North of Housesteads is the shallow Broomlee Lough and further north still are the Kings and Queens Crags, which are supposedly named after Arthur and Guenevere.
Nearby, a mile to the south east are the Sewingshields Crags, once the site of an old castle near Hadrian’s Wall, where King Arthur is said to have held court. Arthur, a legendary Celtic king is said to have fought in battle against the invading Anglo-Saxons in the vicinity of Hadrian’s Wall.
Legend has it that in the nineteenth century, a shepherd was sat knitting on the ruins of Sewingshields castle when he accidentally dropped a ball of wool. Chasing it through the mass of weeds and nettles that covered the overgrown ruin, the shepherd stumbled upon a secret passage infested with bats lizards and toads.
Looking towards the end of the passage the shepherd noticed a bright and distant light. He entered the passage to investigate further, until he eventually discovered a blazing but fuel-less fire emitting from the centre of a great subterranean hall.
Close to the fire, stood a table upon which lay a bugle, a garter and a sword. Around the table were seated King Arthur, his queen, his knights and his hounds. All of them lay in a deep, deep sleep.
Instinctively the shepherd removed the ‘Excalibur’ sword from its scabbard and proceeded to cut the garter. This astonishingly caused Arthur and his knights to awaken. The startled shepherd quickly returned the sword to its sheath, causing all but the king to instantly return to their sleeping state.
In terror the shepherd returned to the passage and ran from the hall as quickly as he could, his heart beating faster and faster. As he ran he heard the growling snores of King Arthur echo along the passageway as he fell back into his slumbering sleep. In the distance the king was heard to mutter these last angry words:
” O, woe betide that evil day On which this witless wight was born, Who drew the sword the garter cut, But never blew the bugle horn.”
The shepherd returned to Sewingshields on a number of occasions, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not find the entrance to the secret passage.
Some say that King Arthur will be found at Sewingshields once again and that next time the bugle will be blown, freeing Arthur and his knights from their sleepy spell to fight for Britain in the hour of its greatest need. This legend incidentally has striking similarities to the legend of Sir Guy the Seeker associated with Dunstanburgh Castle.
Admitedly, King Arthur is most often associated with south western England but throughout the country there are many Arthurian legends of a similar nature to the Sewingshields story. If such a figure as King Arthur ever existed, then the vicinity of Hadrian’s Wall was very possibly his homeland.
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