No Reason Why a Nechton as Father of Uther Could Not Have Been a Brother of Nudd: A Brief Refutation of a Note by Rachel Bromwich

Neitano Stone Inscription

In a Note to Senyllt2 in her TRIADS, Rachel Bromwich has the following remark on the Nechtan made a son of Senyllt in Welsh sources:

"Evidently the names Neidaon, Nwython in these genealogies are to be equated with the Nudd of the Triad."

I would respectfully beg to differ.  We know of the Nud stone at Yarrow, and I have shown that we have evidence both from a Dark Age stone and from place-names that Nechton was found in this region.  I would kindly refer my reader to the following blog articles in support of this contention:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-name-neitano-in-selgovae-territory.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/07/arthur-as-descendant-of-sub-roman.html

In recent years, attempts have been made to remove the Selgovae tribe from Trimontium.  But I have no problem myself with the Tweed here being the most logical boundary between the Votadini to the north and the Selgovae to the south. According to Ptolemy, the Brigantes of northern England are south of the Selgovae.  Such a territorial expanse would allow us to have a man like Uther, of Selgovae descent, end up as a chieftain who had established himself at Banna on Hadrian's Wall, as the Wall was the southern boundary of Selgovae lands.

Of course, if Ptolemy is correct and Bremenium/High Rochester belonged to the Votadini, who are otherwise known from the Edinburgh region, then the Selgovae tribe must be confined to the upper Tweed and, indeed, to the central Lowlands.  They would thus be surrounded by the Damnonii to the NW, the Novantae to the W, the Votadini to the N and E and the Brigantes to the S. 

Birdoswald/Banna and Carvoran were almost certainly on the border between Selgovae lands and those of the Brigantes.  

It may well be that we can allow an Uther Pen[dragon] son of Nethawc (= Nechton) after all, with such a personage being placed in the Scottish Lowlands and the Wall rather than in the Pictland of Welsh legend.