Gafulford
Gafulford (alternatively Gafulforda, Gafolforda or Gavelford[1]) is the site of a battle in South West England known from the first entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 823 AD (usually corrected to 825 AD): "Her waes Weala gefeoht Defna aet Gafulford".[2] A translation is: "there was a fight between the Weala and the Defna at Gafulford".
The whereabouts of Gafulford is not known today, though it is generally assumed to be in the west of Devon or the east of Cornwall. Of the several locations that have been proposed,
Historical setting
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Egbert_-_MS_Royal_14_B_V.jpg/220px-Egbert_-_MS_Royal_14_B_V.jpg)
The battle at Gafulford was one of a series of encounters between the Cornish (Wealas) and the Saxons (here called Defnas, although technically this translates only as the people of Devon) that took place during the westward expansion of the Saxons under
Suggested locations
Camelford
Early historians and writers assumed that Gafulford was at the present day town of Camelford in East Cornwall. The poet John Milton was an early supporter of this theory, in his History of Britain of 1670.[5]
In 1848 John Allen Giles wrote in his book The Life and Times of Alfred the Great that, "About the same time that this engagement Ellendunn was fought on the borders of Mercia, the Britons of Cornwall rebelled, and assailed the West-Saxons in the rear: but the men of Devonshire mustered in large numbers and met the enemy at Camelford: a furious conflict ensued, apparently with little advantage to either party, for, whilst most of the Chroniclers omit to state on which side the victory fell, Florence of Worcester alone tells us that the Britons were defeated, and Henry of Huntingdon says that many thousands were slain on both sides."[6]
More recently Ralph Whitlock wrote in The Warrior Kings of Saxon England (1991): "The 'Wala' are held to be the Britons (Welsh), the 'Defna' the people of Devonshire, and 'Gafulford' has been tentatively identified as Camelford."[7] Camelford was also one of the supposed locations of the final battle between King Arthur and Mordred.[8]
Galford
Most recent historians prefer attribution to Galford on the
Other locations
Several other locations have been proposed:
- In 1877, Kerslake wrote "The place meant by Gafulford is no doubt what is now called Fulford, in the parish of Dunsford, about eight miles west of Exeter, upon one of the southeastern spurs of Dartmoor."[14] However, in 1922, J. J. Alexander rejected this interpretation on phonological grounds, pointing out that if Gafulford could change into Fulford, then Defenascir (the ancient name for Devonshire) would have mutated into Fenshire or Funshire.[9]
- In a paper of 1897, J. May. Martin came to the conclusion that Gafulford was at a place known as Keymelford near Copplestone in Mid Devon. He used the existence of the ten-foot-tall granite pillar decorated with Celtic designs at the centre of the village as part of the evidence for his assertion.[15] J. J. Alexander rejected Martin's interpretation on similar grounds to those he used to reject Kerslake's Fulford; in this case if Gafulford had developed into Keymelford (or, indeed, Camelford), he claimed, then Defenascir would have changed to Demonshire.[9]
- The topographer Richard Nicholls Worth suggested in his History of Devonshire (1886) that the location was probably an ancient passage on the River Tamar.[16]
- There have been claims that the location was at Slaughterbridge near Camelford.[17] Although this association is based on the name and the proximity to Camelford, it is generally accepted that slaughter probably derives from the Old English word slohtre meaning marsh,[18] so the name has no likely connection to any battle.[19]
Other interpretations
Commentators have pointed out that although it is known that
Notes and references
- ^ The first three names are variant spellings found in the extant versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gavelford is found in Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum.
- ^ Benjamin Thorpe, ed. (1861). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, according to the several original authorities. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. p. 110.
- ^ Alexander (1922). p. 193.
- ^ Alexander (1922). p. 196.
- ^ Milton, John (1853) [1670]. C. R. Sumner (ed.). The History of Britain. The Prose Works. Vol. 5. Henry G. Bohn. p. 307.
- ^ Giles, John Allen (1848). The Life and Times of Alfred the Great. George Bell, 186 Fleet Street. p. 424.
- ISBN 9780880296731.
- ^ See, for instance, Browne Willis (1716). Notitia Parliamentaria p. 82.
- ^ a b c Alexander (1922). p. 195.
- ^ Higham (2008). p. 33.
- ^ Transactions of the Plymouth Athenaeum vol 8, p. 63, 1882: "No one seems to have observed that Gafulford may be "the ford of the tax or toll " — gavel = tax – ie the ford at which toll was taken, the very spot where, in these primitive times, a dispute and fight should have arisen."
- ^ Higham (2008). p. 183.
- ISBN 0-85989-209-3.
- ^ Kerslake (1877). A primaeval British metropolis: with some notes on the ancient topography of the south-western peninsula of Britain p. 76.
- ^ Martin, J. M. (1897). "The Camelford of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Where was it?". Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association. XXIX: 275–285.
- ^ Worth, R. N. (1895). A History of Devonshire (cheap ed.). London: Elliot Stock. p. 8.
- ^ "Camelford Cornwall". All About Cornwall. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ "Slaughterbridge 500 Metres to South East of Worthy Manor". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- S2CID 161268341.
- ^ Higham (2008). p. 34.
- ^ Alexander (1922) at p. 196 cites Florence of Worcester (d.1118) as saying that the Cornish were defeated.
- ISBN 9781803990002.
- JSTOR 3678711.
- ISBN 0-85033-528-0.
Sources
- Alexander, J. J. (1922). "When the Saxons Came to Devon; Part IV". Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association. LIV.
- Higham, Robert (2008). Making Anglo-Saxon Devon. Exeter: The Mint Press. ISBN 978-1-903356-57-9.