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Hillfort
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Whilst reading "The keys to Avalon" (Steve Blake & Scott Lloyd, 2000 pg.22) I came upon a reference that intrigued me. According to the authors a document called "the tri-partite indenture" sought to radically redefine the border between England and Wales, based on an ancient Welsh poem "A conversation between Merlin & his sister Gwenddydd". This mentions a place called "Onennau Meigion", described as a boundary marker formed by Ash trees, on the old road between Bridgnorth and Kinver. This is now known as Six Ashes, right on the border between Shropshire and Staffordshire near Bobbington. Now, this is pleasing, rather, for every time i cross the county boundary there, I've always felt as if i were leaving England and entering Wales, even though the border is a good 50 miles on. The area to the west of Kinver Edge has the same liminal feeling to it, around Drakelow and the area simply called "the wilderness". Drakelow has its own Dragon legend, as well as the ubiquitous rock houses, of which more later. Now, Blake & Lloyd's work is controversial, and i don't endorse all of it. One thing i think they haven't considered is the possibility that Geoffrey of Monmouth and the local Layamon, may have mistranslated "Cornubia" for "Cornovia" (not Cornwall, as they attest, pg.38). The Cornovii tribe were the earliest settlers in these parts we have record of, and in fact did later settle in Cornwall, and Brittany after the English invasion. If, as they say, Caer Efrog is Wroxeter, where we know there was still a strong British presence into the 7th century, then it could be that far from Arthur's activities being confined to Wales & the Marches, as they say, Arthur could very well have been involved in the border warfare in the Kinver area at about the time of the putative "great battle" of Wychbury (see previous entries on this matter). It's true too, that one of the earliest scholars to examine the legends was "Layamon" a monk from Arley Kings near Stourport in the 12th century. If "Avalon" is considered as the Celtic mythical land in the west, as the authors aver, Wychbury and the other sites i examine do begin to make sense in terms of the legends, and the curious atmosphere that pervades so many of these places begins to make sense.
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Posted by forrester 2
12th October 2007ce
Edited 15th October 2007ce
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