TINTAGEL Castle has been celebrating the life of a former ‘keeper of the keys’, in conjunction with International Women’s Day, writes Rosie Cripps.

Florence Nightingale Richards was the ‘eccentric’ Victorian custodian of the castle, and was later given the title of ‘keeper of the keys’, serving the site from 1869 to 1939, finally retiring at the grand old age of 82!

Starting her role at just 12-years-old, Florence was often found sitting on the cliffs of ruins at the castle, greeting visitors as they came and went. She would later be given the task of giving a historical tour of the site to visitors, but, as her old age crept upon her, she would hand her keys to a visitor and tell them when their time was up, and take rest at her shelter. If anyone was late, she would briskly blow a whistle to summon the visitors.

Florence died in Launceston in 1949, and is buried at St Materiana’s Church in Tintagel. Her grave is unmarked — perhaps due to having no family of her own. However, towards the end of 2017, two Tintagel ladies, Kathy Hipperson and Lynda Aldridge, both of which work for the castle, started a crowdfunding page to raise funds to purchase and construct a headstone to remember Florence, who was part of Tintagel Castle’s heritage for most of her life.

Florence first became involved with the castle through her father, Edwin Richards, who kept the key of the castle. The family lived at the old mill between the castle and the village.

According to English Heritage’s conservation management plan, Florence’s family acted as the guides of the historical sites, and Florence was particularly keen in showing visitors King Arthur’s Footprint and how the legendary king crossed the sea to the church in ‘one stride’. Florence was once described as ‘a short dark woman, a throwback to the ancient British type’, and lived in a cottage located on the site of the English Heritage shop.

In AC Canner’s The Parish of Tintagel: Some Historical Notes, it states: “But perhaps the most impressive of all was the person of Florence herself, whose strange and rugged appearance made her seem like some character straight out of the Arthurian tale.”

Nowadays, Florence’s character is kept alive with some of Tintagel Castle’s events, with actor Kathy Hipperson taking on the eccentricity of Florence.

Along with Lynda Aldridge, who works for English Heritage at Tintagel Castle, Kathy was keen to commemorate Florence, who was never given headstone when she was buried at St Materiana church.

Kathy and Lynda set up a Just Giving page before the new year to raise money to commission a headstone for Florence, who is buried in an unmarked grave at the church. The pair managed to raise £388, and the stonemason contacted for the work has since agreed to donate the stone. The money raised will be used to pay for his time, and will cover the cost of putting the stone in place in the graveyard.

Lynda has worked at Tintagel for many years and has dedicated much of her time to researching Florence’s story. Kathy, on the other hand, enjoys partaking in productions on Florence’s life at the castle.

She said: “Three years ago, Peterkin from Foolscap Productions was asked to put together a performance telling the story of Florence Richards, including a tour of the castle and some of the stories associated with the castle. He asked me to join him to play herself and we have returned twice a year since!”

This year, a production on Florence will take place at the castle from May 29 to 31.

Kathy added: “We are especially grateful to Lynda who shared her research with us. She was lucky enough to meet people who remembered Florence while she was still living at the castle and keeper of the keys.

“When the Ministry of Works took over the running of the castle, she was moved on and she had to leave her home. She lived for ten more years before she died. Unfortunately it seems that she had no immediate family and no one to mark her grave.”

With a change of staff at St Materiana’s church, Kathy and Lynda are currently awaiting for confirmation to go ahead with the commission of the stone.