Cornwall Village Is Steeped in Legend of King Arthur and Mystique of Round Table Knights

Camelot is alive and well, tucked away among the ancient hills and jagged cliffs of Cornwall.

The magic has been enshrined in Tintagel, a coastal village 275 miles southwest of London in a setting so enchanting that it might have been designed for the artist’s palette or the photographer’s lens.

But to attract a steady, year-round stream of visitors, Tintagel relies not on nature but on romance.

Its spectacular scenery can be matched in other parts of the British Isles, but nowhere else is the Arthurian mystique so pervasive. King Arthur and his Round Table are to this ancient village what Shakespeare is to Stratford-on-Avon.

There are, of course, other claimants to the Arthurian legend, the chief contender being Glastonbury in the neighboring county of Somerset. There, the famous ruined abbey is regarded as the burial place of Arthur and his queen, Guinevere.

But in Tintagel the legend receives total and unremitting allegiance. Hardly a shop, a restaurant or an artifact exists that does not bear, in some respect, the Arthurian imprint.

A stroll past the village post office, which dates from the 14th Century, will take you to King Arthur’s Castle Book Shop, featuring every conceivable tome on Arthurian lore.

Craft shops bearing such names as Avalon, Lancelot and Camelot offer an array of King Arthur shields, plastic swords, plaques, pottery, miniature Round Tables and wooden sculptures of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, as well as variations on the theme expressed on such mundane items as mixing bowls and kitchen towels.

Stop in for a pint of bitter at King Arthur’s Cafe, lunch on seafood pancakes a la Guinevere at the Crossbow restaurant.

Despite the blatant commercialization, some romance remains. A steep climb along a narrow footpath through scrub and heather leads to a scattered pile of stones, all that remains of Tintagel Castle, perched precariously atop an ancient, eroding cliff that overlooks the sea.

The castle is associated with heroic exploits and romantic adventures that have stirred the imagination from the earliest mention of Arthur in the Welsh poem “Gododdin,” circa 600, to Malory’s “Morte D’Arthur,” circa 1450, and the recent “Mists of Avalon” by Marion Bradley, which tells the women’s side of the story.

The earliest mention of the castle in connection with King Arthur appeared about 1145 in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of England.” In it, Tintagel is identified as the seat of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and as the birthplace of Arthur.

According to this account, the Duke, known as the Black Prince because he wore a black suit of armor, married the Lady Igraine, Arthur’s mother.

Fact and fiction have merged over the centuries so that it is difficult to separate the real Arthur from the legendary figure invented by medieval chroniclers.

Some historians believe that Arthur may have been a Celtic chieftain who, in the 5th Century, led the resistance against Saxon invaders in the west of England.

This seems plausible, but the legendary account of his origins--the infant retrieved from the ocean by the wizard Merlin--becomes easier to accept when one is standing on these time-scarred cliffs.

Among the castle ruins it takes no great imagination to summon up the court of Camelot, with its gorgeous panoply of knights and ladies and its devotion to deeds of derring-do.

For dedicated Camelot buffs, few scenic wonders can compare with Merlin’s Cave, Arthur’s legendary birthplace, which lies directly below the castle ruins.

The cave pierces the great cliff, cutting through to a small rocky beach on the other side of the headland.

Other favorites are Bossiney Barrow, a circular elevation of land beneath which the Round Table is supposedly buried, and Slaughter Bridge near Camelford, five miles from Tintagel, which is said to be the site of the king’s last battle.

A relatively recent addition to Arthuriana is the Hall of Chivalry, built in the early 1930s. More than 50 types of stone were used to construct the building, every one a Cornish stone, from slate and granite to serpentine and porphyry, tourmaline and greenstone.

Seventy-three stained-glass windows depict the heraldry of the Arthurian knights, together with their symbolic interpretations.

Permanent displays include a beautifully crafted reproduction of the Round Table, a granite throne, swords, shields and an exhibition of paintings that move through the most celebrated events of King Arthur’s life.

The Hall of Chivalry was the creation of a local millionaire, Frederick Glasscock. Glasscock came to Tintagel to retire, fell in love with Arthurian romance and devoted the rest of his life to the building, decorating and furnishing of the hall.

Tintagel’s “King Arthur business” has received virtually no support from historians or other scholars, most of whom place the real Arthur at about 500 AD, whereas Tintagel Castle was not built until the 12th Century.

Tintagel is 275 miles from London, off the A390 road. The castle is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sunday from 2 to 6:30 p.m. Admission: adults about $1.40 U.S., senior citizens $1, children 63 cents.

Accommodations are available at many bed and breakfast inns in the area. Recommended: King Arthur’s Terrace B&B;, 3 King Arthur’s Terrace, Tintagel, open April through September; Mrs. A. Jones, Grange Cottage, Bossiney, Tintagel; Ferny Park, Bossiney Hill, Tintagel, open year-round, and Halgabron House, Halgabron, Tintagel, open year-round. Prices range from about 10 to 20 per night.

For more information on travel to England, contact the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 450, Los Angeles 90071, (213) 628-3525.