was also in Wales, where he is spoken of in the lives
of some of the saints, as we have seen, always as
a bully. And he was in Scotland opposing the
advance of the Bernicians. His father, Uthr, had
been head king before him, but Geraint had been
chosen as Pendragon on the death of Uthr ; Geraint
fell in 522, and it is held that Arthur perished in
537. There are several reminiscences of King Arthur
in the district. At Slaughter Bridge he is thought
to have fallen. Above Camelford rise Dinnevor
(Dinnas-vawr), the Great Castle, and King Arthur's
Downs, with a singular oblong rectangular structure
on it called King Arthur's Hall, the purport of which
has not been discovered. At Tintagel are his cups and
saucers, hollows in the rock, and his spirit is said to
haunt the height as a monstrous white gull wailing
over the past glories of Britain. At Killmar is his
bed. Near Tintagel is Porth-iern, which is either
the Iron Port or that of Igerna, Arthur's mother;
at Boscastle is Pentargon (Arthur's Head). The
Christian name of Gwenivere, his faithless wife, is
still by no means rare, as Genefer.
Tintagel is but a fragment. There was anciently a rift with a bridge over it between one court of the castle and the other; but the rift has expanded to a gaping mouth, and rock and wall have fallen to form a mound of débris that now connects the mainland with what, but for this heap, would be an islet.
Tintagel, properly Dun-diogl, the "Safe Castle," has been built of the black slate rock, with shells burnt for lime. A few fragments of wall remain on the mainland, and a few more on the island, where
