E X T E N S I O N CAMELOT Camelot (A. Lee, 1984). Medieval texts place Arthur s court in different places, but for most modern readers the legendary centre of King Arthur s kingdom is Camelot. For the English-speaking world in particular, Camelot is Arthur s central city because Thomas Malory (the famous writer of Le Morte D Arthur 1485) places1 Arthur s court there. Camelot is a legendary place but many have tried to locate it geographically. For example, Malory identified it as the city of Winchester. In 1542 it was associated with Cadbury Hill. Cadbury Hill is an isolated hill-fort2 about 150 m. high dominating central Somerset, in the south-west of England. In the 1960s and 1970s archaeological excavations confirmed that this large hill-fort was refortified3 in the Arthurian age (that is, towards the end of the Roman domination of Britain) and was occupied by a powerful leader and his followers. The name and identity of that leader are unknown. Yet4 there are many legends and popular beliefs5 connecting Arthur to Cadbury. For example, people believe that on Midsummer Eve6 or Midsummer Night or Christmas Eve Arthur and his Knights ride over the hilltop and then down along an old path7 to let their horses drink at a spring8 beside a church. Nobody can see them but you can hear their hoof-beats9. 1. places: puts. 2. hill-fort: hill where walls and buildings were built. 3. refortified: built again and made stronger. 4. yet: however, but. 5. belief: an idea that you think is true. 6. Eve: the day before. 7. path: narrow road in the country. 8. spring: place where water comes up naturally from the ground. 9. hoof-beat: sound made by the feet of animals such as horses. 69