WHO WAS DUNMAIL?
Legend of King Dunmail Last King of Cumbria
Over 1000 years ago the legendary KING DUNMAIL ruled the rugged mountains, deep lakes and wild moorlands of the ancient Celtic kingdom of Cumbria
Part of the fascinating area’s mythology is that the huge cairn at the top of DUNMAIL RAISE, the high mountain pass between Grasmere and Keswick, covers the bones of this brave king who was slain as he led the Cumbrians in their last stand for independence in the great battle against the Saxon King Edmund who joined forces with Malcolm, king of Scotland in AD945. Perhaps symbolically from this vantage he could watch, in spirit at least, over both halves of his kingdom!
Wordsworth is perhaps partly responsible for continuing this myth:
The horses cautiously pursue
Their way, without mishap or fault;
And now have reached that pile of stones,
Heaped over brave King Dunmail’s bones;
He who had once supreme command,
Last king of rocky Cumberland
His bones, and those of all his Power,
Slain here in a disastrous hour’
One version of the legend surrounding King Dunmail says that his golden crown was thrown by his men into Grizedale Tarn, where it sank, lost forever in the deep, dark water according to his last words – ‘My crown – bear it away; never let the Saxons flout it, until I come again to lead you.’? Apparently the crown was charmed and anyone who wore it would get succession to the Kingdom.
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