April 28, 2024:
This morning we got up and drove from Chagford, Devon, England to Tintagel, England to tour Tintagel Castle and the nearby village of Tintagel. After visiting Tintagel, we visited the home of the PBS Series Doc Martin in Port Isaac.
We had already prebooked online our timed-entry tickets at 10:30 am for Tintagel Castle, which we were warned could be sold-out on the same day.
Tintagel Castle – If the real King Arthur existed – he was supposedly born and ruled here. The site of Tintagel Castle has been inhabited at least since the late Roman period, and a community flourished here in the 5th to 7th centuries. In the 12th century Tintagel gained literary fame when Geoffrey of Monmouth named it as the place where King Arthur was conceived. These Arthurian associations may have inspired the fabulously rich Richard, Earl of Cornwall, to build a castle at Tintagel in the 1230s, and the enduring legend still ensures Tintagel’s international renown. The ruins we are seeing today are what remains from Richard’s 13th century castle.
King Arthur
Ruins of Tintagel Castle
Getting There – Looked for Tintagel signs from A-39 as it passes through Camelford. Once we entered the village of Tintagel, we had our pick of pay parking lots – the Castle Car Park, 5 Atlantic Rd, Tintagel PL34 0DD, was closest to the castle so we parked there (cash only – £3.50 for two hours – £5 all day).
To get to the castle, it was required for us to walk down a side street off Atlantic Avenue, a small path called Castle Road, which runs alongside The Wootons Inn.
We started our visit of Tintagel Castle by walking down Castle Road, alongside The Wootons Inn
Going around the corner from Castle Car Park to Castle Road – Google Maps
Cost and Hours – £18.00 (in-advance rate); Tintagel Castle is open daily 10 am – 6 pm; +44 1840 770 328; www.english-heritage.org.uk/tintagel. The castle includes a café.
Walk or Ride – After reaching our starting location for touring Tintagel Castle on Castle Road, our first decision was whether to walk for 20-30 minutes for a half-mile down the steep slope from The Wootons Inn to the castle entrance or to take the Land Rover Service. We opted to take the Land Rover Service. We didn’t have to call the service, as we waited for a short time at the shuttle stop behind The Wootons Inn and soon a Land Rover arrived.
Land Rover Service – The 10-passenger shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes; £1.5-£2.50; to book call Antony: +44 1840 770328.
Land Rover Service
Land Rover Stops
Land Rover
Tintagel Castle Map
English Heritage Tintagel Castle Map
Visiting the Castle – At the first Land Rover stop site (castle entrance stop), we got out and started walking up a hill toward the castle entrance.
Walking up a hill after exiting the Land Rover at the castle entrance stop
Great Ditch – To our right during our walk to the entrance, we saw the Great Ditch, which dates from the 5th–7th centuries, and made the headland into a promontory fort.
Great Ditch
Aerial View of the Great Ditch – Google Maps
Castle Entrance – We continued to climb up to the castle ticket booth, where we had our timed-entry eTickets scanned for our 10:30 am time. We were given an illustrated guidebook as our tickets were validated.
Almost to the castle entrance
Ticket office at the castle entrance
Upper Mainland Courtyard – On top of the crag above the Tintagel ticket booth is the upper ward, with a curtain wall and various small buildings belonging to the medieval castle; imported pottery from the 5th or 6th century has been found here. We climbed the steps to the Upper Mainland Courtyard.
Hike up to the Upper Mainland Courtyard
Upper Mainland Courtyard marker
Upper Mainland Courtyard
View from the Upper Mainland Courtyard of the Gatehouse Courtyard and the Modern Steel Bridge to Tintagel Castle
Gatehouse Courtyard – This is where the porter’s lodge and stables were located.
The Sheriff’s tale marker – Gatehouse Courtyard
Gatehouse Courtyard
The Modern Steel Bridge – The modern-steel bridge to Tintagel has replaced a natural land bridge which collapsed in the 15th or 16th century.
Modern Steel Bridge
Bridges at Tintagel marker
View from the entrance to the Modern Steel Bridge of the Gatehouse Courtyard and Upper Mainland Courtyard
Walking over the Modern Steel Bridge
Castle Gate – To our left as we exited the Modern Steel Bridge onto the island was the Castle Gate. Constructed in the Victorian era, the Castle Gate has a door that is used today as the Castle exit (we’ll use this on our way back).
Castle Gate – the exit door upon leaving Tintagel Castle
Florence’s Shelter – Next to the Castle Gate was Florence’s Shelter, with a marker explaning the purpose of this shelter.
Florence’s Shelter
Florence’s Shelter marker
The Great Hall – On our right upon exiting the Modern Steel Bridge were the ruins of the Great Hall of the castle.
Ruins of the Great Hall
The Great Hall markers
Island Courtyard – To the left of the Great Hall was the Island Courtyard.
Island Courtyard
Arched Doorway – We continued through the evocative arched doorway beyond the Island Courtyard and Great Hall.
Arched doorway beyond the Island Courtyard and Great Hall
Waterfall – To our right, we saw a waterfall descending to a beach…
A waterfall from beyond the arched doorway
Iron Gate – This iron gate pictured below us was supposed to be our next stop, but during our visit, access was closed to this gate due to dangerous conditions on the path descending to reach this gate.
Iron Gate (access closed during our visit)
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/tintagel-castle/history-and-legend/description/
Site Custodian Hut – Instead of descending to reach the Iron Gate, we continued straight for a few steps and went into the Site Custodian Hut on the left.
Site Custodian Hut
Early Medieval (Dark Ages) buildings – Just beyond the Site Custodian Hut, we saw the ruins of several Early Medieval (Dark Ages) buildings.
Ruins of Early Medieval (Dark Ages) buildings
Here there was also a marker debating what name the village of Tintagel should be called, either its original name, Trevena, or its adoptive name, Tintagel.
Marker about Tintagel Village once being called Trevena
The Trader’s tale marker
Viewpoint – After these ruins, we climbed to a viewpoint of the village of Tintagel and the coastline.
View of Tintagel village
View of the coastline
Tintagel Castle from the viewpoint
Climbing even higher – We now climbed up even higher, noticing a changing landscape, more ruins, and spectacular views.
Climbing up even higher on the island
Views at the top of the hill
Northern Ruins – In our browsing of the northern ruins at the top of the hill, we found an old oven.
Northern Ruins
An old oven in the Northern Ruins
Tunnel – Next we climbed over a rise to see the island’s tunnel. The Tintagel tunnel has marks that suggest it was cut with metal tools, perhaps enlarging a natural cave. It could have been a food store for the castle or perhaps a mysterious garden feature… what do you think?
The Tunnel
The Tunnel marker
Gallos Scupture – It was a short walk from The Tunnel to the Gallos Sculpture. Gallos is an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) bronze sculpture by Rubin Eynon. It is a representation of a ghostly male figure wearing a crown and holding a sword. It is popularly called the “King Arthur statue”, but the site’s owner English Heritage states that it is not meant to represent a single person and reflects the general history of the site, which is likely to have been a summer residence for the kings of Dumnonia.
Gallos Sculpture
While here at the Gallos Sculpture, we had a good view of St Materiana’s Church on the mainland.
St Materiana’s Church on the mainland
The Well – Our next stop was the island Well, fed by springs, which reach around the island.
The Well
The Garden – From the Well, we followed a path to reach the Walled Garden, where medieval residents could relax and entertain visitors.
The Walled Garden
Sign about the Walled Garden
The Chapel – We then returned to the Well, and headed left to come to the Chapel, which is very obvious because of where the altar was situated.
The Chapel
Early Medieval Buildings – Close by the Chapel, we saw some ruins of early medieval buildings.
Ruins of early medieval buildings by the Chapel
Exiting the Island – Then we made our way back downhill, through the exit door, and across the old bridge (below the modern steel bridge) to exit the island.
Going downhill and exiting the island
View of the Upper Bridge after exiting the island
Steps down to the Haven, where Merlin’s Cave can be accessed during low tide
Merlin’s Cave – The tide was in, so we couldn’t access Merlin’s Cave.
Merlin’s Cave
Viewpoint – After crossing the lower bridge, once we reached level ground, we took another look back up at Tintagel Castle.
Lower and upper bridges – Tintagel Castle
The Great Hall of Tintagel from below
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Where History Meets Legend marker
The Compass – Tintagel Castle also had a “compass” which is modeled after King Arthur’s Roundtable.
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The Tintagel Castle Compass
Shop and Exhibition Centre – Here we could view exhibits about Tintagel Castle and shop for items related to Tintagel Castle.
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Exhibition Centre – Photo: manuelcohen.com
Café – If you’re hungry, there’s a newly refurbished café across from the Exhibition and Shops Centre.
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Tintagel Castle Café
Village of Tintagel – After visiting Tintagel Castle, we took a little tour of Tintagel Village, which was filled with souvenir shops, eateries, and boutiques.
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Assorted shops/eateries in Tintagel
We also visited (but didn’t enter), the National Trust Old Post Office in Tintagel. Cost and Hours – Open daily 11 am – 5:30 pm, last admission 5 pm; £3; Fore St, Tintagel PL34 0DB; www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cornwall/tintagel-old-post-office.
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Old Post Office – Tintagel
Then we took a lovely drive down the Cornwall coast to our next destination…
Port Isaac – It’s not difficult to see why crowds flock to Port Isaac. Even before the village became famous as the fictional village of Port Wenn, home to the grumpy Doc Martin (PBS Series), it was beloved by film-makers and visitors for its unspoilt charms. Port Isaac has appeared in Poldark, Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers and several feature films.
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The “Doc Martin” PBS series is set in Port Isaac, England
Getting There – Port Isaac is normally a 26-minute drive from Tintagel. We ended up not following Google Maps’ GPS instructions and making the trip a bit longer, because Google Maps kept trying to get us to take short-cuts using small, one-lane (supposedly for two) winding roads through small villages. We ended up much happier and less stressed just taking better and bigger roads around these small villages.
Parking – We parked about an 11-minute walk from Port Isaac at the Port Isaac Main Car Park, a triple-tiered pay parking lot with grand Atlantic Ocean panoramas (£1 per hour rising to £5.10 per day).
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View of the Atlantic Ocean from the Main Car Park – Port Isaac
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Welcome Sign – Port Isaac
Our Itinerary – We first made our way from the Port Isaac Main Car Park to Doc Martin’s Old Schoolhouse, now a pub and hotel (the small cottage where the good doctor resides in his series, Fern Cottage, is across the harbor from the old schoolhouse – see below), The Old School Hotel, 21 Fore St, Port Isaac PL29.
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Doc Martin’s Old Schoolhouse
On our way to Port Isaac, we encountered a war memorial and some real hills (not so bad on the way down – much worse on the way back). We also saw Doc Martin’s Fern Cottage from a distance (the small gray house under the lines in the picture on the right below).
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WWI Memorial – Port Isaac
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Hilly walk to/from Port Isaac from the Main Car Park
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Fern Cottage – Doc Martin’s House – Port Isaac
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Approaching the Old Schoolhouse – Port Isaac
Once we reached Doc Martin’s Old Schoolhouse, we headed uphill (to the right) to reach the recommended Cornish Cove Tearoom.
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The Cornish Cove Tearoom
At the Cornish Cove Tearoom, we jogged left (north – staying along the harbor) to reach a Port Isaac bike/pedestrian path. We took a short hike on the bike/pedestrian path and got some great pictures of the Port Isaac harbor.
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Port Isaac Breakwater
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Port Isaac Harbor
We did an about face and returned to the Old School House and updated our views of the Port Isaac Harbor from this location.
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Port Isaac Harbor
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Fern Cottage – Doc Martin’s House – Port Isaac
From here we continued south until we reached the village entry to Port Isaac Harbor.
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Village entry to Port Isaac Harbor
We were hungry, so we tried the Chapel Café (Open Sunday 10 am – 3 pm), an old church converted to a café, Roscarrock Hill, Port Isaac PL29 3RG, +44 1208 881300, chapelcafe.co.uk.
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Chapel Café
For the last item of our itinerary, we walked a few hundred yards from the Chapel Café to see Doc Martin’s house, Fern Cottage, up close and personal.
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Fern Cottage (Doc Martin’s House – PBS)
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View of Port Isaac Harbor from Doc Martin’s House, Fern Cottage
From here, we returned on foot to the Port Isaac Main Car Park. Our visit to Tintagel and Port Isaac is over.