| The parish church of Tintagel, St. Materiana stands alone
on Glebe cliff, a steep but pleasant walk through a country lane from
Tintagel. An 11th century Norman church, it was built at the orders of
Earl Robert, half-brother to William the Conqueror. The site seems to
have originally been an oratory in Celtic days itself being replaced by
a Saxon church meaning that Christian worship has been offered here for
over 1400 years. Its lonely position on the cliff means it can be seen
for miles and it is a landmark for sailors. The cross-shaped layout lacks
the usual centre tower, the tower rising from the west end instead. Signs
of a foundation for a central tower remain, whether this was actually
built or later removed is not known. The walls are more than three feet
thick made of shillet stone filled in with rubble. The dressed stones
around the windows and doors are made of the local greenstone. Amongst
its many treasures are a Norman font, three Norman windows, a rood screen
from 1500, a memorial stone from 1292, a Roman milestone and a memorial
brass from 1430. The churchyard deserves a tour with its buttressed gravestones
and memorial to Domenico Catanese, a sailor drowned when a wooden sailing
ship sailing from Cardiff to Trinidad was wrecked nearby in 1893. |
