Expect the dreadful day of doom.”
ARTHUR AT THE LAND’S-END.
Bolerium, or Bellerium, is the name given by the ancients to the Land’s-End. Diodorus writes, Belerium; Ptolemy, Bolerium. Milton adopts this name in his “Lycidas,” and leads his readers to infer that it was derived from the Giant Bellerus. It is quite possible that in Milton’s time the name of one of the numerous giants who appear to have made the Lands-End district their dwelling-place, might have still lived in the memories of men. Certain it is no such a giant is remembered now.[30]
In a map of Saxon England we find the Land’s-End called Penꞃiðꞅꞇeoꞃꞇ, and in some early English books this promontory is named Penrhin-guard, and Penrlien-gard, said to signify the “Headland of Blood.”[31] The old Cornish people called this promontory “Pen-von-las,” the “End of the Earth,” hence we derive the name of the Land’s-End. May not this sanguinary name have been derived from a fact, and that actually several battles were fought by the Britons under the command of Arthur, with the Saxons or the Danes, in this neighbourhood? We have not far off the Field of Slaughter, “Bollait,” where the ancient people of Cornwall made their final stand against the Saxons. On this field flint arrow-heads have frequently been found. The tradition of Vellan-Druchar, which is but one of several I have heard of a similar character, points to the same idea. Arthur, according to one story, held possession of Trereen Castle for some time. Another castle on the north coast is said to have been occupied by him. An old man living in Pendean once told me that the land at one time “swarmed with giants, until Arthur, the good king, vanished them all with his cross-sword.”
TRADITIONS OF THE DANES IN CORNWALL.
The Danes are said to have landed in several places around the coast, and have made permanent settlements in some parts. We have already spoken of the battle of Vellan-druchar. In Sennen Cove there was for a long period a colony of red-haired people,—indeed, I am informed some of them still live on the spot,—with whom the other inhabitants of the district refused to marry. Up to a very recent period, in several of the outlying villages, a red-haired family was “looked down” upon. “Oh, he or she is a red-haired Daäne,” was a common expression of contempt.
There are several hills which bear the names of Danes’ castles—as Castle-an-Dinas, near Penzance, and another in St Columb.[32] Another very remarkable earthwork in Perran Zabula (Caer-Dane) is described by Hals.[33]
Eventually the Danes are said to have made permanent settlements in Cornwall, and to have lived on friendly terms with the Britons.