Camelot was in WIGAN? Author names this street as the probable site of the court of King Arthur



Historian Dr Graham Robb believes King Arthur’s Camelot was in Wigan

He pinpoints the exact location at the end of Brookfield Road in Standish

The area is said to have been the meeting place of two Celtic pathways

It’s also close to Martin Mere, a lake where Excalibur was believed to have been thrown upon King Arthur’s death

For centuries, Camelot was believed to have been in Tintagel, Cornwall

As a result, the location of the famous lake was believed to have been Dozmary Pool on the edge of Bodmin Moor

Dr Robb has laughed off the local reaction however because he believes Camelot is based on a myth and never really existed

Residents of Brookfield Road have never viewed their neighbourhood as anything other than the nondescript village cul-de-sac that it is.

The idea that those mundane redbrick terrace homes were touched by legend might have raised a northern chuckle or two.

But that was the reality villagers were coming to terms with last night after a historian declared the street, in Standish, near Wigan, is the most likely location of Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur.

Residents of Brookfield Road, road sign pictured, said they were 'stunned' to discover their lane has been named as the epicentre of Arthurian legend

Where homeowners now park their cars and leave wheelie bins out for collection, it is said the Knights of the Round Table once gathered at the great castle.

The claims have been made by Graham Robb, who carried out extensive geographical research in preparation for a book.

He says ancient Celts built their major towns and settlements along straight lines calculated by the rising and the setting of the sun.

Historian Graham Robb believes King Arthur's, illustration pictured, Camelot was built at the end of Brookfield Road, Standish in Wigan

All royal courts had to have good road links and Mr Robb theorises the present location of Brookfield Road was a very ‘significant’ spot.

In his work, The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe, he suggests it was the meeting place of two major Celtic pathways.

Geographical evidence of the two ancient routes made this location a prominent one in medieval Britain, he claims.

If legend is to be believed, King Arthur and his Court were the rulers of Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

According to histories and romances, the heroic monarch led the defence of Britain against wave after wave of Saxon invaders.

The locality is not completely new to Arthurian links. The nearby beauty spot of Martin Mere, the largest freshwater lake in England, has long been claimed to be the water in which the famous Arthurian sword, Excalibur, was thrown by Sir Lancelot. A Camelot theme park was opened a few miles away in 1983 aiming to make the most of the legend but it closed in 2012.

Mr Robb, who won the Whitbread Book Award in 1997, says his geographical research makes it ‘more plausible than ever’ that the small corner of Wigan could be the location of the mythical Camelot.

His claims have been taken up by a local campaign group which is trying to stop a link road being built in the area. The council wants to construct a highway across a patch of woodland at the end of Brookfield Road.

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

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 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

A spokesman for Stop Almond Brook Link Road said the revelations mean the area should be preserved and the planned highway scrapped.

‘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,’ he said.

‘But we didn’t think for one minute that the route would also run through what could be Camelot.’

He added: ‘This site needs a lot more investigation. We just need a white knight to come along and help us save it from development.

‘We stumbled on 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.’

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

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 Tony Stanley, 69, who has lived in the cul-de-sac for more than 40 years, said: ‘I just started laughing when I heard about it. ‘I thought someone was having a joke for April Fools’ Day but then I realised it’s still March.’ The details of Arthur’s story are shrouded in folklore and his existence is disputed by modern historians. But Mr Robb said that even if Camelot was a myth, it is likely the site was of ‘religious or cultural significance to the Celtic people and later Roman visitors’. ‘The North West of England from North Cheshire to the Scottish Border is strongly linked to Arthur’s legend,’ he added. 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

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 author did add his assertions were not to be taken literally.

'I used an example of these connecting Celtic pathways in what is now that area and how years later a Camelot theme park popped up nearby.

''If you happen to look on a modern map and see the word 'Camelot', as in the theme park, it might look like this is where Camelot may have been.