Tintagel Castle Bridge Opening News, Stirling Prize shortlist, Cornwall Architecture Photos

New Tintagel Castle Bridge in Cornwall

Cornish Footbridge Architecture, Southwest England, UK

post updated 22 November 2022

Tintagel Castle Footbridge wins Building Beauty Awards, the richest prize in UK architecture

The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust unveiled the winners of its 2022 Building Beauty Awards at a glittering ceremony at Bloomberg European Headquarters in the City of London, with prizes presented by Lord Foster of Thames Bank O.M. The awards, sponsored by Ballymore, celebrate buildings, engineering structures and urban landscaping schemes that add beauty to Britain’s built environment. The judging panel was led by Stephen Bayley Hon FRIBA, Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and one of Britain’s foremost design critics.

Building Beauty Awards 2022

post updated 17 & 16 September 2021

Tintagel Castle Bridge shortlisted for RIBA Stirling Prize 2021

photograph © Alan Crow, Hufton & Crow

Stirling Prize

Film on YouTube

Congratulations to Ney & Partners, William Matthews Associates and English Heritage!

Read why MRC believes it should win: Why Tintagel Castle Footbridge should win the RIBA Stirling Prize 2021

photo © Alan Crow, Hufton & Crow

8 Aug 2019

New Tintagel Castle Bridge Opening

Design: Ney & Partners engineers and William Matthews Associates Architectural Practice

Tintagel Castle Reunited

– New English Heritage footbridge restores lost Cornish crossing –

– £5m project generously supported by Julia and Hans Rausing –

– Timed ticketing and advance online booking introduced –

Public opening: Sunday 11 August 2019

photograph © David Levene

For the first time in more than 500 years, the two separated halves of Tintagel Castle in Cornwall will be reunited thanks to a daring new footbridge unveiled by the charity English Heritage today (Thursday 8 August 2019).

photo © David Levene

From Sunday 11 August, visitors will be able to walk in the footsteps of the medieval inhabitants of the Cornish castle – inextricably linked with the legend of King Arthur – and enjoy spectacular coastal views not seen since the Middle Ages.

photo © David Levene

Spanning a 190-foot gorge and with a gasp-inducing gap in the middle, the bridge follows the line of the original route – a narrow strip of land, long lost to erosion – between the 13thcentury gatehouse on the mainland and the courtyard on the jagged headland or island jutting into the sea. So significant was this historic crossing that it gave rise to the place’s name, the Cornish Din Tagell meaning “the Fortress of the Narrow Entrance”.

photo © David Levene

The medieval scholar Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote that this land-bridge was so narrow that “three armed men would be able to defend [it], even if you had the whole kingdom of Britain at your side”. Legend has it that the King of Britain, Uther Pendragon – transformed by the wizard Merlin into the likeness of the Duke of Cornwall – stole across this passage way into the castle where he spent the night with the Duke’s wife, Ygerna, who later gave birth to the future King Arthur. So impressed was Richard, Earl of Cornwall by the Arthurian myth that in the 1230s and 1240s he built a castle at Tintagel, with the land-bridge an integral part of its design.

Photos below by Jim Holden:

That crossing vanished in the 15th or 16th century but now English Heritage has restored it, replacing the original rock, earth and grass with a footbridge of steel, local Cornish slate, and oak.

Built in Plymouth and designed by Ney & Partner engineers and William Matthews Associates Architectural Practice, the bridge consists of two independent cantilevers of approximately 30 metres length each that reach out from either side to – almost – touch in the middle.

At the centre of the bridge, a narrow gap (40mm) has been designed to represent the transition between the mainland and the island, the present and the past, history and legend. The elegant bridge complements the outstanding landscape and unlocks for the visitor the history of the site.

Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive, said: “Tintagel Castle has been made whole again. Once more, people will cross from one side of the castle to the other and their footsteps will echo those from hundreds of years ago.

“As a charity, English Heritage’s core purpose is to care for historic sites like Tintagel Castle and to inspire people to visit them. Our new Tintagel bridge does both – protecting the castle’s archaeology and bringing its story to life in a brilliant, imaginative way.”

Tintagel Castle welcomes almost 250,000 visitors each year and the new footbridge will help to reduce congestion – especially at peak periods – and provide a step-free route onto the island, helping more people to enjoy a visit to the castle.

The bridge at Tintagel Castle is part of a larger £5m programme of works by English Heritage which includes improving the footpaths around the site, helping to limit the impact of visitors on the castle’s unique archaeology and ecology.

Timed ticketing has been introduced to manage the number of people visiting the historic site. Tickets can be pre-booked through the English Heritage website. A limited number of on-the-day tickets will also be available to purchase at Tintagel Castle.

Julia and Hans Rausing generously donated £2.5m towards the project, the largest single private donation ever received by the conservation charity, English Heritage. A thousand members of the public also donated to the bridge, each marking their £5 contribution by signing one of the Cornish slates which form the walkway of the bridge. All the donations mean that English Heritage can now invest more of its funds towards the protection and conservation of historic castles throughout Cornwall and beyond.

Tintagel Castle – complete with its new footbridge – reopens to the public on Sunday 11 August 2019.

Film on YouTube

For more information, visit www.englishheritage.org.uk/tintagel

Tintagel Castle Footbridge – In Numbers

• 2 independent cantilevers of approximately 33 metres length each
• 40mm gap in the centre
• 57 metres above sea level
• 47.5 tonnes of steel
• 40,000 local Delabole slate tiles, hand cut from a quarry just 3 miles from Tintagel
• 140 metres of oak

2021 RIBA Client of the Year Shortlist

Previously on e-architect:

13 Dec 2018

New Tintagel Castle Bridge

Design: Ney & Partners engineers and William Matthews Associates Architectural Practice

A new breathtaking footbridge for Cornwall’s Tintagel Castle

New Tintagel Castle Bridge Contest Designs

Designed by Ney & Partners engineers and William Matthews Associates Architectural Practice, the new footbridge will be a striking feat of engineering.

Tintagel Castle Bridge Contest Designs

Announced in September 2015, the shortlisted teams were chosen from 137 Expressions of Interest:

– Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes with Terrell (France)
– Marks Barfield Architects with Flint and Neill (UK)
– Ney & Partners with William Matthews Associates (Belgium)
– Niall McLaughlin Architects with Price and Myers (UK)
– RFR and Jean-François Blassel Architecte, with EngineersHRW, and WSP (France)
– WilkinsonEyre with Atelier One (UK)

Tintagel Castle Bridge Contest