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Bladud - founder of Bath
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Prince Bladud - founder of Bath
The year is 863BC. Bladud, King of the Britons and father of the unfortunate King Lear who was immortalised by Shakespeare, had spent much of his youth studying in Athens where he contracted leprosy.
Returning home and realising that an imperfect prince could not inherit the throne, he left the royal palace in disguise to take a job as a swineherd in an "untravell'd part of the country".
This was certainly the Avon Valley, and may well have been the area we know today as Keynsham - remembering that this was more than 1,000 years before the Romans built villas in Keynsham and a full 1,500 years before the Saxons founded our town.
As Bladud drove his pigs in search of acorns he crossed the River Avon at shallows north of Saltford - at a place which subsequently took its name from the legend - Swineford.
The rest of the story is famous. Bladud's pigs also contracted his disease but were cured when they rolled in the hot mud around Bath's springs.
Observing the miracle, Bladud also bathed in the hot murky water and he too was cured.
Returning home in triumph he went on to become King. In gratitude for his cure, Bladud founded a city at Bath and dedicated its curative powers to the Celtic goddess Sul and 900 years later the Romans called the city Aque Sulis - the Waters of Sul.
So did Bladud really lead his pigs through the beech trees south of the River Avon 2,863 years ago?
Mythologists recognise symbolic features in the story which cast doubt on its detail. But it is certain that pagan worship of Minerva was well established in Bath long before the Romans arrived.
Two things are certain: The hot springs at Bath have been known and used since Roman times and Bladud has been connected with them all that time - a carving over the doors shows him coaxing his pigs along with some acorns.
Sadly he's not as revered as he used to be in Bath. His statue sits out of the way in a field on Entry Hill Lane.
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