palace as an essential element. Cf. Macalister, Archaeology of Ireland, 179.

page 417 note 6 e.g. the village at Carwen (Journ. R. Inst. Cornwall, xxii, 50–61).

page 417 note 7 The best collection of material is in Dunraven, Notes on Irish Architecture, vol. i.

page 418 note 1 Unpublished. I have been able to examine the plans and photographs by the courtesy of Sir Charles Peers, under whom the excavation was carried out.

page 418 note 2 Leland, Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith), 177. The authority is late, but there is no reason to suspect it. A pre-existing chapel and cult would explain the position of the Norman chapel so far from the castle buildings.

page 418 note 3 G. H. Doble, SS. Nectan and Keyne and the Children of Brychan in Cornwall.

page 418 note 4 Cf. the conclusions of Largillière with regard to the district round Lannion (see Journ. R. Inst. Corn, xxii, 166).

page 418 note 5 Cf. Adamnan, Vita S. Columbae, iii, 23, ‘Virgnous post multos in subiectione inter fratres irreprehensibiliter expletos annos, alios duodecim in loco anchoretarum …, vitam ducens anachoreticam, Christi victor miles, explevit.’

page 418 note 6 Mr. W. J. Hemp recently drew my attention to the primitive circular hut beside the Holy Well of St. Seiriol at Penmon. Here again the hermitage later developed into a monastery.

page 418 note 7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 813 and 835. Cf. English Place-Name Society (Devon), viii, xviii.

page 418 note 8 Cf. Charles Henderson in Cornish Church Guide (Truro, 1925), 24.