Mystical Places

Place Names  Geoffrey of Monmouth, Malory etc mention a lot of names which, although they are significant places in their world, seem to be out of place in an Arthurian context. ...read more

Abbotsham   Abbotsham church was originally sited on the summit of the bold ridge that runs S. of Westward Ho!, about 1 m. N. of its present site, to which it was removed at an unknown date. ....read more

Annwn / Avalon  The Avalon of later Arthurian legends was known as Annwn to the earlier Celts. "Various hills and islands are access to Annwn. An Otherworld or underworld of Welsh legend, one of the many survivals from pagan Celtic Mythology. The most important hill is Glastonbury, the most important island is Lundy." ....read more

Appledore  Appledore like Avalon is derived from apple ....read more

Artavia   In his 'Geography' or 'Itinerary and Commentary de Situ Britanniae' Richard of Cirencester describes the different tribes who inhabited Britain and names their principal cities. He mentions Artavia, a city of the Cimbri in North Devon. He adds 'From hence, according to the ancients, are seen the Pillars of Hercules, and the island of Herculea not far distant.' .....read more

Atlantis   Atlantis was not a city or found in the Mediterranean. It was more than a large continent. According to Plato, legends and old maps; a great land mass once stood in the Atlantic. The continent is no longer there. The continent may have sunk to the ocean floor during the destruction of Atlantis. ...... read more

Barnstaple The 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 893 tells us that the Danes 'besieged a fortress on the North Coast of Devon'  W.G.Hoskins says this was Burridge Camp  " Burridge Camp is an iron age   hillfort which became the burh of Pilton." ....read more

Caer Sidi -Fairy Fortress In his authoritative study 'Celtic Folklore' Professor Rhys writes that in Scotland and in Ireland the words 'sid' or 'sith' refer to faery folk. He considers that these words share a common origin in the Latin word 'sedes' meaning 'a seat' or 'settlement,' but that it came to signify an abode of the faery folk. 'Caer Sidi' means  'the Fortress of the Faery folk.'  ....read more

Camelot   Welsh tradition names Arthur's capital as Kelliwic ( -wic = settlement; latin -vicus) and places it in Cornwall. The first written mention of 'Camelot' appears to be in 'Lancelot' by Chretien de Troyes (c1170). ....read more

Camlann  Early texts refer to 'The Battle of Camlann' where 'Arthur and Medraut fell'  The battle was fought somewhere in the southwest of Britain. ....read more

Celtic sacred isles 'Many of the islands off the west coast of Britain, including Lundy, were known to the Celts as 'Isles of the Dead'. They were regarded as holy islands which formed gateways to the otherworld and to which the illustrious dead were ferried, there to be buried with solemn rite amid the spirits of their forefathers' ......read more

Clovelly Dykes  The iron age hill fort of Clovelly Dykes or Ditchen Hills stands on the Hartland peninsula, North Devon, England. While it commands a panoramic sea view over the Severn estuary as far as the coast of Wales, the fort has a more restricted inland view. ....read more

Croyde  "There are only three known dedications to St. Helen in Devon, all in North Devon, close to the sea, and all within sight of each other: the chapel on Lundy, the parish church of Abbotsham, and the ancient chapel (now ruined) on the high ground just West of Croyde village.....read more

Hartland  Writing in the second century the geographer Ptolemy referred to Hartland Point as 'Heracles Promontory'. He also mentions under the name of 'Heraclea', an island corresponding to Lundy. ....read more

Logres, a word which in Arthurian romance is never far removed from the Otherworld,  was one of the ancient names for north Devon / Cornwall - Arthur's kingdom ....read more

Lundy  Lundy island stands in the mouth of the Bristol Channel, thirteen miles NNW of Hartland Point on the North Devon coast and thirty two mile SSE of St.Govan's Head on the Welsh coast.....read more

Mount Badon   'The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself' ...read more

The Otherworld The Celts believed in the "Otherworld." It exists alongside our world, separate from it but accessible from anywhere and everywhere. It is the realm of quest and achievement, of challenge and encounter, of initiation and enlightenment. It is Arthur's Avalon, The Grail Castle ,the land of faery and enchantment where time passes at a different speed. It is the land where the story never ends. The "Otherworld" is where the music takes us, it's the never-never land of books, artists enter and return to share their visions. Mystics travel there through meditation......read more

St. Michael Lines 'A High rocky place on the top whereof stands a church, full bleak and weather beaten, all alone, as it were forgotten.'  ...read more

Stonehenge Around 2000 BC, when the priests in Babylon were conducting, and recording, their observations of the celestial bodies, the building of the first phase of Stonehenge was begun.  Over the next six hundred years a series of successive structures were erected and Stonehenge as we know it finally arose around 1400 BC. ...read more

Sacred Sites  'For a culture to whom the timing of seasonal events was particularly important, the culture which produced Stonehenge, for example, the observation of heavenly bodies was a central part of their religious ceremonies. Any place which possessed such alignments was holy. The movements of heavenly bodies is regular and can be calculated and thus predicted. Throughout time the coincidence of a sunrise or sunset with a natural feature such as a mountain or an island has always been, and indeed still is, awe inspiring. Any site which possessed such an alignment was a natural indicator of a heavenly event and thus sacred'. ....read more

Temples of Apollo  The author of the journal of Pytheas' travels (Diodoros Siculus, Bibliotheca quoting Hecateus of Abdera as one of the writer's authorities). wrote that there were two temples to the god Apollo on the British Isles. There was ‘both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in shape’ ..... read more

Island of Hercules The earliest known direct written mention of Lundy comes from the second century geographer, Ptolemy. He calls Lundy;- 'Heraclea' - 'Isle of Hercules.' He also names Hartland Point, the nearest point of land to Lundy;- 'Heracles Promontory' - 'The Headland of Hercules.' ...read more

The Wasteland  After the defeat of the invading Anglo-Saxons by Arthur at the Battle of Mount Badon the Celtic kingdoms in the west maintained independence and maintained their Romano Celtic traditions for at least another hundred years. But when the Anglo-Saxons finally conquered Devon almost all traces of the existing Celtic society were obliterated, a situation strongly paralleled in the wasteland of the grail legends ....read more

The White Isle "Joseph and his company prepared their fleet and entered without delay, and did not end their voyage till they reached the land which God had promised to Joseph. The name of the country was the White Isle;....read more

Tintagel - The site of Arthur's conception and birth. So many pieces of sixth c. Mediterranean pottery have been found at Tintagel that they are termed 'Tintagel Ware.'  "no doubt that Tintagel was indeed central to the economic activity of western Britain." .....read more

Ynys Witrin  In mediaeval times the monasteries discovered the benefits of pilgrims as a source of income and many old tales and legends were bent to fit various locations, a practice still followed today in many places to attract tourists. Much of the writing which has come down to us as histories of the time were originally prepared, and later amended, under the auspices of the establishments concerned. William of Malmesbury and John of Glastonbury both wrote under commission of the abbey of Glastonbury, the claim that Glastonbury was once known as Ynys Witrin is at best nebulous....... read more