|
|||
|
|||
The LegendThe year is 863BC. Bladud, King of the Britons and father of the
unfortunate King Lear who was immortalised by Shakespeare, had
spent much of his youth studying in Athens where he contracted
leprosy.
Returning home and realising that an imperfect prince could not inherit the throne, he left the royal palace in disguise to take a job as a swineherd in an "untravell'd part of the country". This was certainly the Avon Valley, and may well have been the area we know today as Keynsham - remembering that this was more than 1,000 years before the Romans built villas in Keynsham and a full 1,500 years before the Saxons came to Bath. ![]() As Bladud drove his pigs in search of acorns he crossed the River
Avon at shallows north of Saltford - at a place which subsequently
took its name from the legend - Swineford.
The rest of the story is famous. Bladud's pigs also contracted his disease but were cured when they rolled in the hot mud around Bath's springs.
Observing the miracle, Bladud also bathed in the hot murky water
and he too was cured.
Update: We did it! King Bladud's now in
Parade Gardens -
Many places in Bath are named after Bladud ñ there's for example Bladud Buildings, just off Broad Street, and the Bladud's Head, a pub in Larkhall.
|
|||
copyright 2008 KingBladudsPigs.org |