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Camelot
. . . the name and the legend, first appeared in the
writings of Chrétien de Troyes, in his work
Lancelot,
at around the end of the 12th Century.
Before that there are references
to King Arthur's palace.
Geoffrey of Monmouth stated that one of
King Arthur's courts was at
Caerleon, London and Winchester. The earliest
tradition, as preserved in the Mabinogion, does not say where the
court was.
Other traditions place Camelot at Cadbury Castle,
South Cadbury
in Somerset.
John Leland in 1542 writes:
"At the very south
end of the church of South-Cadbyri standeth Camallate, sometime a
famous town or castle ... The people can tell nothing there but that
they have heard Arthur much resorted to Camalat...".
On the hill itself is a well called Arthur's Well, and the
highest part of the hill is known as Arthur's Palace. These names
are not recent inventions, as they are recorded as far back as the 16th
century.
Colchester, a town in Essex,
England (or its Roman antecedent Camulodunum) has been cited as
one of the potential sites of Camelot. Though the name "Camelot" may be
derived from Camulodunum (modern Colchester), which was the Iron
Age capital of the Trinovantes, and later the provincial capital
of Roman Britannia, the Essex location near the east coast and so very
close to the earliest Anglo-Saxon settlement, places it in the
wrong Anglo-Saxon kingdom for it to be Camelot.
The ex-Roman fort of Camboglanna on Hadrian's Wall has
also been suggested. As has Campus Elleti in Glamorgan;
Caerwent in Wales; Camelford in
Cornwall;
Camelon Fort at Falkirk; Dinerth
Castle near the River Arth, in West Wales; Saltwell Park, in
Gateshead; Chard in south Somerset; Graig-Llwyn near
Lisvane; Llanmelin hill-fort near Caerwent; Camlet Moat
near Trent Park, by Enfield Chase, London; Slack, near
Huddersfield, (like Colchester) the Romans had a fort named Camulodunum
there; and even Roxburgh in the Scottish Borders, was proposed by
Alistair Moffat in his work 'Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms'.
But the Welsh Triads locate the court in
Kelliwic or
Celliwig in Cornwall. This is has been identified with
Callington
or Killibury,
Egloshale.
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