Shrawardine Castle, Shropshire
Most of the place-names in the great Welsh elegiac poem, the CANU HELEDD, have been identified with their modern counterparts. But one stubbornly resists location: the Eli of the Eagle of Eli. Eli is found in Welsh only as a word meaning 'slave, balm, unguent, ointment' (GPC). Otherwise, there is only the Biblical name Eli. Eil- can become El- in Welsh, but there would be nothing to account for the terminal /i/.
It has long been assumed that the Eli name has merely disappeared under the onslaught of English names here in Shropshire. However, we have other English place-names in the poem, such as that of Baschurch, the eglwysseu bassa of the Welsh. This is well known to be Bassa's Church, with Bassa being an attested English personal name (see, most recently, Watts). Cynddylan, the subject of the CANU HELEDD, is said to have been laid to rest at Baschurch.
The only clue we have to the whereabouts of Eli is that is seems to lie fairly close to Viroconium/Wroxeter and/or to The Wrekin hillfort.
It didn't take me long to find it. Prior to the Conquest, an Anglo-Saxon named Eli owned Shrawardine in the Hundred of Baschurch.
"Another family to hold a number of manors in this area were the Fitzalans. Due to their position at court, Henry I awarded them those estates that post Conquest had been held by Rainald the Sheriff. These included the manor of Shrawardine which deserves mention here, as its associated deer park appears to have survived the chequered history of the castle that was besieged and finally dismantled during the Civil War. Prior to 1066 the manor was held by Eli (presumably the same Anglo Saxon Eli who gave her name to Ellesmere)."
I am posting below some maps showing the proximity of Shrawardine to Baschurch, Viroconium and The Wrekin.
In my mind, there is no reason to continue to search for Eli. It was plainly a place on the Severn located close to both Baschurch and Viroconium. That it happens to be named for an early Anglo-Saxon landholder should not in any way disqualify it from our consideration.
Here are the sections from the CANU HELEDD on the Eagle of Eli and the Baschurch of Cynddylan:
The eagle of Eli, his cry is piercing [tonight],
he has drunk [from] a stream of blood:
the heart blood of Cynddylan the Fair.
The eagle of Eli was crying out loudly tonight,
it was wallowing in the blood of warriors.
He is in the wood; heavy sorrow overwhelms me.
The eagle of Eli I hear tonight,
he is gory; I shall not defy him.
He is in the wood; heavy sorrow overwhelms me.
The eagle of Eli, most grievous tonight
in the beautiful valley of Meisir!
The land of Brochfael, deeply afflicted.
The eagle of Eli, watches over the seas,
does not pierce the fish in the estuaries.
He calls for the blood of warriors.
The eagle of Eli travels over the woods [tonight],
his feasting is to his fill.
The violence of he who indulges him succeeds.
[Translation courtesy http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/history/canu_heledd/eryr.html]
Baschurch is his resting place tonight.,
his final abode,
the support in battle, the heart of the people of Argoed.
Baschurch is crumbling tonight.
My tongue caused it.
It is red; my grief is too great.
Baschurch is confined tonight;
for the heir of the Cyndrwynin:
the land of the grave of Cynddylan the Fair.
Baschurch is fallow land tonight,
its clover is bloody.
It is red; my heart is too full.
Baschurch has lost its privilege,
after the English warriors slew
Cynddylan and Elfan Powys.
Baschurch is ruined tonight;
its warriors have not survived.
Men and warriors know me here.
Baschurch is glowing embers tonight
and I am sorrowful.
It is red; my grief is too full.
[Translation courtesy http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/history/canu_heledd/eglwysseu_bassa.html]
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