Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye

 

There is, as yet, no geographical index of all things Arthurian in Britain. There are bibliographies, local gazetteers, tourist guides and pseudo histories with local claims and connections, but nothing that charts all the footsteps of Arthur, ancient and modern, across our land.

 

The Pendragon Society aims to put that right and  create a comprehensive geographical record, with your help. Members, aficionados, sceptics or casual surfers, we invite you all to help create Merlin's Isle of Gramarye.

 

Every quarter we'll identify on the web site one or two counties or areas across Scot­land, Wales and England (Man and the Channels Islands and invite you, whoever you are, to let us know what Arthurian associations you know about in that area. We'll include anything with an interesting Arthurian connection; historical, mythical, commercial’ cultural, literary, humorous. Controversy and oddball connections are positively welcome.

 

We'll collect the contributions, edit them and publish the results each quarter (with suitable acknowledgement of the contributors) building up as we go a comprehensive Arthurian Geography of Britain. Some examples might be:

 
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The cottage in Discove near Bruton in Somerset, where John Steinbeck and his wife stayed the summer of 1958 while he began writing what became King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1976).

 

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The river Douglas as it flows through Wigan, identified by Linda Malcor (the American Arthurian writer) as the Dubglas, site of four of the 12 battles in the ninth century historical miscellany Historia Brittonum.

 

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Catterick in Yorkshire, site of the battle of Catreath some say, mentioned in the seventh (eight, ninth?) century poem Y Gododdin in which the hero Gwawrddur is compared to Arthur.

 

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Caxton's successor, Wynkyn de Worde reprinted Morte d'Arthur in 1498, of which print run a single copy survives at the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

 

But to start with we're looking for Arthurian connections in: 

  1. Flintshire in North Wales

  2. Hampshire in England

  3. Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.

All we need is some brief explanation of the connection ‑ no more than 200 words please, your name and your contact details. Please send contributions before 31st December 2007 to Dave Burnham at pendragon59.subs@btinternet.com

 

The Pendragon Society invites everyone, world wide, to join in and contribute to our unique project.

 

 

 
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