KING ARTHUR’S GROUND

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6537, 20 February 1928, Page 5

KING ARTHUR’S GROUND

OFFER TO THE NATION. RISK OF PRIVATE SALE. A proposal has been made with the object of securing for the nation, a part of the land associated with the legendary exploits of King Arthur and the Knights of the Bound Table. The property, known as Church Cliff, about fifty acres in extent, is part of the glebe land attached to the vicarage of Tintagel, and it overlooks the precipitous island roek, owned by the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, upon which stands the romantic ruins of King Arthur’s Castle. This rugged, wind-swept cliff against which the Atlantic rollers beat ceaselessly, commands magnificent views. Not far away is Slaughter Bridge, the supposed scone of King Arthur’s death. These acres of cliff land have been in the possession, of the Church from time immemorial, but their value as building sites has recently increased, and the presuent vicar, the Rev. A. Blissard Barnes, is anxious lest one of liis successors might be tempted to part with them from • mercenary motives. Ho has ,therefore, obtained the consent of the patrons of the living and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to the sale of the property for £IOO (which is said to bo less than half of its present value as building laud) and has ascertained from the National Trust that that body is prepared to take over the cliff and preserve it in the interests of the public for all time. An appeal is shortly to be made for funds to carry oiit the scheme, and meanwhile the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Mr. J. C. Wiliams, has sent a generous contribution.