Merlin’s Cave

Open to the wild sea, this sea cavern beneath Tintagel Castle is also known in local legend as Merlin’s Cave. although many places bear the name of this mage born of a virgin and a demon, his true origins are lost to the mists of time. In my opinion though, none of those places are as evocative as this cave. Entering from the beach where a waterfall cascades down into the sea, on a beach strewn with polished stones of white and black, and where red seaweed tangles itself, the setting sun illuminates the cathedral-like cave with dragon’s fire.

Directly overhead still stands the windswept ruins of Tintagel Castle, an icon in Arthurian Legend, as the place of King Arthur. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote of how Arthur’s birth was orchestrated by Merlin who enchanted Uther Pendragon, who was desperately in love with Ygraine, into the Duke of Tintagel. Ygraine did not realise and a baby boy was born of their union. However, soon after his birth, Merlin took the child away, and despite Merlin telling his mother it was for the best, Ygraine never forgave him.

Above and below, the masculine and feminine may be seen as symbolised by the castle and the cave. the cave being the transformative realm of nature, which Paul Broadhurst wrote about in his wonderful book: Tintagel and the Arthurian Legend, “Merlin’s Cave, running right under the ruined Great Hall, was an eerie sea-cavern where almost anything could happen, where dogs barked at unseen presences and folk with second sight could commune with the spirits of the invisible realms. The Tintagel experience was undoubtedly a mystical sort of affair for anyone who cared to enter into the spirit of the place. a wealth of folklore, mythology and literature spanning the ages confirmed that here was an ancient place of power which still exerted a fascination that, even in the heady days of Victorian rationalism, many people found irresistible.”