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St. Gerren, King of Dumnonia
Born c.AD 552
Welsh: Gereint; Latin: Gerontius; English: Gereint

St. Constantine's son, Gereint rac Dehau or "Gerren for the South" was immortalised by Aneirin in his epic poem Y Gododdin. It tells of King Gerren's valiant death in 598, when the Celtic kingdoms under Kings Mynyddog Mwynfawr (the Wealthy) of Din-Eidyn (Edinburgh) & Cynan of Gododdin (Lothian) rode south to fight Saxon Bernicia against enormous odds at the Battle of Catreath (Catterick, Yorks).

However, it seems that Gerren may have only been mortally wounded at the battle, dying some days later. While fleeing to Brittany to escape plague in Wales, St. Teilo was entertained by King Gerren at his castle of Dingerein near the village of Gerrans on the Roseland Penninsula. He promised the King, he would not die without taking communion from the saint. Teilo did not return for seven years, when his ship was greeted by Dumnonian courtiers who emplored him to hasten to the dying King's side. Gerren was overjoyed to see his friend's return. He received the host and died in Teilo's arms. Far away, in Brittany, St. Turiau, saw his soul ascending to heaven.

His body, in full regalia, was placed in a great sarcophagus on a huge golden ship that slipped down "The Mermaid's Hole" and into the sea. He was then rowed across Gerrans Bay using solid silver oars and buried, ship and all, beneath the great barrow of Carne Beacon near Veryan. He waits, sword in hand, for the day when he will return to reclaim his Kingdom. Though excavated in 1855 no gold or silver, let alone a great ship, was found, only a small cist burial. Admittedly, the digging did only concentrate on the centre of the mound. The mermaid tunnel between the Dumnonian Royal Palace and the sea was said to have been rediscovered by a farmer in the 19th century. Gerren is revered as a saint at Gerrans parish church, at Magor in Gwent and at several sites in Brittany.

Carne Beacon, Veryan, Cornwall

Carne Beacon, Cornwall (photo credit: Mick Sharp)

Os grid reference SW9126 3863. On the hilltop overlooking the beautiful Gerrans Bay in south Cornwall stands a fairly prominent ancient burial mound or round barrow (tumulus), dating from prehistoric times, rather than the more recent so-called Dark Ages, as was often thought from the Cornish legend of the saintly King Gerrenius. The man-made mound known as ‘Carne Beacon’ is covered in trees, bushes and grass and stands at the south-side of a farmer’s field (near Churchtown farm) ringed by a barbed-wire fence, but with a gate at one side for access. The site can be reached from the village of Veryan 1 mile to the north, or from the hamlet of Carne half a mile south, via footpaths around the edges of the field where the mound is located. The A3078 St Just and Tregony road is roughly one-and-a-half miles to the west of Carne Beacon. Just to the north of the ancient burial mound are the earthworks of an Iron-Age fort or settlement known as ‘the Veryan Rounds’.

Carn Beacon is between 15 and 28 feet (upto 6 metres) in height, depending on which part of it you’re standing on, and it has a circumference around the base of 370 feet (113 metres). During World War II it was used as a lookout post; a concrete pillar can still be seen on the top of the mound from this structure. It is considered to be the largest Bronze-Age burial mound in England. According to the ‘often accepted’ legend, a golden boat with golden oars was buried inside the mound in the 6th century AD along with a Dark-Age king; the boat in question had been rowed across Gerrans Bay from Dingerrin carrying the body of the saintly King Gerrenius (Geraint) of Dumnonia (Devon) who had died in his palace there circa 555 AD. But there was also a St Geraint or Gerran who lived about the same time and founded the church of St Gerrans-in-Roseland, which has rather added confusion to the legend, perhaps, although we known that a certain King Geraint figured in the ‘Register of Llandaff’ concerning St Theliau (Teilo) a 6th century Welsh churchman who had cause to travel through this part of the country on his travels to Brittany at that particular time and was well received by that king; so are the two saints Gerrenius and Geraint one and the same, quite probably. One legend informs us that St Just, son of King Geraint, had been converted to christianity by the Irish female saint, Boriana (Buryan). St Just in Roseland, Cornwall, is named for him. A St Geraint is commemorated on the 16th May. Some accounts also confuse things more by saying that King Gerrenius lived in the 7th or 8th century?

The antiquarian, John Whittaker, in his work ‘The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall’ says that “when Gerrenius died, he was brought from his castle of Dingerein and ferried with great pomp across Gerrans Bay in a barge plated with gold”. The site of Dingerein or Dingerrin castle, a sort of crescent-shaped earthwork, can be found near Trewithian, Cornwall, some 4 miles to the west of Carne Beacon. It seems that the good Dr Whittaker never got the chance to excavate the great mound, even though the local people had got word that he was going to do so and had been given the ‘day off’ work for this wonderful event.

Carne Beacon (Photo credit:

In 1855 the mound was finally excavated, but sadly, or perhaps unfortunately, no golden boat with golden oars was found – only a cist-type grave inside slabs of stone, like a small chamber, was found along with some ashes of burnt bones and charcoal. Whether these ashes were those of King Gerrenius of Dumnonia we may never know. But this very ‘fanciful’ legend has proved to be a good story told down the centuries. The cist grave (cairn) would most probably date from the Bronze-Age. The almost circular-shaped earthworks a short distance to the north of Carne Beacon is all that now remains of an Iron-Age hillfort or settlement that is locally called ‘the Rounds’, ‘Veryan Rounds’ or ‘the Ringarounds’.

Sources:

Whittaker, John Dr., The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall History Surveyed, (2 vols), London, 1804.

Westwood, Jennifer, Gothick Cornwall, Shire Publications Ltd., Princess Risborough, Buckinghamshire, 1992.

Readers Digest., Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain, Readers Digest Association Limited., London, 1977.

Farmer, David., The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, (5th Edition), Oxford University Press, 2004.

Spencer, Ray., A Guide to the Saints of Wales and the West Country, Llanerch Enterprises, Lampeter, Dyfed, 1991


Bodmin Moor

by Gorlas. And this murdered King is by tradition also connected with another fortress roughly mid-way between Duloe and Roche - which are south of the Bodmin and Goss Moors respectively - for the field inwhich stands

Castle Dore was called Carhurles meaning 'Gorlas's fortress'.

It therefore seems that the chieftain could have preceded King Mark of the Tristan saga at this earthwork which is known to have been re-occupied in Gorlas's time having been abandoned during the Roman period.

Assuming that the traditional link between the Arthurian and Tristan sagas could be factual and that King Mark DID succeed GORLAS and hold this southern territory by the sixth century, not only must Arthur's domain of Camlan, the oldest form of Camelot, and his stronghold Celliwic be sought elsewhere but the suggested area should be required to fulfil certain conditions in order to present itself a feasible proposition.

As Arthurian events would have taken place slightly before those of the Tristan saga, an Irish incursion should be in evidence for the saga's prologue depicts theCornish at loggerheads with Irish intruders; and a known Roman cavalry tradition is imperative if we are to believe that the proposed area could produce ahorse-borne, armour-clad warrior together with a Carlyon meaning 'camp of the legion' with which he was reputedly associated. Moreover, the suggested district might the more convincingly offer itself were it adjacent to the easiest route out of Cornwall to facilitate movement up-country to a site where the Battle of Badon halted a seeming English advance westward. Finally, we should seek an Avalon for the dying King.

THE IRISH AND CARLYON

The place name Celliwic occurs not only in the Arthurian legend but also, as the variant Caellwig* in later Cornish history and is therefore certainly an area of the county and probably one of the Moorland. Although its site is in dispute, the signs are that It will eventually be permitted to settle where it already hovers between the hill forts of

96    35    32.    2

Killybury and Canyke-by-Callywith, that is in the Camel Valley. And this could be to the dismay of sceptics for Camlan also seems to fit this district. (*page IS)

too

Charters clearly demonstrate that the present misnomer A| len, by which the Rivoi Camel's tributary is known instead of by its correct name Laine, originally applied to the* Camel itself and was accurately rendered ALAN. As this River Alan or Camel twisted and turned, the Cornish epithet 'cam' meaning 'crooked' apparently prefixed not only the word 'heyle' meaning 'estuary' but also on occasion the name Alan. Thus, it would seem that the present name Camel is a corruption of one or both of the Cornish names for this river - Camheyle and CAMALAN. °

It might therefore be interesting to seek the required conditions in the Camel Valley. Of six known stones in Cornwall which are inscribed in the Irish script copipri-sing unconnected strokes and called Ogham, five are on Bodmin Moor and three of these in the Camel area. Should the sixth seem curiously remote from the others at Truro, w© maybe forgiven for remembering that one of Arthur's reputed battle sites was on the'River Treuroit. However and regarding names on the three Camel Ogham stones, that at St. Endell ion-which also bears the early ChristianChi Rho symbol, 'XP‘,the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ - commemorates 'Brocagnus', identified^with the Irishman Brychanwho arrived inCornwall via Wales. Both names on the WorthyvaleOgham ston© are Roman as is the one on the St. Kew memorial.x

An Irish incursion is certainly evident as is also a lingering Roman usage. Th© latter is hardly surprising in an area where Roman road stones at Boscastle and Tintagell and a 'camp of the legion' at Tregear have been found. Moreover, even AFTER the Roman cavalry station at Nanstallon meaning'Vale of Alan'was abandoned, it is apparent that agents of Rome used the most accessible route to and fromEngland across this north coast district at least as late as the fourth century when the Tintagel stone was inscribed. Ami, as some 300 years of contact with Roman custom appears to have influenced the local

Dumnonii so that they seemingly copied the Tregear shape when they built their earthwork at St. Kew, it might reasonably be expected that they would also emulate Roman strategy.

THE ISLE OF AVALLEN

Properly rendered, Avalon is the Celtic word 'avallen' meaning 'apple trees'. Incorporated in several place names, it is included in the name Worthyvale which appeared as 'Guerdevalen1 in the Domesday Book showing that there was an Early English homestead by an orchard adjacent to the area known as Slaughterbridge at the head of the River Camel. In fact, this very district has been traditionally regarded as the setting of the final act of the Arthurian drama.

Such regard, however, has lately been swamped in the scorn which has been poured upon the local name'Arthur's Grave1 for the Ogham stone actually commemorating 'Latinos', upon reports of battle debris found there, and upon the Tintagel paraphernalia so that the mere whisper of Arthur's name in this part of Cornwall seems actionable under the recent Retail Descriptions Act'. Yet, when it is noticed that Worthyvale is virtually an isle amid streamlets and that the word slaughter, probably deriving from the Old English for'muddy', suggests thesurrounding land wasonce mire, it is hard not to suspect that there IS Avalon.

It may seem immaterial that thewoods of Camlanand perhaps even Avaloncannot be seen for the trees of scepticism. However, the Camel Valley which has close on 900 yearsof popular and possibly justifiable identification with the Arthurian legend is largely dependent upon tourism. Surely time and money spent trying to prove Arthur elsewhere is notonly longoverdue, but might the more effectively be invested, in his traditional homeland where associations with him have yet to be CONVINCINGLY refuted'.

QUEST FOR SOULS

Time was when stories of Cornish saints were taken with the dose of salt reserved for thoseof the Arthurian and Tristan legends'. Not so now for the likelihood of essential events of both actually taking place is increasingly accepted. If the militancy of Christianity represented in the Arthurian and Tristan sagas very naturally predominated during the reassertion of Dumnonian tribalism after the Romans had gone, its civilising power was to settle it through the influence of saintly colonists-

Hitherto, the search for living spacehad motivated the movement of peoples, now it was the quest for souls and missionaries from Ireland, Wales and Brittany were to nurture the infant Christianity conceived here in Roman times. So many places on the map retain the names of these saints, the earliest of whom probably emanated from South) Wales where IItut had founded a monastic training school at LIantwit Ma jor in Glamorgan.

A reconstruction of possible events at Bodmin6could represent those in many a Cornish area during the fifth century. The Celts of Bodmin's hill fort, Castle Canyke, might have noticed the arrival of a stranger in the valley below them at the east end of the present Priory Park. Bearded and with the front of his head shaven leaving hair flowing long behind, the intruder would set about collecting stones and,wood which he would take to the spring. Soon he would build a hut, set up a roughly carved standing stone and surround these and his well with a piled-stone wall; and there he would fast and pray for forty days.*

                                would reign as regent and hold the Kingdom of Britain in trust for the English heiress.

GokJborough.

the daughter of the late Anglican heir, Cymen. and his wife, Adela, the Saxon heiress, only child and daughter of England's first Bretwalda. Aella of Sussex Thus, preserving the fiction of centralized rule which was accepted only because the alternative was unthinkable.

552-560  GODRICH of Cornwall. Prince-Regent, Earl (Duke/King) of Cornwall, reigned as regent of Britain in the absence of a national-king dunng the interregnum that followed the murder of the boy-king. Huai, and his mother. Queen Lonle [Lenore; Lunette) There were civil wars throughout Britain dunng hts regency The episode of Havelock "The Dane’ takes place dunng the regency of Earl Godrich.

         CADROD (CATRAUT) the Arthunan heir, established his headquarters at a castle (site unsure) called "CALCHVYNYDD" (‘hill of chalk or lime"), which name came to be his epithet, somewhere in the British midlands between the Thames and the Trent rivers He fights the Cerdicite heir Cynnc "of Wessex"                     . CYNRIC (CUNORIX). the Cerdicite heir, the other claimant to the British throne, held sway south of the Thames in Wessex with his headquarters at Winchester

One of the surviving ex-tnumvirs, Rrwal of Dumnoma [Devonshire), meanwhile, was expelled from Bntam by Caradoc "Strong-Arm", Count of the Saxon Shore, in another regional-war, and fled to Armonca (Brittany) where he established himself at St. Bneoc. circa 552 Riwal was killed fighting Cynvawr II of Cornwall, circa 555. and his widow married King Cynvawr Pnnce ludwal of Domnonee (son of Riwal, the ex-tnumvir) fled his murderous step-father (Cynvawr II of ComwaH-Brittany) and found refuge at the court of King Childebert I of France (534-558). in 558. Pnnce ludwal of Domnonee retook his throne Cynvawr II withdrew back to Cornwall, area 558. and. circa 560. was murdered along with his wife [name] and son (St Tremeur] St Brieoc is attacked by King Childebert of France, and King Canao II leads the resistance




 CADROD (CATRAUT) the Arthunan heir, established his headquarters at a castle (site unsure) called "CALCHVYNYDD" (‘hill of chalk or lime"), which name came to be his epithet, somewhere in the British midlands between the Thames and the Trent rivers He fights the Cerdicite heir Cynnc "of Wessex"


CYNRIC (CUNORIX). the Cerdicite heir, the other claimant to the British throne, held sway south of the Thames in Wessex with his headquarters at Winchester

One of the surviving ex-tnumvirs,


                Rrwal of Dumnoma [Devonshire), meanwhile, was expelled from Britain by Caradoc "Strong-Arm", Count of the Saxon Shore, in another regional-war, and fled to Armonca (Brittany) where he established himself at St. Bneoc. circa 552 Riwal was killed fighting Cynvawr II of Cornwall, circa 555. and his widow married King Cynvawr Pnnce ludwal of Domnonee (son of Riwal, the ex-tnumvir) fled his murderous step-father (Cynvawr II of Comwall-Brittany) and found refuge at the court of King Childebert I of France (534-558). in 558. Pnnce ludwal of Domnonee retook his throne Cynvawr II withdrew back to Cornwall, area 558. and. circa 560. was murdered along with his wife [name] and son (St Tremeur] St Brieoc is attacked by King Childebert of France, and King Canao II leads the resistance

regnal-lists. however, remembered in tradition, legend, and folklore, reigned for three years as King of Bntain. or England. 560-562 The legend of Havelock "The Dane" begins when he was a boy and tells us that a fisherman was ordered by Denmark's usurper-kmg to murder the true heir to the Danish throne. Havelock, then a youth about age eleven, but instead the fisherman allowed the young pnnce to escape to England Later, when Havelock had come of age. he found employment with an English ealdorman He soon became famous for his prowess at sports, and when this was heard by Eart/Kmg Godrich of Cornwall, the Regent of Britain, he decided to marry-off his ward. Goldborough. the English heiress, to Havelock "The Dane" They were married and Havelock took his new bride with him back to Denmark There, when it was discovered that Havelock was the true heir, the Danish jarls (earls) overthrew the Danish usurper-kmg and invited Havelock to take the throne Havelock then led an invasion of England, defeated and killed Earl Godnch. Regent of Britain, and took the English throne in nght of his wife The civil wars among the Bntons continued throughout his reign. He, soon after obtaining the English throne, however.

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