The Moated Stone Podcast

The legend of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone is known throughout England. The location of the Stone and the true beginnings of where it actually happened is less well known.This is the story of how Arthur became King of Wessex and then of England. Simply joining up the dots in and around a modern Somerset village is all we need. We can of course refer to Glastonbury in Somerset and Tintagel in Cornwall as traditional points of reference. Although these are important places within the story of Arthur, they will not tell you how Arthur became King nor where it happened. No, in this regard we need to visit Somerset, England and a “moated stone” near to the village of Ilton. Reading historical transcripts, we have the following references to consider. This will be the starting place for our story.“It is haunted ground; superstition has woven her web over the ruins, and the peasant will show you into the courtyard an enchanted stone, a mere smooth boulder of reddish water-worn rock, which no power of man or engine avails to move”. Taken from old legends of this Somerset place.“A fine ancient house, moated in, and neighbouring with park”. Near to a village in Somerset is a large stone protected by a moat. The stone has an empty hole at its centre, where a sword was forged and removed. Why is this large stone surrounded with a moat? Who decided to pay for the moat? Why would anyone build a deep moat around a large worthless stone?As children, we played on the stone and around the moat. When in the Scouts, we camped around the stone. We played in the shadow of a bygone age; within a history where nobody really understands the truth. The dark ages.