| His is among the most enduring legends in our island’s history. King Arthur, the gallant warrior who gathered his knights around the Round Table at Camelot and rallied Christian Britons against the invading pagan Saxons, has always been an enigma. But now historians believe they have uncovered the precise location of Arthur’s stronghold, finally solving the riddle of whether the Round Table really existed. And far from pinpointing a piece of furniture, they claim the ‘table’ was in fact the circular space inside a former Roman amphitheatre. 
+2 Round table? An artist's impression of Chester's Amphitheatre, where historians now believe King Arthur may have held court The experts believe that Camelot could in fact have been Chester Amphitheatre, a huge stone-and-wood structure capable of holding up to 10,000 people. They say that Arthur would have reinforced the building’s 40ft walls to create an imposing and well fortified base. The king’s regional noblemen would have sat in the central arena’s front row, with lower-ranked subjects in the outer stone benches. Arthur has been the subject of much historical debate, but many scholars believe him to have been a 5th or 6th Century leader. The legend links him to 12 major battles fought over 40 years from the Scottish Borders to the West Country. One of the principal victories was said to have been at Chester. 
+2 King Arthur, portrayed here by Clive Owen on film in 2004, held court at Camelot - which historians now believe may have been in Chester Rather than create a purpose-built Camelot, historian Chris Gidlow says Arthur would have logically chosen a structure left by the Romans. ‘The first accounts of the Round Table show that it was nothing like a dining table but was a venue for upwards of 1,000 people at a time,’ he said. ‘And we know that one of Arthur’s two main battles was fought at a town referred to as the City of the Legions. There were only two places with this title. One was St Albans, but the location of the other has remained a mystery.’ Researchers, who will reveal their evidence in a television documentary this month, say the recent discovery at the amphitheatre of an execution stone and a wooden memorial to Christian martyrs suggests the missing city is Chester. Mr Gidlow said: ‘In the 6th Century, a monk named Gildas, who wrote the earliest account of Arthur’s life, referred both to the City of the Legions and to a martyr’s shrine within it. 'That is the clincher. The discovery of the shrine within the amphitheatre means that Chester was the site of Arthur’s court – and his legendary Round Table.’ For centuries, historians have believed that King Arthur’s Camelot was Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, but new research has cast serious doubts on this theory. Historian Graham Robb has spent years studying Celtic pathways across the country and now believes he has stumbled upon the site of Camelot at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Brookfield Road, Wigan. The leafy dead-end street may have once been the site of King Arthur’s infamous castle and court, and home to the legendary Knights Of The Round Table. 
+8 Residents of Brookfield Road, road sign pictured, said they were 'stunned' to discover their lane has been named as the epicentre of Arthurian legend Residents in the village of Standish near Wigan, have been left stunned after the discovery that their lane has been named as the epicentre of Arthurian legend. 
+8 Historian Graham Robb believes King Arthur's, illustration pictured, Camelot was built at the end of Brookfield Road, Standish in Wigan Claims that the small road could have once been the realm of the legendary king and his men have appeared in Robb's latest book. In his work 'The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe' he theorises that the area in Standish was ‘significant’ as it was the meeting place of two major Celtic pathways. He added the crossing pathways, on what is now the cul-de-sac ‘have an astonishing power to illuminate the long-buried past by revealing the location of the legendary court of King Arthur’. Dr Robb said the ‘intersection lies in the Wigan suburb of Standish’ adding ‘to be precise, the point of intersection is at the end of a cul-de-sac running off Old Pepper Lane where a tracks leads to a woodland’. He has however laughed off the local reaction because he believes Camelot is entirely based on a myth and never really existed. He said: 'I was talking about how intersecting Celtic roads of the time can
become significant to history and myth. 'It is like theorising you have found Hogwarts - you can't do it because it never existed in the first place.' In his book, Graham Robb wrote that the now defunct Camelot theme park sits
just a few miles away from the cul de sac. He writes: 'The place where 'Camelot' stands empty was once the edge of Martin Mere, the largest freshwater lake in England. 'A local legend claimed that this was the lake into whose waters, in what sounds like an act of ritual deposition, the sword Excalibur was thrown. In view of the unusual preponderance of modal points in the environs of the vanished lake, this now looks more plausible than ever.' The cul-de-sac, Brookfield Road, is near Martin Mere, the largest freshwater lake in England, into which local legend claims the famous Arthurian sword Excalibur was thrown. 
+8 This aerial view shows Old Pepper Lane in Standish on the left, the Brookfield Road cul-de-sac in the centre, leading to a stretch of woodland on the right where Robb believes Camelot was built 
+8 Robb claims the precise location of Camelot was at the end of Brookfield Road, in the village of Standish, marked right. The cul-de-sac is near Martin Mere, marked left, the lake in which local legend claims the sword Excalibur was thrown 
+8 Robb added that the crossing pathways, pictured, on what is now the cul-de-sac 'have an astonishing power to illuminate the long-buried past by revealing the location of the legendary court of King Arthur.' The intersection lies at the end of a cul-de-sac off Old Pepper Lane where a tracks leads to woodland, pictured Robb said his geographical research makes it ‘more plausible than ever’ that the small corner of Wigan would be the location of the mythical Camelot. His claims have now been taken up by a local campaign group trying to stop a new link road being built in the area. A council want to build a new highway across a patch of woodland at Almond Brook, at the end of Brookfield Road. A spokesman for Stop Almond Brook Link Road said the new revelations means the area should preserved and the planned new highway scrapped. 
+8 Arthurian legend claims Arthur was the son and heir of King Uther Pendragon, and was born on Castle Island in Tintagel, North Cornwall. The remains of Tintagel Castle is pictured 
+8 A lake on the woodland where King Arthur's Camelot was thought to have been built. King Arthur was a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries who according to histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against invaders in the early 6th century He said: ‘We have lots of issues with this link road, including it going past school playing fields which could harm the health of pupils and destroying wildlife habitats. ‘But we didn’t think for one minute that the route would also run through what could be Camelot. ‘This site needs a lot more investigation. We just need a white knight to come along and help us save it from development. ‘We found this new theory while researching our campaign but it does tie in with local legends about King Arthur. ‘Wigan Council should be embracing its links with the distant past and not ripping it up.’ King Arthur was a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries who according to histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against invaders in the early 6th century. THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR: FROM CORNWALL TO WIGAN King Arthur was a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries who according to histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against invaders in the early 6th century. However, the King Arthur that many people are familiar with today – thanks to TV shows, films and stage productions – is said to be a combination of many different myths and legends that have developed over the last 1,000 years. Arthurian legend claims Arthur was the son and heir of King Uther Pendragon, and was believed to have born on Castle Island in Tintagel, North Cornwall. 
A sorcerer called Merlin is said to have taken a sword called Excalibur from the so-called Lady of the Lake for King Uther, but upon the King’s death, he placed the sword in a stone. Merlin stated that ‘he who draws the sword from the stone, he shall be king.’ After the King's death, Arthur is said to have pulled Merlin’s Excalibur sword from this stone, proving his right to the throne. The legend doesn’t specify exactly where this lake was and there is a debate on whether it was Martin Mere in Lancashire, the Lily Ponds at Bosherston, or Dozmary Pool on the edge of Bodmin Moor. The latter is closest to the supposed birthplace in Cornwall. Legend continues that during his reign, in the kingdom of Camelot, King Arthur met with his knights at a Round Table, journeyed after the Holy Grail and fought a number of battles using the infamous sword. During the Battle of Camlann, in approximately 537, King Arthur was killed and his body was sent to the Isle of Avalon. Historians believe this area was Glastonbury and the Somerset levels. Later, legend expanded the story and claimed upon Arthur's death, the sword was returned to the Lady of the Lake. Early written accounts of the Arthurian story appeared in 1130 in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain where he claimed Merlin had the 15-year-old Arthur crowned at nearby Silchester, in Reading. The first mention of the Round Table, however, was in Robert Wace's Roman de Brut in 1155. This book claimed the round table was a wedding gift to Arthur from Guinevere's father, Leodegrance and is now believed to be hung in the Great Hall in Winchester (pictured above). Arthur was said to have sat his knights on the round table so that none was ever in a position of power of importance. The details of Arthur’s story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. His famous Knights have been linked to the area before - a now defunct Camelot theme park was located nearby for years, based near Martin Mere. Resident Arthur Lowe, 72, said: 'I suppose it's quite funny I share King Arthur's name but I was named after my dad - not a king.' Tony Stanley, 69, who has lived in the cul-de-sac for over 40 years, added: 'I just started laughing when I heard about it. It's a really industrial area and there used to be loads of pits round here so
to think they're now making this claim is just ridiculous. 
+8 The first mention of the Round Table was in 1155. This book claimed the round table was a wedding gift to Arthur from Guinevere's father, Leodegrance and is now believed to be hung in the Great Hall in Winchester, pictured 'At first, I thought someone was having a joke for April Fools Day but then I realised it's still March. Dr Robb was born in Manchester and educated at the Royal Grammar School
Worcester and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages. In his The Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts book, Robb proposed that the ancient Celts organised their territories, determined the locations of settlements and battles, and set the trajectories of tribal migrations by establishing a network of solstice lines based on an extension of the Greek system of klimata. The evidence included artistic geometries, road surveying, centuriations and other archaeologically attested pre-Roman alignments. The book of GHOSTS: Eerie faces and messages discovered in ancient medieval manuscript of King Arthur and Merlin -
Black Book of Carmarthen is the earliest surviving Welsh manuscript -
It contains some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin -
Believed 'ghost' images were in the original, but erased by a 16th century owner of the book, probably a man named Jaspar Gryffyth
Stunned researchers have found one of the UK's most important manuscripts is full of ghosts. Dating from 1250, The Black Book of Carmarthen is the earliest surviving medieval manuscript written solely in Welsh, and contains some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin. Now, researchers have found a series of hidden faces and message in it. 
+3 The Black Book of Carmarthen is the earliest surviving medieval manuscript written solely in Welsh, and contains some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin. 
Using a combination of ultraviolet light and photo editing software, the images were recovered. THE BLACK BOOK OF CARMARTHEN Dating from 1250, The Black Book of Carmarthen is the earliest surviving medieval manuscript written solely in Welsh, and contains some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin. The book is a collection of 9th-12th century poetry along both religious and secular lines, and draws on the traditions of the Welsh folk-heroes and legends of the Dark Ages. 'It's easy to think we know all we can know about a manuscript like the Black Book but to see these ghosts from the past brought back to life in front of our eyes has been incredibly exciting,' said Myriah Williams of Cambridge's Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. The book is a collection of 9th-12th century poetry along both religious and secular lines, and draws on the traditions of the Welsh folk-heroes and legends of the Dark Ages. Williams and Professor Paul Russell from Cambridge's Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC), believe that a 16th century owner of the book, probably a man named Jaspar Gryffyth, erased centuries' worth of additional verse, doodles and marginalia which had been added to the manuscript as it changed hands throughout the years. Using a combination of ultraviolet light and photo editing software, the 16th century owner's penchant for erasure has been partly reversed to reveal snatches of poetry. Currently, the texts are very fragmentary and in need of much more analysis, although they researchers say they seem to be the continuation of a poem on the preceding page with a new poem added at the foot of the page. 'The drawings and verse that we're in the process of recovering demonstrate the value of giving these books another look,' Williams said. 'The margins of manuscripts often contain medieval and early modern reactions to the text, and these can cast light on what our ancestors thought about what they were reading. 'The Black Book was particularly heavily annotated before the end of the 16th century, and the recovery of erasure has much to tell us about what was already there and can change our understanding of it.' 
The faces are only visible under UV light - and are invisible to the naked eye Williams and Russell will present a lecture at The National Library of Wales today, part of a larger exhibition on the life and work of Sir John Price, one-time owner of the Black Book. There, they will detail some of their findings, stressing the importance of continued research on the manuscript. 'What we have discovered may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be discovered as imaging techniques are enhanced,' said Russell. 'The manuscript is extremely valuable and incredibly important – yet there may still be so much we don't know about it.' Despite its value today, the Black Book of Carmarthen (so called because of the colour of its binding) was not an elaborate production, but rather the work of a single scribe who was probably collecting and recording over a long period of his life. This is readily visible on the manuscript pages themselves; the first pages feature a large textura script copied on alternating ruled lines, while in other parts of the manuscript – perhaps when vellum was scarce – the hand is very much smaller and the lines per page tight and many. Measuring approximately only 17cm by 12.5 cm, the book is made up of 54 pages of vellum (animal hide) and came to the National Library of Wales in 1904 after being bought, alongside other manuscripts, by the Library's founder, Sir John Williams. An example of the latter is the earliest poem concerning the adventures of the legendary Arthur, which sees the famed hero seeking entrance to an unidentified court and expounding the virtues of his men in order to gain admittance. Other heroes are praised and lamented in a lengthy text known as Englynion y Beddau, the Stanzas of the Graves, in which a narrator presents geographic lore by claiming to know the burial places of upwards of eighty warriors. Arthur makes an appearance here as well, but only insofar as to say that he cannot be found: anoeth bid bet y arthur, 'the grave of Arthur is a wonder'. Other famous figures also appear throughout, including Myrddin, perhaps more familiarly known by the English 'Merlin'. There are two prophetic poems attributed to him during his 'wild man' phase located in the middle of the manuscript, but additionally the very first poem of the book is presented as a dialogue between him and the celebrated Welsh poet Taliesin. Since the creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae in the 12th century there has been a connection between Carmarthen and Merlin, and it may be no accident that the Black Book opens with this text. | | | | 
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