Plan to restore King Arthur’s bridge ‘which never existed’

A controversial plan to restore a crossing at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall – legendary home of King Arthur – has come under fire, with some historians claiming the bridge never existed.

English Heritage this week defended the plans to buildl a £2.5m bridge at the site.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Uther Pendragon enlisted Merlin's magical help to cross the span and father King Arthur.

But some historians claim that the 'land bridge' is a fantasy – and that there has been a gap at the site since prehistoric times.

In a letter to The Telegraph, Dr Jeremy Ashbee, Head Properties Curator, English Heritage, said: 'The assertion that the present chasm at Tintagel has existed since prehistory, and the implication that the Cornish royal stronghold and later the medieval castle somehow functioned with such a vast gap in the centre, are impossible.

"Archaeological, architectural and documentary evidence all concur that the site formerly extended into the present gap.

【ギャラリー】King Arthur and Tintagel14

"It was a great Cornish archaeologist, the late Charles Thomas, who popularised the convincing geological argument that Tintagel has been formed by similar processes to those at the adjacent Barras Nose, which is still connected to the mainland."