Bamburgh

Bamborough

Situated on the Northumberland coast, this small town boasts a castle standing on a crag above the North Sea that was once the seat of the kings of Northumbria.

Malory named the possibility that Bamburgh Castle is Joyous Gard, the castle of Sir Lancelot that was originally known as Dolorous Gard (Doloreuse Chartre), and later reverted back to its former name. If Bamburgh Castle is Joyous Gard, then it was to this imposing structure that Lancelot brought Guenevere after he had rescued her from being burnt for adultery.

Though occupied by the Angles, Bamburgh also shows ruins of an earlier British castle called Din Guayrdi, which later were renamed Bebbanburgh by the Angles. The castle appears in Girart d'Amien's Escanor as Banborc.