button to main menu  Clarke's Survey of the Lakes, 1787

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Page 19:-

They buckled then together so, like unto wild boars rushing,
And with their swords they ran at one another slashing;
The ground besprinkl'd was with blood. Torquin began to yield,
For he gave back for weariness, and low did bear his shield.
XIV.
This soone Sir Lancelot espy'd, he leapt upon him then;
He pull'd him down upon his knee, and swashed off his helm;
Forthwith he struck his neck in twain, and when he had so done,
From prisone threescore Knights and four delivered ev'ry one.
I shall leave this ancient ballad without any comment, only observing, that the poets were the best, if not the only historians of obscure and remote times; their songs were commonly true, else they could not hope for the attention of those illiterate days; and the theme was usually some remarkable transaction, well known in the vicinity of the bard. Accordingly we find, that by the songs of Thaliessin, the bones of King Arthur * were discovered at the distance of 646 years from the death of that conspicuous monarch; and I am convinced that a due attention to these old poems may bring to light innumerable antiquities, and elucidate events now buried in obscurity.
  Penrith Castle
On the South side of the town stands a castle, on a rising ground, and seems once to have been a place of strength, as it is surrounded with a moat and other defences. The first founder is unknown; but before the year 1237 it must have been a very inconsiderable fortress; for at that time we find, that 200 librates of land were granted to William King of Scots. These were to be set out, according to agreements, in the counties of Cumberland and Northumberland, where no castles were; and in case of deficiency of land so situated, it was to be set out in the neighbouring counties.
Now it appears from the boundary-roll (taken at a perambulation 29. Edward II.) that the forest of Inglewood, together with the honour of Penrith, were the 200 librates before named: it farther appears, that in the year 1432, Richard duke of Gloucester, (afterwards Richard III.) resided here in quality of Sheriff of Cumberland. He repaired the castle, and lived here five years together, in order to collect those northern clans which were of the York party, and to keep in awe those which were of the Lancaster party.
That part of the building which now remains appears to be of a much older date, as the stones as so firmly cemented as to resist the efforts of the workmen who attempted to pull it down; whereas the Duke's repairs, consisting of a tower, porter's-lodge, and some other detached buildings, gave way very readily: besides, the repairs were executed in white stones, whereas the old building is composed of red ones. The most probable supposition is, that before the Duke's coming, it was an old dismantled
building,
* According to the best historians, Arthur died on the 21st of May A.D. 542. In the year 1188 or 1189, King Henry II. finding an account of Arthur's burying-place in the songs of the old Welsh Bard Thaliessin, and having great faith in the facts related by these old poets, caused the ground to be opened, that he might see the remains of that celebrated warrior.
Externally there appeared two columns similar to these standing at Penrith at each end of the grave. After digging, some say seven, others sixteen feet, they came to a prodigious large flat stone, when turning it, they found on the under side a leaden cross, with this inscription,
HIC JACET INCLITUS REX ARTURIUS, IN INSULA AVALONIA.
Here lies the Famous King Arthur, in the Island of Avalonia.
This inscription was engraven on that side of the cross which was next to the stone, so that till the cross was separated from the stone it could not be seen. Underneath they found, in the trunk of a large oak hollowed for the purpose, bones of that prodigious size, that Cambrensis (who lived at that time) relates, from the authority of the Abbot of Glastonbury, that the shin-bone being placed by the leg of a very tall man, reached three fingers breadth above his knee. His scull was likewise found, of vast, but proportionable size, and upon it appeared ten wounds.
See STOW'S Chronicle, p.55.- GUTHRIE, p.102
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