Despite its name, Tintagel – called by Nikolaus Pevsner ‘the most famous of Cornish stone cottages, low, dark, picturesque, with roofs like a cluster of hills, and of a slatey hue like elephant hide’ – was not originally a post office, but a small manor house, or steward’s house. It was, however, taken over by the General Post Office as the district letter receiving office in 1844, and remained so until 1892. In 1903 it was bought by the National Trust, and restored under the direction of Detmar Blow.