From Little Doward to Another Battle

In 2007, I posted two blog articles about the twelve battles King Arthur allegedly fought and led to his consolidation of power. They are listed in the ninth century document, The History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum), attributed to a monk called Nennius. I offered my conjecture on the location of the first battle, on the mouth of the river Glein, and the sixth battle, on the river Bassas. (See the articles: Part 1 and Part 2.) Since posting the articles, I’ve been intent on completing both my fourth book, A Land Beyond Ravens, and the overhaul of my first book, Into the Path of Gods. I got away from looking any further into the battle list as none of them pertained to either story.

Nennius tells us that the second, third, fourth and fifth battles all allegedly took place “on another river, which is called Dubglas and is in the Linnius region.” Like most of the other locations, historians have never figured out where the river Dubglas is. The only river in Britain with a similar name is in Scotland and called the Douglas. Linnius, however, is usually considered to be either the area in the east around Lincoln or, alternatively, Lindinis, the Roman name for the town of Ilchester in Somerset. However, no rivers with names similar to Dubglas exist in either region.

But … one of those odd things that happens in research came out of the blue. During the re-edit of my book, I needed a little more information about the place in which the fifth century high king Vortigern allegedly met his end. According to legend, Vortigern was trapped in a stronghold called Little Doward and burnt alive when Ambrosius, his successor, chased him there in his successful quest to take the high kingship.

In the original version of Into the Path of Gods, the mode of Vortigern’s death was only noted after it happened and no more mention made. In the new version, I have added a scene where my main character, master spy Marcus ap Iorwerth, spends a night camped in a hillside cave and has a fitful dream about the refortification of a stronghold. The hill in question is Little Doward. I spent some time researching the hill’s history (click here for more on this), and checked it out on Google Earth to get a feel for the surroundings. I also wanted to find an older name for the location because Doward sounds too modern and Anglicized for a book set in the fifth century. I went looking in my trusty book, Place Names of England and Wales. [1] There is no entry for Doward, but the following note was made in the entry for a place called Dowlais:

“The Little and Great Doward Hill, lower Wye, were old Dougarth, which is O.W. for ‘two garths’ or ‘enclosures.’ ”

Well, there’s a plausible older name for Doward—Dougarth. The enclosures mentioned probably would have been dark age hill forts. Wonderful!

But wait a moment. This is the section preceding the note about Doward:

“DOWLAIS (Glamorgan). Pron. Dowlish. Disputable; perh. O.W. dau, mod. W. dou glais, ‘two streams’; but prob.=DOUGLAS. The Dewlas, trib. of Nthn. Dovey, is sic 1428 and locally pron. Diflas, clearly ‘dark (W. du) stream.’ DOWLISH WAKE (Ilminster) should be the same. Cf. DAWLISH.”

The reference to Dowlais possibly meaning “two streams” and probably equaling “Douglas” stopped me in my tracks and left me speechless. Then I got excited. Dowlais is a village in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, southeastern Wales. As noted in Part 1 of my earlier notes, the frontier in the fifth century between British territory and the westward-encroaching Saxon territory, as suggested by historian Christopher Gidlow [2], may have been roughly where Wales now borders the English counties of Shropshire and Cheshire. Gidlow proposes that some of the battles could have taken place along or near this vague line. Dowlais is not that far from the line or from where I theoretically placed the sixth battle of Bassas.

In addition, Dowlish Wake, also noted in the entry, presents another possibility. Guess where it is? Near Ilminster, which is near Ilchester. Lindinis, the other possible location of Linnius. Could either of these possibly be the location of the four battles on the river Dubglas? Perhaps. This is still simply conjecture as there is no proof.

I’m curious as to why the Arthurian community of scholars has not picked up on these clues. Perhaps the notion has been considered but ended up dismissed out of hand so quickly that no one has ever presented the theory. Perhaps I simply have a different way of looking at place names or just had a moment of plain old luck to have discovered two possible connections. Maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about.

And now…am I bold enough to stick my neck out and let the Arthurian historians get a whiff of this idea? They are excellent at hacking theories all to pieces. Or should I quietly approach one—like Christopher Gidlow—and ask what he thinks while I hope he won’t ignore or scoff at me? Regardless, the discovery sure sent the chills rippling. To know if it holds any water with other Arthurian enthusiasts would be even more exciting!



[1] Johnson, James. Place Names of England and Wales. London: Bracken Books, 1994.

[2] Gidlow, Christopher. The Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2004.

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