Call for Merlin! Arthur’s castle is in danger of falling into the sea
IT’S the castle that lives and breathes Arthurian legend – the redoubt where King Arthur was conceived after a magical intervention by the wizard Merlin.
The 13th-century Tintagel Castle is one of Cornwall’s top tourist attractions – thanks to a 230ft cantilevered steel footbridge that opened in 2019.
But the fortress is at risk of crumbling into the sea.
English Heritage, which maintains the castle and many others, has launched a multi-million-pound appeal to protect
Tintagel and its other coastal sites. Rob Woodside, of English Heritage, said: ‘The rate of land loss that we have seen over the past few years is alarming. Rising sea levels and more regular storms pose a real risk to the future of many sites.’
Among the other fortresses at risk from rising sea levels is Bayard’s Cove Fort near Dartmouth, Devon – defending the Dart estuary. On St Mary’s in the Scilly Isles, the
Elizabethan Garrison Walls are at risk. At Hurst Castle in Hampshire, built by Henry VIII, a section of the east wing collapsed in February last year after the sea undercut its foundations.
In Southampton, Calshot Castle, also built by Henry VIII, is battling erosion and flooding from rising sea levels.
And in Cumbria, the 14th-century Piel Castle, which guarded Barrow-in-Furness from pirates and Scots raiders, stands on a rapidly eroding island half a mile from the coast of Morecambe Bay.