Tintagel Haven also known as Castle Cove is a small beach on the north side of
Tintagel Island on the north coast of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
,
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
.
Slate from Tintagel's coastal quarries was brought by donkey to the cliffs above Tintagel Haven. Here it was loaded onto beached ships which also brought in cargoes such as Welsh coal. An 1818 sketch of Tintagel castle by
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...
shows clifftop derricks where slate from Tintagel’s quarries has been brought on wheeled carts to be loaded onto ships below. The remains of a derrick can still be seen above the beach. In order to manoeuvre ships around the dangerous rocks to access the beach, they were towed by rowing boats then manoeuvred by gangs of men pulling on ropes, a practice known as “hobbling.”
A 100 m (330 ft) long cave that runs through to the south of Tintagel Island is known as
Merlin's Cave
Merlin's Cave is a natural sea tunnel beneath Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Cornwall, England, connecting Tintagel Haven on the east side of the island to West Cove on the west. At low tide, it is possible to walk from one entrance to the other al ...
. From 1870, a lead mine was worked for a short time seaward of Merlin's Cave.
[Dyer, Peter (2005) ''Tintagel: a portrait of a parish''. Cambridge: Cambridge Books. ISBN 0-9550097-0-7; pp. 226-27]
References
{{Reflist
Beaches of Cornwall
Tintagel