Bob Marshall - Tintagel Castle Reconstructions

Three visual impressions which I produced for the new exhibition space at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall (English Heritage). They depict scenes from three different periods in the castle's history: the castle's Great Hall, the chapel and earlier dark ages settlement. The visuals are used as part of an innovative digital 3D model projection showing how the castle and landscape changed over the centuries until its eventual abandonment and ruin. They will also appear on interpretive panels located at various sites on Tintagel island.

The Great Hall, Tintagel Castle

Illustrated cutaway reconstruction showing what the great hall may have looked like in 1260. The south end of the hall, to the right of the image, spanned a natural causeway linking the island to the mainland ward of the castle. This has since all tumbled away into the sea. At the northern end of the great hall was a solar wing with an external timber forestair giving access to private chambers on the first floor. Beyond the great hall and its solar wing was a separate building housing the castle's kitchens. The smaller building to the left of the image was probably private chambers for the castle's custodian or constable.

The remains of Tintagel Castle Great Hall

The present day ruins show the footprints of the Great Hall (c1260) and two buildings from later periods: a smaller hall (c1340) and a cottage (c1500) in the foreground. In the background just behind the kitchens, are the remains of the original curtain wall. The holes in the masonry are 'putlog holes' and were used for erecting timber scaffolding during the building of the wall. The relatively thin curtain walls suggest that these were for intended more for show than for defence.

The Chapel, Tintagel Castle (c.1350)

My reconstruction visual shows the small chapel on Tintagel island at a point in time where the castle had been abandoned and the priest or chaplain was probably the only person resident. The first stone course of the chapel's original entrance is visible to the right. The entrance was moved around to the west where there is a small porch which the priest is pictured standing inside. The low-level mounds of earth and slate that surround the chapel are the remains of the much earlier dark age dwellings that scatter the island. They are still visible to this day (see the image below).

The remains of the chapel at Tintagel

Dark Age Settlement, Tintagel

My illustration depicts the fairly primitive buildings of Tintagel in the dark ages. The folk in this scene are moving amphorae - large, double-handled vessels containing oils and spices imported from the Mediterranean regions. Thousands of fragments of pottery from amphorae have been found at Tintagel.

Remains of dark age buildings at Tintagel (foreground).