The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (95 page)

Shalott,
see
Astolat.

Sorelois.
In
Lancelot du Lac
Galehaut is described as the lord of Sorelois and the Remote Isles. Sorelois is described as adjoining Arthur’s kingdom,
separated only by a strait of water which is deep and fast running. We also learn that Galehaut won it in battle against the nephew of the king of Northumberland. The anonymous author seems to be
describing Anglesey, since not only does this fit the geographical description but he may have been recalling a vague memory of Cadwallon, ruler of Gwynedd, who eventually regained his land from
Edwin of Northumbria who had driven him out of Anglesey. The Remote Isles might be the Isle of Man and the Outer Hebrides, which were a separate kingdom in the thirteenth century. Loomis believed
that Sorelois was the Scilly Isles but these do not fit the description.

Tribruit.
A river given by Nennius as the site of Arthur’s tenth battle. It has been one of the hardest to identify and suggestions vary from
the Fords of Frew near Stirling, to the estuary of the River Ribble, and the River Troggy near Caerleon.

ACTUAL LOCATIONS

ENGLAND

Cheshire

Alderley Edge.
One of the sites where Arthur and his knights are supposed to be sleeping until they rise to defend their country again.
See also
Melrose.

Chester.
The Roman fort of Deva and, from 87
AD
onwards, the home of the XX Valeria Victrix legion, the last legion to leave Britain. It is one of
the probable sites for Arthur’s ninth battle at the City of the Legion (
see also
Caerleon and York). It was the site of another major battle where the Angles of Northumbria, under
Athelfrith, slaughtered the British of Powys under Selyf ap Cynan, in around 615. The victory gave Athelfrith total power across northern Britain and isolated the remaining British Men of the North
from the Welsh.

Cornwall

Bodmin Moor.
There are several sites.
Arthur’s Bed
or
King Arthur’s Bed,
a granite monolith on Trewortha Tor on the east of Bodmin Moor near the
village of Berriowbridge. It was first recorded by the antiquarian William Borlase in 1754 but it had clearly been long in use by then. He noted that nearby are many eroded rocks, or
“rock-basins”, called
Arthur’s Troughs,
which he used to feed his dogs.
King Arthur’s Hall
is a stone enclosure east of St. Breward where the rise towards
Garrow Tor passes marshy land called
King Arthur’s Downs.
The “Hall” measures about 48m x 20m and is often waterlogged. It is stone lined so was probably a primitive
reservoir to capture water from the Downs. Near Bolventor is
Dozmary’s Pool,
suggested as the home of the Lady of the Lake and from where Arthur received Excalibur and to where
Bedivere returned it. Since the nearest associated site for Camlann is at Camelford, almost ten km away across the Moor, it would have taken Bedivere some
while to do it three
times.
Callywith
on the outskirts of Bodmin, is one of several suggested sites for Arthur’s court at Celliwic.

Callington.
One of several suggested sites for Arthur’s court at Celliwic. However,
see
Gelliwig
under
Gwent and Gwynedd.

Camelford.
Suggested by Geoffrey of Monmouth as the site of the Battle of Camlann, at
Slaughter Bridge;
it has also been proposed as the site of Camelot (
see
entry
) but on no basis beyond similarities of the name.

Fowey.
Just north of Fowey, near Golant, is Castle Dore, an Iron Age hill-fort once believed to have been reoccupied in the sub-Roman period and to have been the home of
King Mark (Cunomorus) of the Tristan legend. However, recent re-evaluation has ruled out the likelihood of post-Roman occupation. The legend had arisen because the French poet Bèroul set the
Tristan story at Lancien, interpreted as Lantyan, a village just north of Golant. It was further supported by the Tristan Stone, inscribed with the name of Drustan son of Cunomorus, which is south
of Golant on the A3082 leading out of Fowey.

Kelliwic.
The name given to Arthur’s court and long believed to have been in Cornwall, mostly due to Charlotte Guest’s translation of Cernyw as Cornwall.
There was a Kellewic somewhere in Cornwall, possibly near Penzance, but it is a site long lost. However,
see
Gelliwig
under
Gwent and Gwynedd.

Pendoggett.
8km south of Tintagel on the B3314, just before Pendoggett, is the Iron Age camp called Tregeare Rounds, one of the sites suggested for Castle Dameliock,
where Gorlois was killed.
See
, however, St. Dennis and St. Columb Major.

Porthleven.
East of the town is The Loe or Looe Pool, a lagoon which some believe was the lake to which Bedivere returned Excalibur. There is, though, no nearby site
associated with Camlann.

St. Columb Major.
4km east of the town is the ancient hill-fort of Castle-an-Dinas, suggested as the site where Uther’s men besieged and killed Duke Gorlois.
See
also
St. Dennis.

St. Dennis.
Just west of the town is the farm of Domellick; the name is believed to be a survival of Dimilioc where, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Uther’s men
besieged and killed Duke Gorlois. An old manor of Dimelihoc is recorded here in the
Domesday Book.

Tintagel.
Thanks to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Tintagel has become indelibly imprinted on our consciousness as the birthplace of Arthur. It was here,
according to Geoffrey, that Duke Gorlois of Cornwall had his castle and where Uther, disguised as Gorlois, seduced Ygerna. Tintagel is actually the name of the castle, not the village which was
Trevena, though Tintagel has now superseded it. Since Geoffrey referred to Tintagel and not Trevena, there must have been a castle here in his day (Tintagel means “fort of the
constriction”, referring to the narrow neck of the peninsula on which it was built). The present castle, the ruins of which many still believe to be Gorlois’s, was started in the 1140s
by Reginald, illegitimate son of Henry I, when he was created earl of Cornwall in 1140. He was the brother of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who was Geoffrey’s patron. The castle wasn’t
completed until the 1230s, by the next earl, Richard, son of King John, one of the great Crusaders of the 1240s. Excavations in the 1930s, and again in the 1990s (which included the discovery of
the Artognou inscription), showed that Tintagel had been a major site right through the Arthurian period, importing many high status goods from throughout the Roman world. Early thoughts that it
might have been a monastery have been revised, and it is possible that it was a chieftain’s stronghold. If so, the legends of Arthur’s birth here cannot be entirely discounted. We have
no idea where any of the Welsh princes were born, especially those who, like Cadell, may not have been native to the area.

Tintagel has its inevitable quota of such items as
Arthur’s Quoit
and a
Round Table
and, after a difficult climb down to the beach,
Merlin’s Cave.
Of more
interest in the town itself are
King Arthur’s Great Halls,
which include King Arthur’s Hall and a Hall of Chivalry. These were created in 1933 by millionaire Frederick Thomas
Glasscock (1871–1934), who founded a Fellowship of the Round Table and privately published several Arthurian books. The Hall was originally private but was opened to the public in 1993. It
houses a granite Round Table, eight feet in diameter. The Hall of Chivalry contains a wonderful display of 72 stained-glass windows of Arthurian scenes, all by Veronica Whall.

Willapark,
at Bossiney, just north of Tintagel, is one of several suggested sites for Arthur’s court at Celliwic. Bossiney Mound,
beside the
Methodist Chapel, is supposed to be Arthur’s Round Table.
See also
Gelliwig
under
Gwent and Gwynedd. East of Tintagel, 5km along the road to Davidstow, is
Condolden
Barrow,
regarded locally as the burial mound of Arthur’s half-brother Cador, Duke of Cornwall.

Wadebridge.
The hill-fort at Castle Killibury is one of several suggested sites for Arthur’s court at Celliwic. However,
see
Gelliwig
under
Gwent and
Gwynedd.

Cumbria

Arderydd
or
Arthuret,
see
Carwinley.

Birdoswald.
The modern name for Camboglanna, a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall suggested as a site for the battle of Camlann.
Burgh by Sands.
The site of the
Roman fort of Aballava at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. It has been suggested that Aballava may later have been corrupted into Avalon. 20km to the west is
Cardurnock,
believed to
be where Cei fought so viciously at the Halls of Awrnach. There was an old Roman fort here, though little evidence survives.

Camboglanna,
see
Birdoswald.

Carlisle.
The Roman fort of Luguvalium which was raised to the capital of the
civitas
of Carvetiorum probably in the late second century. It may also have been the
capital of the breakaway province of Valentia. As Roman authority declined this area gained an increasing degree of autonomy and it is likely that Carlisle formed the base for the later military
rulers of the North, including Gwrwst, Merchiaun, Cynfarch and Urien. It is often cited as one of Arthur’s principle courts but this is almost certainly because it was Urien’s capital
in Rheged. It may have been the site of Arthur’s ninth battle at the City of the Legion. Carlisle later features in several early English poems and tales which feature Gawain, such as
The
Carle of Carlisle
(
see
Chapter 14).
The Awyntrs off Arthure
is set at Tarn Wadling, which was near High Hesket just south of Carlisle. According to Malory, Guenevere’s
punishment, when she is to be burned at the stake, takes place at Carlisle, even though all preceding events had happened at Camelot.

Carwinley.
The site of the battle of Arderydd or Arthuret, between Gwenddoleu and his kinsmen Peredur and Gwrgi in
573. Gwenddoleu was killed, and
his bard Myrddin lost his wits and ran into the nearby Forest of Celidon. The site is virtually on the Scottish-English border on the banks of the River Esk and Liddel Water between the farms
Lowmoat and Highmoat, less than a kilometre north-west of Carwinley (a corruption of Caer Gwenddoleu), north of Longtown.

Outhgill.
12km south of Kirkby Stephen stand the ruins of
Pendragon Castle,
built in the twelfth century by Hugh de Morville, one of the knights who murdered
Thomas à Becket. This was at the height of the first wave of Arthur mania, and de Morville doubtless gave the castle its name out of self grandeur, suggesting it was the castle of Uther
Pendragon. There was a local legend that Uther had attempted to alter the course of the River Eden that runs by the castle, but to no avail. There is no evidence of any previous occupation of the
site in this lonely stretch of Mallerstang Common, but the name had its effect because Malory incorporated a reference to the Castle in
Morte Darthur
, making it the home of the renegade
knight Sir Brian of the Isles whom Lancelot had ousted from Dolorous Garde and had to oust again for his vile deeds, giving the castle to Sir Brunor the Black. The castle is privately owned and not
open to the public.

Penrith.
The churchyard of St Andrew’s contains the Giant’s Grave, once believed to be the grave of Urien’s son Owein. In fact the grave, which is
actually two graves together, dates from the tenth century. Just south of Penrith at Eamont Bridge is an earthwork known as
King Arthur’s Round Table.
It dates back at least to the
Bronze Age and may once have been the site of a henge, though there is another henge close by at Mayburgh. With a circumference of almost 200m, it could accommodate at least 200 people and might at
some stage have been used as a site of council, perhaps by Urien in whose kingdom it was. Just over a km to the east is the site of Giant’s Cave by Brougham Castle. Here Lancelot is supposed
to have slain the giant Tarquin who, with his brother Isir, was a cannibal. This is the site of the Roman fort Brocavum, one of the later fortifications which was in use from the second to the
fourth century and could have been visited by Lucius Artorius Castus.

Derbyshire

Castleton.
Here is Peveril Castle high up on the peak overlooking the town, a possible site for Lancelot’s Dolorous Garde. It was established by William Peverel
soon after the Norman Conquest and Henry II visited it in 1157. It was later in the care of Brian de Lisle, Constable of the Peak, who did not want to give it up after King John’s death, and
had to be taken by force by William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby. This episode may be replicated in the Vulgate Cycle by Lancelot’s capture of the castle from Brandin of the Isles.

Devon

Lundy.
The Isle of Lundy off the North Devon coast is associated with Annwn and Avalon. There has been evidence of occupation on the island since Neolithic times, but no
direct links to Arthurian events.

Dorset

Badbury Rings.
An Iron Age hill fort suggested as a possible site for Arthur’s battle of Badon Hill. Its location, though, does not support this and there is a lack
of any significant archaeological evidence.

Woolland,
near Ilchester. Here at Bulberrow Hill are two rivers, the Divelish and Devil’s Brook, that may equate to the site of Arthur’s battles on the River
Dubglas.

Durham

Binchester.
The old Roman fort of Vinovium may be the site of Arthur’s eighth battle at Fort Guinnion.

Gloucestershire

Forest of Dean.
The main forest of southern Gwent and Ergyng, which may have been the British counterpart of the French Briosque and Broceliande. The name is derived from
the Saxon word for “valley”,
denu
, but there might be an earlier association if Lydney was Avalon (
see below
). The Forest of Briosque was owned by Dyonas, father of the
Lady of the Lake, and may have been known to the British as the Forest of Dyonas.