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Cadbury Castle
Whether the association of Cadbury is a genuine one has been hotly
disputed for a number of years. There are those who think that Leland invented
the connection from the close-lying place-names of Queen Camel and West
Camel; others would have us believe the identification a true one. Certainly,
the archaeological investigation which took place there in the 1960's indicated
that the hill, which is really an Iron-Age camp, was re-fortified with
extensive earth and timber defenses during the crucial period of the sixth
century when Arthur is believed to have flourished. The foundations of
an extensive timbered hall, and what appears to be the beginnings of an
unfurnished church, add further to the speculation, as does the closeness
of the site to Glastonbury Tor. A causeway, known as King Arthur's Hunting
Track, links the two sites, and a plethora of local legends support the
Arthurian connection. As late as the nineteenth century, when a group of
Victorian 'archaeologists' came to investigate the stories clustering about
the hill, a local man asked if they had 'come to dig up the king'. Folklore
still retains a memory of Arthur and his knights sleeping under the hill.
It is said that if one leaves a silver coin with one's horse on Midsummer's
Eve, the horse will be found to be re-shod in the morning.
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