As some of you may know I am taking part in the
annual April A-Z Challenge again this year. Last year my theme was Castles and,
where possible, haunted ones. This year I had intended to cover the legendary
King Arthur and places associated with him. I abandoned that theme as my draft
posts were far too long and the A-Z sequence makes the stories about him too
disjointed. However I’m pleased to say that I have adapted some for this week’s
Sepia post.
There are many sites associated with Arthurian
legends. Tintagel in Cornwall
is the king’s traditional birthplace.
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| Tintagel Castle 2002 |
Arthur’s father was King Uther Pendragon.
Arthur was conceived at Tintagel when Uther had Merlin smuggle him, in
disguise, into the Castle to enable him to lie with Igraine, the wife of Duke Gorlois
of Cornwall.
Uther had besieged the Duke in another castle shortly before.
The ruined castle of today was built long after
the Arthur lived. The medieval castle built in 1141 by Reginald of Cornwall,
the illegitimate son of Henry I, had little strategic importance and the site
proved a difficult building place. At one time owned by the Black Prince, by
1540 it was a ruin, In the echoing chamber of Merlin’s Cave the wizard’s ghost
is said to wander, It’s also said that Arthur lives on in the form of the
Cornish chough, a bird to be seen perched on the storm lashed ledges of the
cliffs.
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| Pendragon Castle |
Pendragon Castle
in Cumbria
is said to be built on the site of a fifth-century fortress constructed by King
Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon. He supposedly settled there after killing a
dragon-serpent that was terrorising the region. He also tried unsuccessfully to
divert the River Eden to make a moat. A local rhyme goes, “Let Uther Pendragon
do what he can, Eden will run where Eden ran.” In his old age
he took up arms against the Angles; and was to die at the castle from a water
supply poisoned by his enemies.
The castle ruins we see are those of a later
castle built in 1173 by Hugh de Morville, one of Thomas Becket’s murderers, in
the 12th century. It was destroyed by fire twice, but eventually
rebuilt by in the 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford. After her
death it was left to fall into ruins. With Arthurian links and stories of
Merlin living there and visiting Castlerigg
Stone Circle there are many accounts of
supernatural phenomena. When the moon cloaks the ruins in an eerie glow a
ghostly horseman gallops soundlessly towards the castle. We will never know whether
the horseman is the mortally sick Uther Pendragon returning from battle, or a messenger
or a warrior of the Clifford Clan.
Stories abound about King Arthur and his
knights. One of these is associated with a castle within 30 miles of where I
live.
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| Richmond Castle - Curtain Wall from the southern bank of the River Swale |
Built by the Normans
the Castle overlooks the River Swale in Yorkshire.
Richmond Castle shares a similar folk tale with
other places. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table slumber in a cave
below the castle, waiting to be called to England’s aid. There are many such
legends that he and his knights are not dead but merely sleeping somewhere.
Potter Thompson was a man married to a harridan
of a wife. To escape her constant carping he took a walk and eventually
finished up below the castle. When pausing for a rest he noticed a gap in the
rocky escarpment which appeared to be the entrance to a cave. He looked in and
saw a faint light glowing at one end of a long passage. Following the light
Peter Thompson found himself in a large cavern where, fast asleep, were a king
and knights in full armour.
He recognised King Arthur because on a table in
the centre of the cavern were a horn and famous sword Excalibur. Excited that
he had found King Arthur’s resting place, Peter decide to take Excalibur to
prove his story was true. When he started to take the sword from its scabbard,
the knights stirred. Terrified, Thompson ran but not before a sorrowful voice
had intoned:
Peter Thompson, Peter
Thompson,
If thou hadst either
drawn
The sword, or blown
the horn,
Thou wouldst have been
the luckiest man
That ever yet was
born.
Thompson began to feel better and braver once
he was outside. If he went back for the sword or the horn all his troubles
would be over. He turned back but the entrance to the cave had gone. Despite a
frantic search all over the rocky banks of the castle the secret tunnel was never
revealed to him again.
Finally we come to the castle that ultimately
led to Arthur’s death.
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| Dover Castle 1887 |
(By David MacGibbon & Thomas Ross)
Dover is associated with the conflict
towards the end of Arthur’s life between the King and his son (or nephew) Mordred.
During Arthur’s absence in a French war Mordred seized the crown and garrisoned
an army at Dover
to prevent his father’s return. Fierce fighting ensued before Mordred was
driven back. At the end of the battle Sir Gawaine was discovered badly wounded.
Before he died Sir Gawaine wrote to Sir Lancelot who was overseas, calling him
back to Arthurs’s aid.
Sir Lancelot assembled a huge army and landed
at Dover – too
late to help Arthur who had been slain at the Battle of Camlann.
For more on castles and monuments cross over to the links at Sepia-Saturday-171.
Photos:
- Tintagel - Alan Simkins - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Geograph Project Collection
- Pndragon - David Medcalf - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Geograph Project Collection
- Richmond - David Dunford - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Geograph Project Collection
