Design and construction of Tintagel Castle footbridge in Cornwall, UK

A dramatic new steel footbridge was completed in 2019 to improve access at the popular Tintagel Castle heritage site on clifftops in Cornwall, UK. The Anglo-Belgian design team was selected from 137 entrants in an international design competition. They describe in this paper how the unique cantilevered arch design was developed for this archaeologically sensitive site, with no direct access by road or sea and an aggressive marine environment. The two halves of the superstructure were built from 14 sections using a cable crane, leaving a symbolically important visual gap at its slender midspan. The award-winning bridge has become a tourist attraction in its own right, and the castle now has the highest visitor experience score of all of English Heritage’s 300-plus historic sites.