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Synopsis

Looking for Camelot is a quest for answers to the question: Could the legends surrounding Arthur of Britain have

foundation in real places in Britain? Proposals for the site of Arthur's sixth century forward base, his Camelot - have been made for sites north, south, east and west of Britain: but as Arthur is purported to have held back the gathering numbers of Angles and Saxons settling in the east and south of Britain his base should be located somewhere between the enemy

settlements and the British heartland. Decades of searching, and one lucky misreading of a Latin name, ultimately pointed to one ancient walled site, ideally located for Arthur's purposes and having better credentials than any other - including an historical link to Arthur, and an intriguing connection to the name Camelot.

The second section --following the legend -- results from many years of life near Bodmin Moor, alleged site of Arthur's last battle -- Camlann -- from where legend decrees he was taken by sea for healing, to the isle of Avalon. The Bronze Age trail, The Saint's Way, skirts Bodmin Moor as it crosses the Cornish peninsula, this ancient highway leads to a tidal river from which a wounded cavalryman could certainly have been taken by boat to an island. Moreover, that island has an historical association with Glastonbury, the alleged burial place of Arthur, and may also be seen to bear a link to the name Avalon.

Excerpt from: An introduction

The fabulous tales surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have circulated in the British Isles for centuries to form part of the Matter of Britain. But these marvellous stories belong to literature, not history, and when

history was taught to me long ago, Arthur of Britain had no place on the curriculum. Moreover, the Arthurian legends do not depict Arthur and his men as cavalrymen holding back the purportedly aggressive Germanic tribes settling in the east and south-east of the country, but as figures belonging to the fantasy world of the wizard, Merlin. Those knights and ladies are sometimes illustrated in the extravagant clothing of medieval Europe, and their stories are of courtly love. Furthermore, when these legendary knights rode forth, it was not to patrol and confront the heathen immigrant Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians threatening their culture and their island, but to quest for the Holy Grail.

Where there is belief in an historical Arthur, whose name still lives on in hundreds of sites in Britain and Brittany, there exists also the possibility that his base -- Camelot --might finally be identified. However, though shoals of books on Arthur have emerged from publishers over the past half century this expectation has not been met. Among proposals for the

whereabouts of this elusive site are Cacrleon on the Usk in South Wales; Caermelyn, near Cardiff in Wales; Colchester -- Camelodunum -- in south-east England; Winchester, an early English capital in the south-east; Wroxeter -- Viroconium -- in the south-west; South Cadbury in Somerset; another Camelodunum near the village of Slack in Yorkshire; a site on the Scottish border in Roxburgh; and another at Stirling in Scotland, though Saxons were not prevalent in Scotland in Arthur's time. Camelot, it seems, may lie north, south, east or west of Britain, the choice is ours.

The twelfth century historian, Geoffrey of Monmouth, wrote that Arthur held court at Caerleon in Wales, and this could certainly have been the case: but as Britain's enemies were gathering and settling on the other side of the country would Caerleon have also served as Arthur's working base? When the hill-fort of South Cadbury was excavated in the sixties excitement grew because the refortified site was thought to be unique: but archaeologists now know that many other sites were re-fortified in that unsettled period. Arthur may certainly have much resorted to South Cadbury, but it is still a very long ride from the enemy front line. Even Colchester does not provide the perfect base for a sixth century British War Leader, for the city lay close to a large settlement of Angles. Moreover, a base so far east would make it difficult for Arthur's men to prevent Saxons in the Thames Valley, or in Sussex, from advancing west into the heartland of Britain. The city of Winchester is also a possibility, but would not serve to maintain surveillance on the large numbers of Angles settling in what is now East Anglia.

Not only is the site of Camelot yet to be officially recognised, but the name itself is surrounded by mystery. Camelot -- Camelod -- was first recorded many centuries after Arthur's life in the writings of the twelfth century French historian, Chretien de Troyes, c. 1170. Doubts attend the name Camelot, however, for the Welsh historian, Geoffrey of Monmouth, made no mention of it when he wrote The History of the Kings of Britain c.1154. When puzzlement over proposals for a military base for Arthur finally drew me on a protracted and unlikely quest for a site offering more personal satisfaction, it was clear that my new pastime would require some initial choices of a fundamental nature, for it was not only Arthur's base that lay open to speculation, but also his role in history and his very existence.

On examining the evidence it made sense to me that when a person's name was entered in several historical records, and had flourished in human imagination for over a thousand years, being lauded in literature and poetry throughout that time, and was also commemorated in many hundreds of sites in Britain and the Continent of Europe, that its bearer should be given the benefit of the doubt. Like many others, therefore I agree with the Norman historian, William of Malmesbury, whose book Gesta Regum was completed in 1125:

This is that Arthur of whom modern Welsh fancy raves,

yet he plainly deserves to be remembered in genuine

history rather than in the oblivion of silly fairy tales,

for he long preserved his dying country.

The quest for an alternative Camelot based on common sense proved itself to be an entirely enjoyable pastime from the beginning. The long search was concentrated in those regions of Britain between the Cotswolds and the separate settlements of Angles and Saxons in the coastal east and south-east. It began in Hampshire where Arthur's alleged predecessor,

Ambrosius Aurelianus, defeated the failing British king, Vortigern. Many years of personal interest and pleasure followed, until my accidental misinterpretation of the Latin name of a pre-Roman British town threw up a tiny indicator that changed everything.

Excerpts from Part Two: Following the Legend.

As I could not envisage stumbling again upon a site with such excellent qualifications for Arthur's base all incentive to continue the search evaporated. But my curiosity was revived when we subsequently moved to Cornwall, settling not far from Bodmin Moor the legendary site of Arthur's last battle, Camlann. Cornwall is alive with traditional stories of Arthur, Guinevere, Mordred/Medraut, King Mark, Tristan and Iseult. The 10th century Welsh Annals date the battle of Camlann -- 'Gueith cam lann' around 537, and this date is of interest. David Keys writes in his book, Catastrophe, of one of the greatest natural disasters ever to occur taking place at that period. This event, marking the beginning of our modern world, was the cause of human suffering on a global scale. Coincidentally, the Welsh Annals connect the deaths of Arthur and Medraut at Camlann with mass deaths in Britain and Ireland, bringing the Irish into the historical picture relating to Camlann.

From the harbour of Padstow in north Cornwall, the Bronze Age footpath, The Saint's Way -- Forth An Syns -- takes the traveller south to the port of Fowey, providing a ready-made trail through the heart of Cornwall. On its journey south this footpath skirts the western edge of Bodmin Moor. Interestingly, the western arm of this trail passes through a town with a name indicating the hall, or land of Mordred. The eastern arm passes the site of King Mark's palace at Lantyan. This ancient path affords at least two waterside places from which a wounded cavalryman could certainly have embarked by boat for healing to a nearby island. This island, the site of an early Christian settlement, has historical connections with Glastonbury Abbey, Arthur's alleged burial site. It may also be seen to have a name linked to that of the legendary Avalon. A persistent legend concerning the island tells that Joseph of Arimathea landed there on a trading visit to Cornwall, and that he brought the Christ child to Britain. Whatever the case, the island was a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and a chapel was built there, possibly on the site of much earlier more perishable Christian buildings.