TINTAGELL, a parish in the hundred of LESNEWTH,
county of CORNWALL, 1 mile (w. by S.) from Bossiney,
containing, with the borough of Bossiney, 877 inhabitants.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of
Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's
books at £8. 11. 3., and in the patronage of the Dean
and Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to
St. Simphorian, contains a curious Norman font, There
is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A fair
for cattle is held at Trevenna on the Monday after October
19th. The parish is bounded by the Bristol channel
on the north, where, partly on a stupendous crag,
almost surrounded by the sea, and partly on the lofty
and precipitous cliff of the main land, are the venerable
remains of King Arthur's castle, separated into two divisions
by a frightful chasm, three hundred feet deep,
across which there was formerly a drawbridge. The
keep stood on the peninsula, and, inLeland's time, contained
" a prety chapel with a tumbe on the left syde."
The ruins now existing consist of huge scattered masses,
and of walls pierced with small square holes, for the
discharge of arrows. This fortress has been occasionally
occupied by several of our princes, of whom Richard,
Earl of Cornwall, here entertained his nephew, David,
Prince of Wales, during the rebellion of the latter
against Henry III., in 1245. In subsequent reigns, till
within a. few years of that of Elizabeth, it had a governor,
and was used as a state prison for the duchy of
Cornwall. There were formerly two other chapels
within the parish, one dedicated to St.Piran, the other
to St. Denis.