Names and Places

Mobil are funding explorational work at Tintagel on the north coast of Cornwall – a site closely associated with the legend of King Arthur. Professor Charles Thomas of the Institute of Cornish Studies is set to lead a dig in and around the ancient churchyard, exploring the mysterious man-made mounds which have puzzled scholars for many years.

Mobil's involvement with the project stems from the naming of their latest North Sea gas field 'Camelot'. They hope the dig will shed light on the Arthurian legend, though Professor Thomas is far from sure. He has rejected any real factual or historical link between Tintagel and King Arthur, an association that first came to prominence when Geofrey of Monmouth in his twelfth-century romance, 'Historium Regum Britanniae', used Tintagel as the scene for the seduction of Ingerna and Arthur's begetting. Whatever the slender literary connections Professor Thomas is pleased to have Mobil's commercial backing to further his academic hunches.