Contest is launched for new walkway to birthplace of King Arthur

[Blackleaf]

A competition to design a new £4million footbridge linking the Cornish castle thought to be King Arthur's birthplace with the mainland has been launched.

Six designs for the 285ft (87m) high structure at Tintagel Castle have been unveiled, which will help reconnect the castle's divided landscape in north Cornwall.

Once united by a narrow strip of land, today the remains of the 13th Century settlement can be seen on both the mainland and the jagged coast at the site of what is reputedly King Arthur's birthplace.

The new bridge will sit 92ft (28m) higher than the current crossing and span some 236ft (72m) across 'one of the most spectacular historic sites in Britain', according to English Heritage.

Subject to planning approval and consent, the bridge is scheduled for completion in 2019.

A bridge fit for King Arthur: Contest is launched for new walkway to birthplace of mythical ruler in Cornwall

English Heritage has shortlisted six designs for a new £4million footbridge linking Tintagel Castle to the mainland
The new bridge will span 72 metres across 'one of the most spectacular historic sites in Britain'
More than 200,000 people visit Tintagel Castle, reputedly the birthplace of the legendary King Arthur, every year
The new bridge on the north Cornwall coast is scheduled for completion in 2019

By Shari Miller For Mailonline
7 December 2015
Daily Mail

A competition to design a new £4million footbridge linking the Cornish castle thought to be King Arthur's birthplace with the mainland has been launched.

Six designs for the 285ft (87m) high structure at Tintagel Castle have been unveiled, which will help reconnect the castle's divided landscape in north Cornwall.

Once united by a narrow strip of land, today the remains of the 13th Century settlement can be seen on both the mainland and the jagged coast at the site of what is reputedly King Arthur's birthplace.

The new bridge will sit 92ft (28m) higher than the current crossing and span some 236ft (72m) across 'one of the most spectacular historic sites in Britain', according to English Heritage.

Bridging the gap: Six designs, including this one from RFR and Jean-Francois Blassel, have been submitted for a new footbridge at Tintagel Castle, which is visited by more than 200,000 people every year. The castle is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island

A view from a bridge: This entry from Dietmar Feichtinger Architects with Terrell is called Between Land and Sea and incorporates a bowed steel girder stressed into a horizontal position by stainless steel plates that are anchored to the slopes of the ravine

Sweeping landscape: This shortlisted bridge design from WilkinsonEyre with Atelier One is constructed from oak and stainless steel

The six designs have shortlisted from 137 entries that were submitted from 27 countries.

Among the finalists is Marks Barfield Architects Flint & Neill with their entry, the Bronze Blade, 'a bridge that is elegant, efficient, exhilarating and rooted in this spectacular place imbued with mystery.'

Niall Mclaughlin's design with Price & Myers in Cornish granite 'is simple, durable and reinforces the place’s drama: a stone arch of Cornish granite springs across the chasm, seemingly tethering the island to the mainland.'

Meanwhile RFR and Jean-Francois Blassel have come up with a design that, 'through the use of natural stone, the bridge takes its place within Tintagel’s historical layers.'

The other shortlisted designs are by Wilkinson Eyre, with Atelier One, Dietmar Feichtinger and Terrel and Ney & Partners with William Matthews Associates.

More than 200,000 tourists visit Tintagel Castle every year.

The remains include a 13th century castle which was built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the brother of Henry III.

The 12th century monk, Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the first to write down the name of Tintagel and identify it as the place where Arthur was conceived.

According to his account, Arthur was conceived after a passionate episode between King Uther Pendragon and Lady Igraine.

The legend states that Merlin disguised Uther as Gorlois, the husband of Igraine, who was away at war.

Traditional: Marks Barfield Architects with Flint & Neill's design uses a beam bridge, the oldest and simplest of bridge structures

Breathtaking: This sweeping design from Ney & Partners with William Matthews Associates uses two independent cantilevers

Spectacular: This design by Niall McLaughlin Architects with Price & Myers proposes a stone arch made from Cornish granite

Later versions of the story state that Arthur was born at Tintagel in a cave and hidden by Merlin to protect him from the angered Gorlois.

Tintagel is also the backdrop for another medieval story telling the tragic romance between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Yseult.

The shortlist is on display to the public at the tourist information centre in Tintagel, until 11 December.

Subject to planning approval and consent, the bridge is scheduled for completion in 2019.

FACT OR FICTION: DID THE LEGENDARY KING ARTHUR REALLY EXIST?

Clive Owen portrayed the legendary leader in the 2004 film, King Arthur, but whether he really existed is still a matter of debate among historians

Both the Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) and Annales Cambriae (Welsh Annals), state that Arthur was a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th to early 6th century.

The 9th Century Historia Brittonum lists 12 battles that King Arthur fought, including the Battle of Mons Badonicus, where he is said to have killed 960 men - but some scholars have dismissed the reliability of this text.

Tintagel Castle is the legendary birthplace of King Arthur.

As according to the legend, archaeologists have discovered this was the fortified home of the ruler of Cornwall, in about 500AD.

In 1998, a slate engraved with ‘Artognou’ was discovered there.

Silchester in Hampshire was the site of King Arthur’s coronation and was able to continuously defend itself against the Saxons.

The Roman name for Silchester was Calleba – similar to the name given to Arthur’s sword, Excalibur.

One of Arthur’s celebrated battles against the Saxons was fought at Chester or the City of the Legion, as it was known in the Dark Ages.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of battle at nearby Heronbridge, and recent excavations show the amphitheatre was fortified during this period, with a shrine to a Christian martyr at its centre.

This fits a description of Arthur’s Round Table, which was said to be a very large structure, seating 1,600 of his warriors.

During the 1960s, excavations by Philip Rahtz showed someone had inhabited the top of Glastonbury Tor during the so-called Arthurian period.

According to the legends, this could have been King Meluas, who abducted Queen Guinevere to his castle at Glastonbury, or Arthur’s warrior Gwynn ap Nudd, who was banished from his Palace on the Tor.

In 1191, monks at Glastonbury Abbey found the body of a gigantic man, wounded several times in the head. The bones of his wife and a tress of her golden hair were also in the oak coffin.

Found with the burial was an ancient lead cross, inscribed with ‘Here lies buried the famous king Arthur with Guinevere his second wife, in the Isle of Avalon’.

In 1962, archaeological evidence was found supporting the story that a tomb within the ancient church had been disturbed centuries previously.

The whereabouts of the cross and bones are no longer known.

However, Arthur is not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or any documents written between 400 and 820 - including Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People



Read more: King Arthur's Cornwall birthplace sees contest launched for new walkway | Daily Mail Online
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[captain morgan]

That's nice... Building a walk way to a remote wh*rehouse.

That will be a real boon for the drunks that would otherwise stumble and fall on their way to the brothel

 

[Blackleaf]

That's nice... Building a walk way to a remote wh*rehouse.

That will be a real boon for the drunks that would otherwise stumble and fall on their way to the brothel

 

[captain morgan]

Safety first bud.

 

[Blackleaf]

Safety first bud.

 

[captain morgan]

I guess that you're upset that King Artie was conceived and spat-out in a wh*rehouse

 

[Danbones]

that's "alleged"
both the birth and the place

x as in cross
caliber as in .00
World Mysteries - Strange Artifacts, Celtic Cross - by Crichton Miller
in addition I discovered:
666 contains the numerical code (.27) which converts base 6o (the 360 degrees on the cross wheel) to percentages,ie caliber
its the tool of king ship which is why anhk and bank are (b is reciprocal in summerian) are derivative words


yer twelve nights of the round table are the zodiac signs
the cross is the real force behind all the funny squiggles on the pictish stones, and the like, and is the instrument responsible for ALL the henges

funny what a few thousand years of beerhall drivel can turn the real story into
( sorry you monothieists no magic deeds of land from your imaginary playnmate in the sky, only surveys by the pharoah for taxe reasons)

 

[Blackleaf]

I guess that you're upset that King Artie was conceived and spat-out in a wh*rehouse

 

[captain morgan]

Yep, I knew that you'd be all choked-up

 

[EagleSmack]

Perhaps we should build a walkway for Paul Bunyan...... and Babe The Big Blue Ox.

 

[Blackleaf]

Perhaps we should build a walkway for Paul Bunyan...... and Babe The Big Blue Ox.

Build a walkway for Paul Bunyan? That's the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard of.

He doesn't need one. He has got a statue, though, in the town where he was born - Bangor (Bangor, Maine, not Bangor, Gwynedd or Bangor, County Down).

Building a bridge over to the peninsula known as Tintagel Island to help tourists who come from all over the world to see King Arthur's birthplace, as well as the 13th century ruins, is a marvellous idea.

 

[EagleSmack]

Build a walkway for Paul Bunyan? That's the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard of.

He doesn't need one. He has got a statue, though, in the town where he was born - Bangor (Bangor, Maine, not Bangor, Gwynedd or Bangor, County Down).

And statues in his birthplaces of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon.

 

[Blackleaf]

And statues in his birthplaces of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon.

How can he have several birthplaces? Surely he only has one. Either one of those, or some other place, has to be his birthplace.

 

[darkbeaver]

that's "alleged"
both the birth and the place

x as in cross
caliber as in .00
World Mysteries - Strange Artifacts, Celtic Cross - by Crichton Miller
in addition I discovered:
666 contains the numerical code (.27) which converts base 6o (the 360 degrees on the cross wheel) to percentages,ie caliber
its the tool of king ship which is why anhk and bank are (b is reciprocal in summerian) are derivative words


yer twelve nights of the round table are the zodiac signs
the cross is the real force behind all the funny squiggles on the pictish stones, and the like, and is the instrument responsible for ALL the henges

funny what a few thousand years of beerhall drivel can turn the real story into
( sorry you monothieists no magic deeds of land from your imaginary playnmate in the sky, only surveys by the pharoah for taxe reasons)

Yeah, the beer and the zodiac are the treasure here. Arthur and Jesus twelve champions each. Those things in the sky play with us for eternity, or else.

The Jesus myth was universal. 6 is the beast, three x is big magic cubed for the material dimension

The bridge to the heavens is also universal. I wonder if the limeys know that they are reproducing the tower of babel, stairway to heaven etc. Stupid mindless sots will kill us all.

 

[EagleSmack]

How can he have several birthplaces? Surely he only has one. Either one of those, or some other place, has to be his birthplace.

Or that he is a myth... like King Arthur.

 

[Blackleaf]

Or that he is a myth...like King Arthur.

Oh dear. Are you sure about that? Absolutely certain?

 

[Curious Cdn]

The place is probably loaded with 10,000 years of archaeology, situated like that. Be careful where you dig.

 

[Blackleaf]

The legend of King Arthur, a fifth-century warrior who supposedly led the fight against Saxon invaders, continues to fascinate today. Here, historian John Matthews reveals eight things you probably didn’t know about King Arthur…

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Arthur

The legend of King Arthur, a fifth-century warrior who supposedly led the fight against Saxon invaders, continues to fascinate today. Here, as part of our Myths and Legends Week, historian John Matthews reveals eight things you probably didn’t know about King Arthur…

Friday 4th December 2015
John Matthews
BBC History Magazine

1) The once and future king

Illustration of King Arthur's coronation from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum. From The Island Race, a 20th-century book covering the history of the British Isles from the pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. Written by Sir Winston Churchill and abridged by Timothy Baker. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Arthur, sometimes known as ‘the king that was and the king that shall be’, is recognised all over the world as one of the most famous characters of myth and legend. Yet, if he existed at all (which few scholars agree upon), he would not have been a king, but the commander of an elite force of fighting men. Furthermore, he would have lived more than 500 years before medieval legends suggest.

All that is known, with even the least degree of certainty, is that a man named Arthur, or Arturus, led a band of heroic warriors who spearheaded the resistance of Britons against the invading Saxons, Jutes, and others from the north of Europe, sometime in the fifth and sixth centuries AD.

Another theory claims that Arthur was a Roman centurion named Lucius Artorius Castus, who fought against the Picts [northern tribes that constituted the largest kingdom in Dark Age Scotland] on Hadrian’s Wall in the second century AD, some 300 years earlier than the time at which Arthur’s dates are normally set.

Even Arthur’s birthplace and base of operations are questionable. Camelot – the castled city associated with King Arthur – was invented by the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes. Arthur’s association with Cornwall and parts of Wales is an idea fostered by 18th-century antiquarians such as William Stukeley, who carried out one of the first archaeological investigations at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, long believed in local folklore to be the original site of Camelot.

Whatever the truth – and we may never know for sure – the adventures of the legendary King Arthur, with his Round Table Fellowship of Knights based in the mythical city of Camelot, were told and retold between the 11th and 15th centuries in hundreds of manuscripts in at least a dozen languages. “What place is there within the bounds of the Empire of Christendom to which the winged praise of Arthur the Briton has not extended?” wrote the 12th-century chronicler Alanus ab Insulis (or Alain de Lille). Today Arthurian stories are told in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Icelandic, Dutch, Russian, and even Hebrew.

2) The Round Table

The Round Table is the centerpiece of the Arthurian world. According to the 13th-century poet Layamon, Arthur ordered the table to be built for him by a famous Cornish carpenter, who somehow made the table capable of seating 1,600 men (clearly an exaggeration), yet easily portable to wherever Arthur set up his mobile base of operations.

Other stories suggest it was Merlin, the king’s magician, who made the table – “round” he said, “in the likeness of the world” – and who sent out a call to the bravest and truest knights to join a great fellowship whose task was to care for the disenfranchised (especially women), and who would do no harm to anyone who did not deserve it.

Some 150 knights were said to have sat at the Round Table. Their adventures lead us into a magical realm of wonder: where ‘faery women’ test the nobility of the knights by offering them seemingly impossible tasks, and strange creatures lurk in the shadows of a vast forest, in whose depth are clearings where castles, chapels, hermitages, and ruins are found – some empty, others containing dangerous foes.

When they had largely rid the land of monsters, dragons, and evil customs, the knights undertook their greatest task of all – the quest for the Holy Grail. Many did not return.


3) Merlin

Merlin, Arthur’s advisor, appears in different legends as a magician, a prophet, a wildman, or a visionary poet. He is said to have helped bring about the birth of the future king by magically giving Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, the likeness of his rival, Gorlois of Tintagel, Duke of Cornwall, so that Uther could engender a child with Gorlois’ wife, Igraine. Once Arthur was born, Merlin is said to have carried him away to a secret location in the forest, and watched over him until he came of age.

At this point, Merlin supposedly arranged the test of the Sword in the Stone, which only the true king could draw. This sword is often confused with Arthur’s most famous weapon, Excalibur, the legendary sword said to have magical powers. In fact that blade was given to Arthur later by the Lady of the Lake (a ‘faery woman’ who appears in the stories), after the sword from the stone breaks during battle.

It is another such faery being, Nimue, the handmaid of the Lady of the Lake, who becomes Merlin’s nemesis: Merlin falls passionately in love with the beautiful damsel, who tricks him into giving her the secrets of his magic and then uses them against him, locking him forever in a cave from which, years after, ‘the cry of Merlin’ could still be heard.

Merlin’s own origins are almost as difficult to establish as Arthur’s. A collection of poems, magical and mystical in nature, is attributed to a princely bard named Myrddin, whose British name was changed because of its unfortunate similarity to merde (excrement) in French. The 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, who included Arthur in his History of the Kings of Britain (1138 ), also wrote a Life of Merlin (c1150), in which a sixth-century prince goes mad after seeing his nephews killed in battle and who hides in the forest, telling stories to a pet pig. Geoffrey clearly considered this was the same Merlin as the character included in his later History of the Kings of Britain.


4) Faery women

Morgan Le Fay featured as part of a 2011 British set of 8 stamps called "Magical Realms"

Many faery women thread together the stories of Arthur and his knights. This is probably because a good number of the stories originated not in Britain, but in Brittany – or, as it was known then, Armorica or Aermorica, where belief in ancient deities and the faery race lived on. These faery tales became interwoven with stories of chivalry beloved by the courtly circle. Within the courtly circle these stories were told by roving troubadours – poets who learned dozens of Arthurian tales by heart.

In c1150 Geoffrey of Monmouth named nine sisters in his Vita Merlini as the rulers of the enchanted island of Avalon. Among them was Morgen (more familiar to us as Morgan le Fay), who in later stories is described as Arthur’s half-sister and becomes his most implacable foe. Sir Thomas Malory, in his great 15th-century novel, Le Mort D’Arthur, tells us Morgan was “put to school on a nunnery, where she learned magic and necromancy”.

Though this may sound odd to us today, many of the women in enclosed orders were learned, and since learning was frequently equated with magic, thus Morgan came to be considered a sorceress.

Geoffrey of Monmouth. Found in the collection of Mary's Priory Church, Monmouth. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)


5) The grail

The greatest task undertaken by Arthur’s knights was the quest for the grail, a mysterious vessel linked to the Passion of Christ [the story of Jesus Christ's arrest, trial, suffering, and eventual execution by crucifixion]. According to the 12th-century poet Robert De Boron, the grail was used to celebrate the Last Supper, and afterwards by Christ’s ‘uncle’, Joseph of Arimathea, to catch some of the blood that flowed from the Saviour as his body was taken down from the cross.

Earlier stories, from the mythology of the Celts, can be seen as precursors of the grail: they spoke of “cauldrons of plenty” that provided food for heroes and could even bring the dead to life. But once the links with Christian belief were established in the 12th century, the grail became a holy relic sought by mystics and heroes – and, most famously, by Arthur’s fellowship.

All 150 knights of the Round Table are said to have gone forth in search of the sacred vessel after it appeared at Camelot during Pentecost [a feast celebrated each year on the 50th day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and 10 days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ]. Of those who went forth only three succeeded in their quest to find the grail: the saintly knight Sir Galahad, the simple Sir Percival, and the honest, plain-spoken Sir Bors.

Many other knights perished, and this undoubtedly weakened both the Round Table and Arthur’s court, preparing the way for the dark days to come when Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred rose up against him and ended the dream of Camelot.


6) Lancelot and Guinevere

Scene from 'Mort d'Arthur', 14th century. Sir Lancelot of the Lake and Queen Guinevere seen embracing by King Arthur. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Love stories feature a great deal in the Arthurian world. Tristan and Isolde, for example, best known these days from Wagner’s 1859 opera that retold their story, were famous doomed lovers. But another story, originating in France, became one of the best known of the Arthurian tales: the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere.

The 12th-century poet Chrétien de Troyes gave us an account of their romance in his Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart (c1177). No stories before this feature Lancelot, so we must assume that Chrétien invented him. Lancelot became known as the greatest knight of the Round Table and Arthur’s most trusted ally, but it was his illicit love for Queen Guinevere that made him famous.

Chrétien’s story tells a dramatic tale of Guinevere’s abduction by a lord named Melwas, who had fallen in love with the queen, and of Lancelot’s efforts to rescue her. In order to reach Melwas’ castle, where she is held, Lancelot is forced to ride in a cart – a vehicle reserved for criminals on their way to the gallows. But Lancelot hesitates for a moment, and when Guinevere learns of this this later on she spurns him as not worthy of her affections.

Later stories extended Lancelot and Guinevere’s love into a full-blown affair, which in the end brought down the Round Table and ushered in the end of Arthur’s reign when Lancelot rescued the queen, who had been condemned to burn at the stake, and in the process killed several of Arthur’s knights. With the king reluctantly forced to attack Lancelot, the way was left open for Mordred to attack Camelot.

Scene from 'Mort d'Arthur', 14th century. Sir Lancelot of the Lake and Queen Guinevere seen embracing by King Arthur. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)


7) The death of Arthur

Weakened by the losses incurred during the quest for the grail, and then by the scandal of Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur’s kingdom began to break apart.

War broke out after Lancelot staged an armed rescue of Guinevere, condemned to death for her treasonous love for the great knight. In the heat of battle Lancelot killed two of Arthur’s best men, Gareth and Gaheris, who had defended the queen. Their brother, the famous knight Sir Gawain, thus became Lancelot’s most bitter foe, and as Arthur was forced to respond to Lancelot’s rescue of the queen, he reluctantly led an army to France to attack him.

While Arthur and Gawain were away attacking Lancelot, King Arthur’s son, Mordred, raised an army and declared himself king. With the hasty return of the true king to Britain, a final battle took place at Camlann. Arthur killed Mordred, but suffered a wound that seemed likely to kill him – though in the end he was taken to Avalon to be healed.

There follows one of the most famous scenes in the entire series of Arthurian stories: Arthur’s faithful follower, Sir Bedivere, throws the king’s mighty sword back into the lake from which it had come at the beginning of his reign (given him by the Lady of the Lake). A mysterious hand rises from the water and seizes the sword, drawing it under.

A ship then appears, carrying three queens, who take the wounded Arthur away, across the sea to the fabled Isle of Avalon, where it is said he would be healed of his wounds and live on, awaiting recall by his country in time of need – the ‘once and future king’ indeed.


8 )Arthur’s bones

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset

Belief in Arthur’s expected return to his country was kept alive in stories for many years by the people of Britain. Arthur’s bones were supposedly found at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191, though this was nothing more than a fabrication designed to quell the belief that Arthur would return to expel the invading Normans. Nevertheless, some bones were indeed interred in a black marble tomb in 1278 at the expense of Edward I.

To this day, countless new books, films, television shows and plays continue to be created about King Arthur, adding to the popularity of the legends, which remain among the most familiar and best-loved stories of all time.


John Matthews is a historian who has produced more than 100 books on myth, the Arthurian legends, and the history of the Grail. His latest book, King Arthur: Many Faces, One Hero, co-written with Caitlín Matthews, will be published by Inner Traditions in 2016.



8 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Arthur | History Extra