King Arthur

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Druid protestor King Arthur Pendragon defies Stonehenge eviction order
3 May 2009

Mr Pendragon set up camp on the edge of the site in June 2008 and had until 4pm on Sunday to leave after the court order. The former soldier, who changed his name by deed poll 33 years ago, is fighting for the protected world heritage to be open to all. He wants visitors to be able to walk around and touch the stones, rather than remain in a visitor centre and confined to marked-out trails.

On Monday last week Wiltshire Council were granted an eviction order by Salisbury County Court for an order to remove Mr Pendragon, 55, from "byway 12", which is known locally as the Netheravon Coach Road. Mr Pendragon's protest camp on the byway sits alongside Stonehenge between the A303 and A344 and includes a caravan. Mr Pendragon, who hopes to run as an independent parliamentary candidate, pickets staff and tourists everyday.

He said shortly after 4.15pm today that no-one had arrived to remove him yet but he had no intention to leave. "We have opened a bottle of mead and we are drinking to Stonehenge," he said. "I have done a short ritual and spell of protection, calling on the kings of old. I am still here so I am in breach of the order as they see it but I have as much right as anyone else to be here. "I am not blocking the by-way, other tourists park along there. I am not going to go, I am battening down the hatches and continuing my lawful right to protest and my equal right to religious practice."

Mr Pendragon started protesting with consent from the Council of British Druid Orders last June following the Summer Solstice at the site. He is opposed to the site being flanked by two busy roads - the A303 and A344 - and claims the spiritual site should be open to all. The Government scrapped plans to remove the fences around Stonehenge, build an underpass, and grass over the A344 in 2007.

Stephen Helsby, Wiltshire Council's highways enforcement and traveller services manager, said last week: "This ancient byway - known locally as Netheravon Coach Road - is open to all traffic. Wiltshire Council, in it's capacity as local highway authority, has a duty to maintain everybody's right to use it's full width without interruption or other obstruction. The council strives to protect all of its public rights of way from trespass and that includes byway 12 which is situated at the heart of this important World Heritage Site."

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Rock on!

[SpursFan1902]

You go, King Arthur. I have to admit, I would like to see the ropes come down and people be able to walk right up to the monument, but I know that there are a$$holes out there that would chip pieces off to take home and otherwise damage it, so I see the sense in the ropes staying up. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the old religions allowed to do ritual at Stonehenge at the solstaces and be right up near it?

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Merlin was Glaswegian
Glasgow City Council have agreed with author Adam Ardrey that the famous magician stayed in the city.
18 May 2009
stv.tv

Glasgow City Council bosses are claiming legendary magician Merlin was a Glaswegian. Council chiefs have included the wizard, who featured in Arthurian legend, on a list of well-known figures who come from the city. Merlin joins the likes of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and comedian Billy Connolly on the list, which is on the authority's website.

A council spokeswoman explained the wizard had been added after an amateur historian suggested Merlin had lived there. The Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: "Like most mythical historical figures, it is often difficult to accurately trace their origins. Recently an amateur historian has pointed to the fact that the legendary Merlin lived a 'comfortable life', with his wife Gwendolyn, in Partick, not Camelot and I'm sure most Glaswegians think that's just magic!"

In the book Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend, author Adam Ardrey claimed that the wizard hailed from Scotland. Mr Ardrey said he believed the wizard had lived in Partick "where the River Kelvin meets the Clyde". He told the paper: "I am thrilled that Glasgow has recognised Merlin as a Glaswegian and that almost 1,400 years after his death he can take an official place in Glasgow's glorious history."

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That would be quite cool - the spot they're claiming he lived is about a mile from here.

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Historians locate King Arthur's Round Table
Historians claim to have finally located the site of King Arthur’s Round Table – and believe it could have seated 1,000 people.
By Martin Evans
11 Jul 2010
telegraph.co.uk

Researchers exploring the legend of Britain’s most famous Knight believe his stronghold of Camelot was built on the site of a recently discovered Roman amphitheatre in Chester. Legend has it that his Knights would gather before battle at a round table where they would receive instructions from their King. But rather than it being a piece of furniture, historians believe it would have been a vast wood and stone structure which would have allowed more than 1,000 of his followers to gather.

Historians believe regional noblemen would have sat in the front row of a circular meeting place, with lower ranked subjects on stone benches grouped around the outside. They claim rather than Camelot being a purpose built castle, it would have been housed in a structure already built and left over by the Romans.

Camelot historian Chris Gidlow said: “The first accounts of the Round Table show that it was nothing like a dining table but was a venue for upwards of 1,000 people at a time. We know that one of Arthur’s two main battles was fought at a town referred to as the City of Legions. There were only two places with this title. One was St Albans but the location of the other has remained a mystery.”

The recent discovery of an amphitheatre with an execution stone and wooden memorial to Christian martyrs, has led researchers to conclude that the other location is Chester. Mr Gidlow said: “In the 6th Century, a monk named Gildas, who wrote the earliest account of Arthur’s life, referred to both the City of Legions and to a martyr’s shrine within it. That is the clincher. The discovery of the shrine within the amphitheatre means that Chester was the site of Arthur’s court and his legendary Round Table.”

[Colston]

I went to a lecture on this earlier in the year... historian reckons Stirling was the most likely place if there was one place as it was more likely a moveable feast so to speak rather than a set camp and that also there was more than likely more than one 'Arthur' that over time became the legend. Totally discounted Tintagel and Glastonbury as possible locations.

[faceless]

Stirling is a central point for leylines in Scotland, so that makes some sense. From it every major town of the time is connected by the 'old tracks'.

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King Arthur's round table may have been found by archaeologists in Scotland
Archaeologists searching for King Arthur's round table have found a "circular feature" beneath the historic King's Knot in Stirling.
26 Aug 2011
telegraph.co.uk

The King's Knot, a geometrical earthwork in the former royal gardens below Stirling Castle, has been shrouded in mystery for hundreds of years. Though the Knot as it appears today dates from the 1620s, its flat-topped central mound is thought to be much older. Writers going back more than six centuries have linked the landmark to the legend of King Arthur.

Archaeologists from Glasgow University, working with the Stirling Local History Society and Stirling Field and Archaeological Society, conducted the first ever non-invasive survey of the site in May and June in a bid to uncover some of its secrets. Their findings were show there was indeed a round feature on the site that pre-dates the visible earthworks. Historian John Harrison, chair of the SLHS, who initiated the project, said: "Archaeologists using remote-sensing geophysics, have located remains of a circular ditch and other earth works beneath the King's Knot. "The finds show that the present mound was created on an older site and throws new light on a tradition that King Arthur's Round Table was located in this vicinity."

Stories have been told about the curious geometrical mound for hundreds of years -- including that it was the Round Table where King Arthur gathered his knights. Around 1375 the Scots poet John Barbour said that "the round table" was south of Stirling Castle, and in 1478 William of Worcester told how "King Arthur kept the Round Table at Stirling Castle". Sir David Lindsay, the 16th century Scottish writer, added to the legend in 1529 when he said that Stirling Castle was home of the "Chapell-royall, park, and Tabyll Round". It has also been suggested the site is partly Iron Age or medieval, or was used as a Roman fort.

Extensive work on the royal gardens was carried out in the early 17th century for Charles I, when the mound is thought to have taken its current form. The first known record of the site being called the King's Knot is from 1767, by which time it was being leased for pasture. Locals refer to the grassy earthworks as the "cup and saucer", but aerial photographs taken in 1980 showed three concentric ditches beneath and around the King's Knot mound, suggesting an earthwork monument had preceded it.

The new survey -- funded by Historic Scotland and Stirling City Heritage Trust -- used the latest scientific techniques to showing lost structures and features up to a metre below the ground. It also revealed a series of ditches south of the main mound, as well as remains of buildings, and more recent structures, including modern drains which appear at the northern end of the gardens.

Mr Harrison, who has studied the King's Knot for 20 years, said: "It is a mystery which the documents cannot solve, but geophysics has given us new insights. Of course, we cannot say that King Arthur was there, but the feature which surrounds the core of the Knot could explain the stories and beliefs that people held."

Archaeologist Stephen Digney, who coordinated the project, said: "The area around Stirling Castle holds some of the finest medieval landscapes in Europe. This investigation is an exciting first step in a serious effort to explore, explain and interpret them. The results so far suggest that Scotland's monarchs integrated an ancient feature into their garden, something we know happened in other countries too. We are looking forward to the next stage in September when we hope to refine some of the details."

Dr. Kirsty Owen, Cultural Heritage Adviser at Historic Scotland, added: "The project has the potential to add to our knowledge of the landscape context of the medieval and early modern occupation of Stirling Castle. The ditches identified may intriguingly be part of historically documented earlier garden features, or if prehistoric in origin could add to our scant knowledge of prehistoric activity at Stirling Castle. We look forward to seeing the results of the next phase of investigations."Futher work including a ground-penetrating radar survey, is now planned to take place next month to find out more.

A small display of the interim results can be seen close to the site at the Smith Museum.