FOOTBRIDGE PLANS

The dramatic footbridge, which would span the gap between the castle’s mainland and island wards, has been designed to follow the path of the original crossing between the mainland and headland. The proposed footbridge would also help reduce congestion and improve access around the site, especially during peak periods. The design team - Ney and Partners with William Matthews Associates - was chosen in March 2016 following an international competition which saw entries from 137 architects and engineers.

HISTORIC ROUTE

The planning application will now be subject to a number of consents and regulatory approvals, including planning permission and Scheduled Monument Consent. Ahead of submitting the planning application, English Heritage has conducted an extensive programme of consultation to seek views on the proposals.

English Heritage’s Head of Operations in Cornwall Georgia Butters said: “We are very excited that the time has now come to submit the planning application for our proposed new footbridge at Tintagel Castle. We have had a great deal of interest since we announced the winning design and have been consulting with – and listening to – interested parties and stakeholders about the design over the past year or so. We’ve also been busy conducting tests and investigations to ensure that the footbridge can be built and any impact on Tintagel’s archaeology and ecology would be kept to the minimum.

“As well as reinstating the historic route to Tintagel Castle’s island wards, the proposed bridge would help to reduce congestion and provide a step-free route onto the island which would allow more people to enjoy their visit to the castle. The proposed bridge has been designed to be an object of beauty, sensitively balanced with the surrounding landscape.”

English Heritage has conducted an extensive programme of consultation events ahead of submitting the planning application, including a public exhibition at the Tintagel Visitor Centre for local residents and briefings and tours of the site for key stakeholders. English Heritage also consulted the Cornwall Design Review Panel as a ‘critical friend’, providing a useful forum for reflecting on all aspects of the proposals. After careful deliberation, the panel’s report concluded, “We are generally very supportive of this project…the benefits, elegance and excitement of the new structure are undoubted.”

PLANNING APPLICATION

At a height of roughly 55 metres above sea level, the proposed bridge consists of two independent cantilevers, each more than 30 metres in length, reaching out and touching, almost, in the middle. At the centre, a narrow gap between the cantilevers has been designed to offer visitors a sense of transition between the mainland and the island, the present and the past, as they step into the mysterious past that makes Tintagel so special.

Twelfth century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote that the original land bridge to the island was so slight that “three men shall be able to defend against the whole power of the kingdom”, and the bridge has been designed to be as slight as possible in order to reflect this historical land bridge and have the least possible impact in the landscape. The width of the bridge is just three metres, and this has been subjected to intensive wind-tunnel testing to ensure it can resist the strong winds which the north Cornwall coast regularly experiences.

The proposed bridge uses materials designed to be simple, durable, and appropriate to the context of the site, with a main structure in steel, handrails in oak and a deck surface made from Cornish Delabole slate. The slate deck would be interspersed with a pattern of quartzite tiles, designed to reflect the quartz intrusions seen on the Tintagel cliffs and the quartzite boulders that adorn the tops of the Cornish hedges in the area.

The bridge is part of a larger programme of landscape works, costing a total of around £4m. The programme of landscape works – which will also be considered as part of the planning application – would seek to improve the footpaths around the site, working with the proposed bridge to create step-free access to the castle’s island and limit the impact of visitors on Tintagel Castle’s unique archaeology and ecology.

• The application can be viewed via Cornwall Council's online planning register