Geoffry Ashe

Vocation

British cultural historian, popular writer and lecturer on British history and Arthurian mythology. He was born in London, spent several years in Canada, went to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and then came to Cambridge to study English. His historical knowledge was acquired over the years. He had some industrial jobs and lectured on "Management Studies" at the London Polytechnic School, but writing about and researching the occult became his passion. Later in his career he made this his job. He debuted as a writer with "The Tale of the Tub: A Survey of the Art of Bathing Through the Ages" (London, 1950). In 1957 his first work appeared on the King Arthur legend: "King Arthur's Avalon: The Story of Glastonbury". This influential post-war book revived the interest in King Arthur and the Dark Ages by focusing on the medieval notion that Gerald of Wales (King Arthur's Burial Cross), that he was buried in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. Ashe was inspired by G. K. Chesterton's "Short History of England" and relentlessly delved into the seemingly buried into the - then being seen as just Pagan mythology - historical roots of the Arthurian Legend. He was the co-founder and secretary of the Camelot Research Committee, the archaeological group that was responsible for the 1966-70 excavation of Iron Age hill fort Cadbury Castle, visible from Glastonbury Tor to the north-west, which he saw as being the most likely location for King Arthur's Camelot castle. Ashe proposed in Speculum (April 1981) that there actually was a historical King Arthur, and proposed the Romano-British military leader Riothamus, who fought against the Goths in the declining Roman Empire, as the most likely candidate. Ashe wrote many books about the Arthurian Legend and situated Avalon in the holy sanctuary of the Druids, Glastonbury. Ashe was also the author of a novel about an occult group that met near the site of Avalon entitled "The Finger and the Moon" (1973). At the end of the 1970's and the psychologist Helene Koppejan, had the idea of creating a library of British myth and legend (The Library of Avalon: history). In 1977, the Koppejan's settled here. In 2012 Ashe was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to cultural heritage. Books by Geoffrey Ashe Link to Wikipedia