The 'Forts or Settlements of Gorlois' Next to Known Geraint and Cynfawr Sites (plus a Note on Penkevel and Uther's Pen Kawell)

Treworlas or Tref Gwrlais near Dingerein

Carne Beacon and the Carne Names on Gerrans Bay

Carhurles or Caer Gwrlais near Castle Dore

Penkevel Near Treworlas/Tref Gwrlais

In the past, I had not bothered to take a look at the Gorlois (Grwlais) place-names in Cornwall - and, as it turns out, that is to my great detriment.  

One of the 'Tref Gwrlais' sites* is right in the middle of known Geraint places, including Gerrans, Dingerein (Geraint's Fort), Gerrans Bay and the Carne Beacon where Geraint was supposedly buried (https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2013/09/05/carne-beacon-veryan-cornwall/).  The cluster of Carne names near the Beacon remind us of Gorlois's wife Ygerna, whom I have shown (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-new-identification-of-arthurs-mother.html) to be a name based on the Carne Hill of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Domellick/St. Dennis. 

Near Carne Beacon is Veryan Castle, an ancient hillfort (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019746?section=official-list-entry).

A 'Caer Gwrlais' is right next to Castle Dore, a fort near where the famous Cunomorus/Cynfawr stone was found.  Cynfawr or Cunomorus was traditionally an ancestor of Geraint son of Erbin.  On the place-name Castle Dore from The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press, 2020):

The 'water' etymology is incorrect, in my opinion.  The word is plainly OE dor-weard (see the relevant entry in Bosworth and Toller), 'doorkeeper, porter.'  The word continued into Middle English (see https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED12396) where it meant the same thing, a gatekeeper or porter.  We are immediately reminded of the Arthurian poem, PA GUR, which begins with the famous line 'Pa gur yv y porthaur?' or 'What man is the gatekeeper?'

The following selection from https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/collins-arthurian-court-list-in-culhwch-and-olwen tells us about Arthur's gatekeeper:

"Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr: Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr serves as Arthur's gatekeeper in Culhwch where he (in typical gatekeeper fashion) protects convention by denying Culhwch entry into Arthur's hall until Arthur requests to see him. He also accompanies Arthur in the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth where he loses all of his servants save Llaesgymyn.

Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr appears in Pa Gur the eleventh century text from The Black Book of Carmarthen in which he refuses Arthur and his retinue entry into a castle, thereby compelling Arthur to provide a list of his companions and their exploits. Although the poem is cut off after 90 lines it contains many of the same characters invoked in Culhwch's list and many have argued that Culhwch derives from Pa Gur. This is possible although the gatekeeper/retinue motif is relatively common in Celtic literature (cf. The Battle of Mag Tuired from the Ulster cycle and Preiddeu Annwn.

Glewlwyd appears also in the Triads (88) as one of the "Three Irresistible Knights" of Arthur's court, and in the Gereint where he serves once again as Arthur's gatekeeper—an office which, according to this text, he fills only during three festivals per year. Not surprisingly, Glewlwyd functions similarly in Owein: Chwedl Iarlles y Ffynnon (Owein: the Tale of The Countess at the Fountain) where he is the gatekeeper at Arthur's court in Caerleon. Here, his role as an upholder of courtly convention remains, although he is not portrayed in opposition to the heroes entrance to the fort as he was in both Pa Gur and Culhwch. The text reads: "Glewlwyd Strong Grip was there acting as gatekeeper, greeting guests and foreigners, beginning to honor them, telling them habits and customs of the court, and informing those who had a right to go to the hall or the chamber, or who merited lodging" (Gantz, p. 193)."

The idea for 'Doorkeeper' or 'Gatekeeper' for the name of the fort may have come about, ultimately, from the constructed form of the fortification.  Here is the plan from Radford, C.A.R., 1951. Report on the Excavations at Castle Dore. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (ns), 1, pp.1-119, showing the specially designed inturned gate:

Note that near Castle Dore is a Treverbyn, that is the 'Settlement of Erbin.'  Erbin was the name of the father of Geraint (or son in the Life of Cybi).  

I feel fairly confident about this etymology.  If it is correct, I would propose that the original name of Castle Dore was Caer Gwrlais.  

Finally, just across the Fal from the Geraint places, including Treworlas, is Penkevel and Penkevel Wood and, a little further towards the Truro River, St. Michael Penkivel.  Penkevel is only 3 kilometers from Treworlas. I had been told by a top Celtic and Welsh specialist that the Pen Kawell found in the Uther Pendragon elegy poem could not be for Penkevel/-kivel (earliest spelling in 1261 is Penkevel).  And this despite the fact that Uther in that very poem describes himself as 'gorlassar' and that God transforms him in the same same difficult line where the pen kawell phrase occurs.   [The transformation alluded to in the poem is Uther referring to himself as a 'candle in the gloom'; W. cannwyll or 'candle' also have the meaning of 'star'.] 

Important to notice is that there are no Gwrlais place-names anywhere near either Dimilioc or Tintagel, which were claimed as Gorlois sites by Geoffrey of Monmouth.  

What I'm sensing here is a relocation in the Galfridian tradition.  Given the Tintagel is a headland (see Tintagel Head), we might expect an original Pen- place-name.  If Pen Kawell is for Penkevel, then Ygerna (Y carne/cerne, 'The carn') may belong originally to the Carne Beacon neighborhood.  

Whether any of this holds true pretty much depends on how much weight we decide to place on Penkevel as Pen Kawell. 

http://cornish-place-names.wikidot.com/st-michael-penkivel

Sancti Michaelis de Penkevel, 1261; Penkevel, 1291; Sancti Michaelis de Penkevel, 1349; Penkevel, 1359; St Michael Penkevil, 1767; St Michael Penkivell, 1884; St Michael Penkevil, 1899

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Cornwall/St.%20Michael%20Penkevil

The parish is distinguished by the name of the manor Penkevil, perhaps, 'horse head'. The exact reference is unknown, possibly a feature thought to resemble a horse's head or to a promontory of land.

Elements and their meanings

kevyl (Middle Cornish) Possibly horse or horses.

penn (Primitive Welsh) Head, end, top, height, a hill.

While we may not be able to properly derive kawell from the Cornish word for horse, at least not by following strict linguistic rules, it is not at all impossible - and, indeed, fairly plausible - that a Welshman either mistook kevyl for his own word kawell (cawell) or that a simple copying error is to blame.  It is also possible that the original word was the Cornish equivalent of W. cawell, but later was corrupted in its present form. 

[NOTE: Pen Kawell may be better placed at the River Cale, anciently Cawel, or even at the Camels near Cadbury Castle.  See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/is-uthers-kawell-cale-river-in-somerset.html.]

Now, if I am right and Uther Pendragon is a Welsh attempt to render the magister utriusque militiae rank of the early fifth century Gerontius, Constantine III's general, and that this man was conflated with a later Geraint who was Arthur's father, then we must ask the obvious question: was Arthur born not at Tintagel, as Geoffrey of Monmouth would have it, but at the Dingerein Castle (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019742) fort between the Carne place-names and that of Penkevel?

It would appear that an earlier tradition for these places is still extant, although nearly obliterated by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who seems to have moved what happened there to Domellick/St. Dennis and Tintagel. 

In any case, it is plain that the Gwrlais name, brought into such close connection with Geraint locations, adds some support to my theory that Uther/Gorlassar = a Geraint.

*Treworlis Barton north of Breage in Cornwall appears to be more recent, perhaps named after one or both of the other sites.  Certainly, as a location it does not seem to have anything to do with Gorlois or Geraint.  For details, see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1158210, where it is described as a circa early-mid 19th century farmhouse. 

I would also add the obvious here: Gwrlais or Gorlois is not a person, but an epithet for Uther.  There is always the possibility - a very real one - that the reason the name Gwrlais was used in these Cornish place-names is precisely because they post-date Geoffrey of Monmouth's development of the separate personage Gorlois from the gorlassar epithet from the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN.  If that is the case, then we can place no weight whatsover on such place-names in extreme southern Cornwall.