Posts Tagged ‘Castle Dore’
legends along the road 7-15
Biking (virtually using Street View) through Cornwall is proving to be an adventure. I am seeing interesting houses, encountering magical byways and learning a lot of history. Today I drove through the town of Fowey, famous for its associations with Daphne du Maurier, one of my favorite authors.
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view of Polruan from Fowey (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Fowey is a place of grand estates and mansions …
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mansion in Fowey (image from Street View)
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and colorful houses …
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colorful houses in Fowey (image from Street View)
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Beside the road outside of Fowey is a granite pillar known as The Longstone or the Tristan Stone. This may be the burial place of the archetype of Tristan, of the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The legend tells the tragic story of a Cornish knight and an Irish princess who fall in love after ingesting a potion …
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Tristan Stone by road west of Fowey (image from Street View)
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I also took a quick side trip to an interesting place on the map, just north of Fowey. From the road, Castle Dore appears as an irregularity in the landscape. It is the grass-covered ruin of a ‘hill fort’ of the Iron Age, occupied first during the 4th to 1st century B.C. ! The fort protected people from Roman invaders …
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Castle Dore from road (image from Street View)
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The fort was also occupied during the Dark Ages. In legend, it is identified as the hall of King Mark (who Isolde was supposed to marry) and is therefore associated with the legend of Tristan and Isolde …
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aerial view of Castle Dore (map from Google Maps)
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Best View: New Road Hill in Fowey, a ‘sunken’ roadway with a staircase for pedestrians …
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July 28, 2013 ‘Fowey roadway’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
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