Where to Find King Arthur & Round Table Companions Kipping - Until Needed...

The Round Table awakens

Tales abound that the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table never actually died, but lie sleeping in a cave, waiting for the moment of Britain’s greatest peril to wake and defend their island home. Or alternatively, to either sally out as part of The Wild Hunt and/or complete an annual supernatural circuit around the mountain or hill they reside in.

Wikimedia Commons

Wild Hunt – Nightbringer.se

nightbringer.se

Where to find the legendary King Arthur

Some maintain Arthur was an historical figure who had been turned into a legendary hero; others say the precise opposite – he was a protective Celtic deity who was transformed into a ‘real’, ‘historical’ character.

So where to find the Pendragon? There are plenty of places in Great Britain rumoured to house ‘The King of the Mountain’, many with similar provenance.

And here they are, those that I could find that is, there may well be more.

Glastonbury Tor

Wikimedia Commons

Arthur and his knights are said to be sleeping beneath Glastonbury Tor, often considered the mythical ‘Isle of Avalon’. Monks attempting to cash in on the legend claimed to have discovered the tomb of Arthur and faithless wife Guinevere at the nearby Glastonbury Abbey in 1191.

'King Arthur's Tomb'

In the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey lies the alleged resting place of the legendary king.

www.atlasobscura.com

Sewingshields

Copyright: (C) by Caplio R4 User

In the 1800s, a knitting shepherd dropped his ball of wool near the overgrown ruins of Sewingshields Castle (no longer visible); following it he stumbled upon a hidden passageway to a great subterranean hall, with a massive round table in the centre. King Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table sat around it in a deep slumber. On the table lay a bugle, a garter and the sword Excalibur. The yokel instinctively picked up Excalibur and cut the garter, upon which moment Arthur and company awoke. Arthur in cold fury said, “O, woe betide the evil day On which this witless wight was born, Who drew the sword, the garter cut, But never blew the bugle horn.”

The Arthurian entourage then went back to sleep and the shepherd scampered away, to an uncertain fate.

Is King Arthur just a bugle call away?

L EGEND has it that King Arthur and his knights will return in Britain’s hour of greatest need.

www.hexham-courant.co.uk

Eildon Hills (Melrose, Scotland)

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Sir Walter Scott tells of a horse dealer paid in ‘ancient coin’ by an elderly, archaically-garbed buyer who for some reason then takes him inside the hill that evening. As is by now expected, King Arthur and his knights are snoozing; shown the obligatory horn and a sword, the dealer blows the horn. The knights awaken and a loud voice (Arthur’s) bellows he is a coward for not grabbing the sword first.

Eildon Hills – Nightbringer.se

nightbringer.se

Richmond Castle

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According to legend, the castle is built over a cavern where King Arthur and his knights sleep, waiting to rise from their slumber to defend England in her hour of need. Local potter Peter Thompson found his way by chance into the cave. The curious Thompson picked up Excalibur and was suddenly deafened by the sound of clattering armour, so he speedily replaced the sword. All was then still. But as he legged it, he heard a melancholic voice, “Potter Thompson, Potter Thompson Hadst thou blown the Horn Thou hadst been the greatest man That ever was born.”

The potter stopped only to seal the entrance so no-one else would disturb the sleeping knights. Or in another version, searched frantically for it, but never discovered it again.

Great Castles - Ghosts of Richmond Castle

great-castles.com

Dunstanburgh Castle

Wikimedia Commons

Earl Thomas of Lancaster (cousin of King Edward II), built the Dunstanburgh edifice between 1313 and 1322, apparently to emulate Camelot, so no ‘Sleeping King’, just the story of a noble known to his allies as ‘Roi Arthur’ in opposition to the feckless Edward, who was famously said to have later died by red hot poker insertion.

In yet another iteration of the Sleeping Knight story, a knight named Guy the Seeker was led to a subterranean hall at the castle by Merlin. There he beholds a beautiful woman (Guinevere?) in a crystal tomb, surrounded by knights – but no mention of King Arthur. Sir Guy faces the tiresome sword and horn challenge and tries blowing the horn first, but forgetting to unsheathe the sword first, fails.

Dinas Rock

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Craig y Ddinas boasts a 45m sheer vertical limestone face crowned by an Iron Age hillfort; a sleeping King Arthur and his army biding their time for a counteroffensive against any invaders.

They also guard a heap of gold and silver, all protected by bells that will wake them from their kip should any miscreants enter the cave.

King Arthur sleeps under the Dinas Rock: | Blaengwrach and Cwmgwrach Timeline Project

gwrachtimeline.co.uk

Arthur's Cave - The Doward

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King Arthur's Cave lies at the foot of a low cliff at the north-western end of Lord's Wood in The Doward, Herefordshire. Shrouded in local superstition, it the cave is connected with Vortigern, the foolish British king who invited Anglo Saxon brothers Hengist and Horsa in as his mercenaries.

Big mistake.

Arthur and his knights apparently once sheltered in the cave, but only for a short time, when on the run from the Saxons. Merlin may have hidden some treasure there though.

The Doward (Welsh: Deuarth Fach, lit. "two small hills"), boasted cave dwellings which were inhabited until relatively recently.

It’s a Jem…the true story of a Forest of Dean cave dweller!

THE ever-growing band of Forest of Dean history enthusiasts look forward to October. For them, it is not Hallowe’en or the beginning of the countdown to Christmas that signifies the slide into autumn; rather the arrival – as certain as the migration of swans to Slimbridge – of the latest edition of The New Regard.

www.theforestreview.co.uk

King Arthur’s Cave

King Arthur’s Cave on The Modern Antiquarian. 8 images, 7 articles, 2 links.

www.themodernantiquarian.com

Tintagel - Merlin’s Cave

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OK, not a resting place, but worth a mention, the cave is located beneath Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. In Idylls of the King, Tennyson described waves bringing the baby Arthur to the shore and the mage Merlin then carrying the infant lad to safety.

Alderley Edge

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The link between the caves at Alderley Edge and Arthur only dates to the Victorian period. In 1838, Mrs Gaskell wrote insisting that Arthur and his court lay sleeping there until England’s extremis roused them. J Roscoe’s 1839 poem ‘The Iron Gate: A Legend of Alderley’ fleshed out a fuller version of the story, but much earlier Cheshire tales spoke of warriors and wizards in the caves, ready for war, and a mysterious man (presumably Merlin) trying to buy white horses from a local farm for the reawakened knights.

Author and Cheshire local Alan Garner used this and other legends, in his novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.

The Iron Gate,-A Legend of Alderley | Robbins Library Digital Projects

d.lib.rochester.edu

Cadbury Castle

Wikimedia Commons

Said to be hollow, King Arthur and his Knights sleep waiting to be called upon by Britain again in times of dire need. It’s said that on Midsummer's Eve (or every seven years in another version) a hole appears in the hillside and the Knights ride their horses down to drink the water from a spring near Sutton Montis Holy Trinity church (pictured), or maybe the Church of St Thomas à Becket in South Cadbury.

Freebrough Hill

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A small peak south of the village of Moorsholm, in Redcar and Cleveland, England; legend says a local farmer, chasing a lost lamb, found an opening into the hill, thence a tunnel that led to an oak door, discovering the King and his knights asleep seated by the Round Table.

King Arthur and Freebrough Hill

KING ARTHUR c537AD  Whether Arthur existed or not is hotly debated but in terms of literature his legend does impinge on our area. Fir...

bardsandauthors.blogspot.com

Arthur’s Seat

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According to legend, King Arthur sleeps beneath the lion-shaped rocks on Edinburgh’s Arthur's Seat, the craggy remains of an extinct volcano close to the city centre. Others claim without evidence it was the site of Camelot.

And, an easily disproved myth, Merlin’s Cave in Clerkenwell, barely two minutes from where I used to live in Amwell Street:

Why Was There A Merlin's Cave In Islington?

Was a lost pub connected to the legendary wizard? No but…

londonist.com

Incidentally, there is another Merlin’s Cave - a pub in the Hertfordshire village of Chalfont Saint Giles, close to the appropriately named Seer Green, where Merlin and would stop off for a break on the way to London when conducting chores for the King.

Seer Green

The village is situated amid the leafiest lanes in south Bucks, but on a map made in Norman times it is shown as a hamlet called 'Sere'. Legend says that Merlin, King Arthur's seer, rested here on his journeys to and from Camelot. There is a well in the village which  still bears his name, ...

www.bucksfhs.org.uk

There are many supposed burial places for Merlin, including Merlin's Grave, Drumelzier (Scottish Borders), The Marlborough Mound (Wiltshire), Bardsey Island (North Wales), and Merlin's Tomb, Brocéliande Forest (Brittany).

Merlindale: 16. Merlin's Grave 17. Tinnis Castle (Dun Meldred) 18. Altar Stone 19. Stobo Kirk

< Hart Fell Merlindale Yarrow> 17. Tinnis Castle 19. Stobo Kirk 18. Altar Stone 16. Merlin's Grave innis Castle - Dun Meldred (17) The ruined

merlintrail.com

According to legend, Sir Lancelot is buried at ‘Joyous Gard’, which could be in France, or Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland:

Wikimedia Commons

In Meigle, Scotland there is a site named Guinevere's Grave; apparently, the former queen made her way to Scotland after King Arthur’s supposed death, changing her name to Vanora. There she went back to her old naughty ways, provoking the townsfolk to kill her. Other tales speak of Guinevere becoming a nun at either Caerleon or ‘The Mound's Marker’ at Amesbury .

Wikimedia Commons

Vanora's Mound - Cateran Ecomuseum

The final resting place of King Arthur's Queen? This burial mound could well be prehistoric in date but almost certainly represents the earliest phase of Pictish burial on this site,...

cateranecomuseum.co.uk

No shortage of King Arthur TV shows and movies and books

King Arthur is of course, the subject of numerous novels, TV series and movies. Here’s the first episode of an interesting one from 1977, ITV’s Raven (all episodes currently available on YouTube). An orphan/former borstal inmate (Phil Daniels) assists a Merlin-esque archaeology professor (Michael Aldridge) in his excavation of a system of caves beneath an ancient stone circle, containing 5th-century rock carvings related to the legend of King Arthur.

C. S. Lewis ’ 1945 novel That Hideous Strength (’A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups’), in which Arthur is said to be living in the land of ‘Abhalljin’ on the planet Venus.

Camelot (1967): I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight? Changed to, “I Wonder Who The King Is Screwing Tonight? by a bored Richard Burton during the long-running, first stage version of the show.

Arthur is not unique in the legendarium; there are many other examples of slumbering monarchs, heroes, religious leaders, the odd dupe (Van Winkle) and villains across the globe, including the following, some illustrated with clips.

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

Rip Van Winkle

Brân the Blessed

Thomas the Rhymer

Typhon and Enceladus in Mount Etna

The demon Hobbomock, sealed in Sleeping Giant mountain in Connecticut

Bernardo Carpio, the ‘King of the Tagalogs’

Ogier/Holger the Dane

And quite a few more, including I guess, Jesus, as he was laid to rest in a cave on a hill.

Kay Khosrow, Shah of Persia

Alexander Suvorov

St. Wenceslas (Václav) of Bohemia

Stephen I of Hungary

Loki

King David

Artavazd I of Armenia

Queen Tamar of Georgia

St. John the Evangelist

Kind Dunmail

King Harold II

Owain Glyndŵr

William Tell

Csaba, the son of Attila the Hun

Fionn mac Cumhaill

Kūkai, founder of Shingon Buddhism

Charlemagne

Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE is available on Amazon Kindle:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-One-Secret-Memoirs-Pompey-ebook/dp/B0BNLTB2G7

A Church of Stone and Bone: Unveiling the Secrets of Hythe's Ossuary

Standing sentinel over the Kent town of Hythe, St Leonard's Church is a testament to centuries of faith and history. Its imposing structure, a blend of Norman and Early English styles, hints at a rich past. Yet, within its walls lies a more unexpected story; a silent congregation of bone, housed in the largest and most well-preserved ossuary in Britain. This article delves into the intriguing history of St Leonard's Church. There is a particular focus on the enigmatic crypt and the ongoing quest to understand the lives it holds within its skeletal embrace.

A Church Steeped in History

The origins of St Leonard's Church remain shrouded in some mystery. Historical evidence suggests a Saxon foundation, possibly as early as the 10th century. However, the earliest documented record dates back to 1090. A time when a Norman church dedicated to Saint Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners, stood on the site. The Normans, known for their architectural prowess, likely constructed the core of the present-day church.

Over the centuries, St Leonard's underwent several extensions and modifications. The 13th century saw the addition of the chancel, a key architectural element that would become intricately linked to the church's unusual crypt. Furthermore, this period also coincided with a growing trend of building charnel houses – dedicated spaces to store exhumed bones from overflowing cemeteries.

Unveiling the Crypt: A Repository of the Past

Descending a narrow staircase, visitors to St Leonard's Church encounter a sight both captivating and unsettling: the ossuary. Nevertheless, unlike traditional crypts, this space is not a subterranean chamber but an above-ground room built as part of the 13th-century chancel extensions. Lined with shelves along its four arched bays, the ossuary holds an estimated 2,000 skulls and a staggering 8,000 thigh bones.

The precise reason for creating such a repository is open to debate. One theory suggests it served a practical purpose – as a charnel house, storing exhumed bones from the surrounding churchyard to make space for new burials. Consequently, this practice was quite common in medieval England, though the sheer scale and meticulous arrangement of the Hythe ossuary set it apart.

Another theory proposes a more spiritual significance. During the Middle Ages, memento mori – the contemplation of mortality – was a prevalent theme in religious thought. The ossuary, with its stark display of human remains, could have served as a powerful reminder of death's inevitability and the importance of living a righteous life.

The Whispers of the Skulls: Unveiling Identities

The origins of the individuals represented in the ossuary remain a subject of ongoing research. Radiocarbon dating has confirmed that the bones date primarily to the medieval period, ranging from the 12th to the 15th centuries. This timeframe coincides with a period of significant population growth in Hythe, a bustling port town.

A closer examination of the skulls reveals intriguing details. Several exhibit signs of trepanation, a surgical procedure involving the drilling of a hole in the skull. While the exact reasons for trepanation in these cases remain unclear. It was a practice employed for various ailments, ranging from headaches to epilepsy.

The meticulous arrangement of the bones, with skulls placed on shelves and long bones stacked in the central bay, suggests a degree of respect and order. This careful organization, along with the sheer volume of remains, hints at a systematic collection process over an extended period.

Modern Research and the Untold Stories

In recent years, advancements in archaeological and forensic techniques have opened new avenues for understanding the lives represented in the ossuary. Researchers have begun analyzing the bone structure and chemical composition to glean information about diet, health, and even geographical origins of the individuals.

Isotope analysis, for instance, can reveal dietary patterns based on the presence of specific elements absorbed through food. Such research could shed light on the socioeconomic diversity of the population buried at St Leonard's and whether the ossuary contained remains from across the social spectrum.

DNA analysis, while a complex undertaking on such aged remains, holds the potential to unlock even more profound insights. It could reveal genetic relationships between individuals and potentially provide clues about migration patterns and disease prevalence in medieval Hythe.

Conclusion

The Hythe ossuary serves as a powerful reminder of the impermanence of life and the enduring power of human curiosity. Standing as one of Britain's most well-preserved repositories of the past, it presents a unique opportunity to delve into the lives of a medieval community.

The ongoing research into the origins and identities of the individuals housed within the ossuary promises to unveil a wealth of information. This knowledge has the potential to not only illuminate the specific history of Hythe but also shed light on broader social, dietary, and health practices of medieval England.

References:

Parish of St Leonard, Hythe. "The history of St Leonard's church." The Parish of St Leonard, Hythe, www.slhk.org. Accessed July 9, 2024.

Brown, Peter. Medieval Charnel Houses and Ossuaries in England. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Thomas, Anne. Sacred Bones: The Spiritual Significance of Ossuaries. Routledge, 2021.

Flickering Lamps, https://flickeringlamps.com/2015/07/10/the-extraordinary-ossuary-at-st-leonards-church-hythe/

Public Domain Images

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Leonard%27s_Church,_Hythe,_from_the_north_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2196134.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Leonard%27s_Church,_Hythe,_from_the_north_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2196134.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ossuary_in_the_crypt_of_St_Leonard%27s_Church_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1003309.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_crypt,_St._Leonard%27s_church,_Hythe_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5399995.jpg

The Essex Marshes: Dracula, Magwitch, Vikings...and Serpents?

The Flying Serpent. Or: Strange News out of Essex. Being: A true Relation of a Monstrous Serpent which hath divers times been seen at a Parish called Henham-on-the-Mount within 4 miles of Saffron Walden. Showing the length, proportion and bigness of the Serpent, the place, where it commonly lurks, and what means hath been used to kill it. Also a discourse of other Serpents, and of a cocatrice killed at Saffron Walden (1669) - Wikimedia Commons

Essex Marshes have long been a magnet for the mysterious and macabre

The county of Essex is a strange place; part London overspill, part criminal hang-out, part dated seaside resort, part hayseed farming community, part home to the tasteless newly-made wealthy, and part strange, forbidding Anglo-Saxon fenland, full of superstitions, bloody battles and literary demons.

The region has even influenced G.R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones (GoT), with the author purloining the River Blackwater and the Battle of Maldon for his opening tome in the series.

Game of Thrones

Anglo-Saxon Essex and Middlesex (Wikmedia Commons)

GoT’s The Crown Lands - even looks a little like Essex:

The bleak marshes have also played home to other literary characters, including Bram Stoker’s blood-sucking Dracula (Purfleet) and Magwitch, Dickens’ misunderstood criminal miscreant.

Plaque on Wall, Purfleet (Wikimedia Commons)

Dracula’s Purfleet

Purfleet is a small town in Essex on the north bank of the River Thames. It’s only mentioned by name six times in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, yet plays a vital role in the narrati…

ianfarrington.wordpress.com

Dracula – The Legend of Purfleet! - The Backstage Centre

With the Centenary of publication of Bram Stokers "Dracula" in May 1897, Jonathan Catton who used to work for Thurrock Borough Council's Thurrock Museum, based in Grays, investigates the connection.

thebackstagecentre.com

Magwitch: "[a] fearful man, all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin."

Great Expectations, Pip and Magwitch on the marshes, by John McLenan (1860 - Wikimedia Commons)

William Finlay Currie as Abel Magwitch in David Lean’s Great Expectations (1946)

The Battle of Maldon (11 August 991 AD)

This was a real GoT-style donnybrook between the Essex Fyrd of Anglo-Saxons under towering, white-locked, sixty-year-old Earl Byrhtnoth and the Northmen led by the younger, gold-obsessed Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway.

It is a tale of honour to the point of foolishness, as Byrhtnoth refused to pay the Vikings off to leave, and then agreed to let the raiders cross the causeway from their base at Northey Island and fight his militia one-on-one. The Earl, predictably enough, died in the ensuing melee, but only after taking out at least three Vikings.

The clash was the subject of the alliterative classic Old English poem The Battle of Maldon, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's playlet, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son, which takes place on the battlefield of Maldon and the search for Earl Byrhtnoth's decapitated body.

Northey Island (Wikimedia Commons)

Wikimedia Commons

Byrhtnoth statue, Maldon. Byrhtnoth, Earl of Essex. hero and loser of the Battle of Maldon in 991 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Essex Serpent

Author Sarah Perry on the inspiration for her novel of the same name, ‘I first heard of this mythical serpent courtesy of my husband, who’d been reading a little 1938 book called ‘Companion Into Essex’. The book includes an excerpt from a pamphlet printed at Clerkenwell in 1669, which relates the appearance of “a Monstrous Serpent”. The pamphlet goes on to show “the length, proportion, the bigness of the Serpent, the places where it commonly lurks and what means hath been used to kill it.” I’m still uncertain why this pamphlet detonated my imagination in quite the way it did, but four years later I’d completed a novel in which the Essex Serpent returns to menace the 1890’s coastal village of Aldwinter. As I wrote, I relied on Google images of the original pamphlet, which is headed STRANGE NEWS OUT OF ESSEX and bears a wonderful wood-cut of a quite benevolent-looking animal being poked at with lances by men on horseback.’

It was a long time before I thought to consult the British Library catalogues: perhaps I’d convinced myself that the entire business had only been in my imagination. But there it was, on my laptop screen in my Norwich study: The Flying Serpent, or, strange news out of Essex, being a true relation of a Serpent seen at Henham on the Mount, etc. London, [1669?].

I recall feeling a little nervous, convinced up to the last moment that the pamphlet I’d pored over online for so long could not be real.

The pamphlet was kept inside a hard binding to protect it. When I opened the covers, there was the vanillin scent of old paper. And there he was, just as I’d seen him in the dead of night on my computer screen, or printed out on a reused sheet of paper: the Strange News, the Essex Serpent, with his owl-like eyes and his dear little wings and his slightly gormless smile. Not a bit like the near-invisible malevolent presence that saturates my novel, but as familiar to me as an old pet. I sat with it a long while, reading again that wry opening, imagining a laconic Essex farmer reading it out: “Guests, fish and news go stale in three days’ time, and nothing delights an Englishman’s fancy so much as new novelties…”

Liz Trenow, author of The Secrets of the Lake:

‘But this is not the only story of mysterious creatures from the county. There is another, much earlier, myth of a serpent or dragon that terrorised the villagers of Bures and Wormingford near Colchester.

Indeed Wormingford, originally Withermundford, was renamed in honour of the legend, ‘worme’ being a medieval term for a dragon. It was first reported in 1405 by a monk who thrillingly described ‘an evil dragon of excessive length with a huge body, crested head, saw-like teeth and elongated tail... arrows sprang from its ribs as if they were metal or hard stone’.

One theory is that this 'dragon' was in fact a crocodile given as a gift by King Saladin to King Richard I during the 12th century Crusades and originally kept at the Tower of London. It somehow escaped – perhaps from a travelling menagerie – and found its way to the River Stour, where it started stealing sheep and, so the legend goes, demanding to be fed virgins until the supply began to run out. In desperation the villagers turned to a local knight, Sir George of Layer de la Haye, who efficiently despatched the beast as though his mother had named him for the task.

Wormingford Church

However, local lore has it that the crocodile or dragon lives on in Wormingford Mere to this day, and mysterious bubbles are seen when the beast is displeased. If it is disturbed, the story goes, evil things will happen in the community. I was brought up in a nearby village and one of my earliest memories is of visiting Wormingford Church to see the stained glass window in which the ‘dragon’ is dramatically depicted being slain by a knight on a white charger.’

https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2016/08/on-the-trail-of-the-essex-serpent.html

Looking north-east across salt-marshes. This was the view on a late autumn late afternoon. In the middle distance, slightly left of centre is part of Skipper's Island Nature Reserve and on the distant skyline, to the left, are the silhouettes of cranes at Harwich/Felixstowe container ports (Wikimedia Commons)

BBC Essex - BBC Essex, Hidden Essex: The Henham Dragon

Were the residents of 17th century Henham near Saffron Walden terrorised by a dragon?

www.bbc.co.uk

Stephen Arnell’s debut novel THE GREAT ONE is available worldwide on Amazon Kindle:

The Great One : The Secret Memoirs of Pompey the Great eBook : Arnell, Stephen: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

The Great One : The Secret Memoirs of Pompey the Great eBook : Arnell, Stephen: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk

Warnings to the Curious: East Anglia’s Three Cursed Crowns

Montague Rhodes James (Wikipedia Commons)

BBC Christmas Ghost Stories

During the 1970s, UK national broadcaster BBC One would broadcast the special Ghost Story for Christmas Series during the holiday season; usually one of M.R James’ chilling tales, but also Dickens (The Signalman) and Le Fanu (Schalcken the Painter). The tradition was revived in 2005 with sporadic stories, thence becoming a more regular event under the aegis of writer/director/actor Mark Gatiss (Sherlock/The League of Gentlemen/Dracula). BBC Two’s 2023 Christmas offering is an adaptation of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s ‘Egyptomania’ horror tale, Lot No 249.

Lot No. 249 by Arthur Conan Doyle (A Tale of the Supernatural)

With the exception of The Signalman the 1970s, stories are freely available on YouTube, but that hasn’t stopped beloved British classics channel Talking Pictures reviving the idea and broadcasting the 1970s shows.

A Ghost Story for Christmas coming to Talking Pictures - Old Time Review

Talking Pictures TV has announced their intention to broadcast A Ghost Story for Christmas, a festive staple on the BBC during the 1970s.

www.oldtimereview.co.uk

Treasure Hunters in the East Anglian Kingdom

Which brings us to the main subject of this piece. The 1972 ghost story, A Warning to the Curious, was an adaptation of the M.R. James story concerning the hidden ‘Three Cursed Crowns’ of the Kingdom of East Anglia, which if discovered, will doom the finder and foreshadow great evil befalling England. The terrible consequences for treasure hunters are depicted in the drama:

A Warning to the Curious (1972)

The Wuffingas - East Anglia’s First Ruling Dynasty

The Three Crowns of East Anglia remains the flag of the region, consisting of the red St George’s Cross of England, combined with a blue shield bearing three gold crowns - the arms of the early Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia. Medieval heralds ascribed them to the kingdom and to its first ruling dynasty, the Wuffingas (c. 599—749 AD).

The Wuffingas are also referred to as Uffingas or Wiffings and their ancient kingdom today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Wikimedia Commons

The kingdom of East Anglia (Early Saxon period)

Wikimedia Commons

Could M.R James’ Chilling Story Of the 3 Cursed Crowns Come True?

With the recent discovery of a pagan temple complex at the Wuffingas ('wolf people') dynastic capital in Rendlesham, Suffolk, will the legendary crowns be found -and what could the result be if they are? Can there be any truth in M.R James’ story - the finders cursed to a horrible death and the country doomed to invasion?

'Possible temple' from 1,400 years ago uncovered by archaeologists near Sutton Hoo in Suffolk

The discovery of a compound the size of around 20 football pitches at Rendlesham by a lottery-funded community archaeology project shows the "sophistication of the society ruled" by the East Anglian kings.

news.sky.com

Image courtesy of Sky News

Apparently, some Wuffinga royal regalia was taken by the Mercian kingdom as it rose to dominance - only to be followed by a relatively swift fall and displacement by the Cerdic House of Wessex.

Anglo-Saxon Treasure Hoard in Staffordshire

Mrs Patey’s class used the internet today to research what was found at Sutton Hoo. Back in July 2009, the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon artefacts ever to be found was discovered in a fie…

winchesterhouseyear4.wordpress.com

A Deeper Dig into the Wuffinga Dynasty

The Wuffingas are best known for the Sutton Hoo Burial, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Possibly the tomb of Wuffinga King Raedwald (560-624 AD), an intriguing anomaly who apparently kept a foot in both Pagan and Christian camps, the haunted ship tumulus is shown in the 2021 motion picture The Dig:

The Dig (2021)

The Wuffingas, as the ‘wolf clan’ are also said by some to be the descendants/kin of the mythic Beowulf, a Geat from Southern Sweden. Wuffa (d. 578 AD?), the legendary king who gave his name to the dynasty, was actually not the first East Anglian monarch of the line. That was Wehha (d. 571 AD?), another semi-historical character, who according to the 13th Century ‘Anglian Collection’, was the son of Wilhelm, who was te son of Hryþ, who was the son of Hroðmund, the son of Trygil, the son of Tyttman, the son of Casere Odisson, the son of the chief god Wōden.

The name Wehha has been suggested as a shortened version of Wihstān, the father of Beowulf’s companion Wiglaf, perhaps evidence for the connection between the Wuffingas and the Swedish royal dynasty of the Scylfings.

Wuffa of East Anglia with his Three Crown shield

The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia – Wuffings

wuffings.co.uk

Beowulf (2007)

Wikimedia Commons

First English King to be Killed by a Pagan Noble

Eorpwald (reigned from 624 AD, assassinated c. 627 or 632 AS), succeeded his father Rædwald as King of the East Angles. After becoming king, Eorpwald received Christian teachings and was baptised in 627 or 632. Soon after his conversion, he was killed by Ricberht, a pagan noble. Eorpwald was the first English king to be killed due to his adoption of Christianity (although possibly syncretically infused with heathen elements) and was venerated by the Church as a saint and martyr.

He was the inspiration for the king whose tomb supposedly contained both Christian and Phallic Infidel symbols in Angus Wilson's classic novel Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956): ‘Gerald Middleton is a sixty-year-old self-proclaimed failure. Worse than that, he’s "a failure with a conscience." As a young man, he was involved in an archaeological dig that turned up an obscene idol in the coffin of a seventh-century bishop and scandalized a generation.’ (from Good Reads)

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A Timely Warning to Archeologists

To the archaeologists digging in Rendlesham, a timely warning paraphrased from Doctor Zaius (Maurice Evans) in Planet of the Apes (1968), “Don't look for it. You may not like what you find.”

Planet of the Apes (1968)

To close, another Antiquarian mystery from the mind of Montague Rhodes James:

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)

Stephen Arnell’s first novel, Roman Mystery The Great One is now available on Amazon Kindle (cover art by the Earl of Buchan).

The Great One : The Secret Memoirs of Pompey the Great eBook : Arnell, Stephen: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

The Great One : The Secret Memoirs of Pompey the Great eBook : Arnell, Stephen: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk