Paper short abstract:

We address the public's imagination at Tintagel, whereby initial tourist preconceptions about Arthurian legends are rarely enlightened by the visit. Do most people engage with ephemeral features such as the senses, spiritualism and Celticity or simply absorb re-constructive myths of the site's past?

Paper long abstract:

"Welcome to Tintagel, the birthplace of King Arthur" is a phrase often repeated at this small village on the North coast of Cornwall. Myth, childhood stories, shop signs and merchandise all serve to attract thousands of visitors a year - who arrive with great expectations and anticipation of a place which is both real and imaginary. As 'a place to go', the area provides stunning coastal scenery, a visually romantic ruined castle and a highly commercialised village. Tintagel Island, the English Heritage run site, plays central stage as the 'birthplace' in question. On site, the character of Arthur is largely debunked as literary phenomena and without adequate presentation of the local history or archaeology many visitors are left in an interpretive limbo - complaining of a high entrance charge or reluctant to let go of childhood memories and anticipated identity of place.

Whilst the aesthetics of the Castle and scenery go some way towards mitigating against intellectual (or economic) disappointment on site, we argue that despite the seemingly ocular emphasis of the tourist experience, mediated by discursive and literary media, a more embodied experience of 'being there' is possible. Here encounters with kitsch representations of the past combine with more amorphous senses of pseudo-spiritual atmospheres as well as experiences of walking, eating and drinking to ultimately provide a 'grand day out' for many which is perceived as a fairly cohesive package of Celtic-Arthuriana. This paper therefore questions the way in which collective memory, expectation and imagination mediate through an embodied experience of place.

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