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Celliwig

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Celliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic, is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.

Contents

Location

A 1302 Cornish legal record mentions a 'Thomas de Kellewik' from west Cornwall, though his exact place of origin is unknown. Translated into SWF Cornish this would be kelli gwik meaning "woods town" cognate with Latin uicus and Saxon wich. Celliwig was identified by some Cornish antiquaries from 1816 onwards with Callington (occasionally locally attested as 'Callywith') where the ancient monuments of Castlewich Henge and Cadson Bury ringfort are in close proximity. Their influence gave Callington its modern name in Common Cornish; Kelly Bray (Cornish:Kellibregh 'dappled grove') is located just to the north. Another suggestion at the time was Kelliwith. Other suggested locations include Gweek Wood, and on the coast at Tintagel Barras Nose or Willapark. Rachel Bromwich, the latest editor of the Welsh Triads, matched it to Kelly Rounds, a hill fort in the Cornish parish of Egloshayle. This had already been suggested by Charles Henderson in the Cornish Church Guide (1925) (p. 87). Intriguingly, the Ravenna Cosmography identifies a major regional Roman-era settlement as Nemetostatio in central Dumnonia ( identified with North Tawton, Devon) which would translate from Latin as 'The Outpost of the Sacred Grove(s)'. Not far away from the modern Cornish border is the village of Kelly in Devon which takes it name from an ancient local family, attested as far back as the 11th century.

Outside Cornwall

However there are also a number of places called Cernyw or containing that name in Wales, e.g. the place name Coedkernew (Coed Cernyw) in Newport. So it has been suggested that this court might be the hillfort of Llanmelin, near Caerwent. As Caradog is connected to the Kingdom of Gwent this might support this idea. There is also a farm called Gelliweg on the Llŷn peninsula in Gwynedd which one pair of Arthurian researchers and writers, Steven Blake and Scott Lloyd, argue may be the location. Kernev/Cornouaille is a region in Brittany with close cultural ties to Cornwall and Wales and the continental source for the Matter of Britain.

Celliwic as a fictional place

Those who argue that Arthur is a mythic figure also suggest this court is entirely fictional. Given that the name means "forest grove... it may have originally been envisaged as somewhere Otherworldly (sacred groves being common in Celtic myth) and only later might a specific location have been ascribed to it."

References

Celliwig Wikipedia