Arthur's Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
King Arthur's Round Table

In the civil parish of Yanwath And Eamont Bridge.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY52332838
Latitude 54.64826° Longitude -2.74029°

Arthur's Castle has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Less than a mile from Penrith, but in Westmorland, are the ruins of what is supposed to have been a castle. It stands on what is virtually an island, less than a bowshot from the Lowther on one side and the River Eamont on the other. This ruin is called by some the Round Table, and by others Arthur's Castle. (Leland)

Despite some mutilation of the monument's bank and ditch by road construction, King Arthur's Round Table survives well and remains a visually impressive monument in the landscape. It is one of three henges clustered near to the confluence of the Rivers Eamont and Lowther and is a good example of this class of monument. Limited excavation during the 1930s located human remains, and the monument will contain further evidence of the activities undertaken within the internal area.
The monument is a henge known as King Arthur's Round Table, thought to have been constructed between 2000 - 1000 BC. It is located on a comparatively flat alluvial river terrace a short distance from the confluence of the Rivers Eamont and Lowther, and includes a partly mutilated earthen bank and internal ditch enclosing a flat circular area. The west arc of the bank is the more complete and measures 10m-13m in width by 0.5m-1.7m high. The short surviving length of bank in the east arc measures a maximum of 10.5m wide by 1.85m high. Elsewhere the bank has been levelled by road construction. There is an entrance 7.8m wide through the bank on the monument's southern side. This entrance becomes a causeway 3.7m wide across the ditch and gives access into the henge's interior. Between the bank and ditch is a berm up to 7m wide. The ditch has a regular broad U-shaped profile and measures 12.5m-16.2m wide with a depth of 1.4m-1.6m. The interior of the monument surrounded by the ditch is elliptical in shape, measuring 51.2m north east-south west by 44.1m transversely. Roughly in the centre is a low sub-oval platform up to 0.35m high and measuring 24m by 22.6m. Limited excavation of the monument during the 1930s located a trench containing cremated bone close to the centre of the henge. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Clearly Leland did not believe this to have actually been a castle. There are two (and were three) very similar ring banks in the area described by Leland. The one know called Mayburgh Henge, at NY51922842, is on a slight knoll and is slightly larger and may have been what Leland was referring too. However the henge now known as King Arthur's Round Table, although on lower ground is better preserved and somewhat more visually impressive on close examination and is generally assumed to be the site Leland was describing (He may have been considering all three ring banks as one site). In Leland's time the area may have been more marshy and Mayburgh, in particular, may, at times of flood, have been effectively an island.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007903, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 23648
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 11978 (henge).
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2868 (henge).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer and Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 252-3 nos. 12 plan, 13, 14 plan online transcription
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 483-4
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 47 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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