Tintagel Castle estate at risk from the sea

THE legendary birthplace of King Arthur could be lost to the sea, English Heritage has said, as it warned that accelerating coastal erosion was threatening heritage all along England’s coastlines.

Rising sea levels and increasingly powerful winter storms that are driven by climate change are battering the country’s coastal history.

“Erosion along England’s coastline is nothing new but the rate of land loss that we have seen over the past few years is alarming,” said Rob Woodside, the charity’s estates director

Mr Woodside said that, with limited budgets and hundreds of sites to protect, English Heritage faced difficult decisions ahead, including possibly abandoning some properties.

“What we can’t do is try to play King Cnut and hold the water back. We have to learn to live with this changing environment.”

Alongside the warning, English Heritage released a list of six sites most at risk from increasing erosion, among them Tintagel Castle on the north Cornish coast. It has launched an urgent fundraising effort to defend the properties. Tintagel has long been attacked by the sea, however, accelerating erosion is threatening large parts of the estate, including the visitor centre.

English Heritage said that the site urgently needs £40,000 of work just to repair damage from last winter’s storms.

While the castle itself is not under immediate threat, the cliffs around it are facing growing danger from the sea.