Place Name
Laid out in 1974 and given the name because it leads off Arthur Road – despite that street being named after a son of Queen Victoria (who named him after his godfather, Lord Wellington Arthur Wellesley), and not the King of legend. Camelot was fabled court and castle of King Arthur, symbolising the idealised chivalric kingdom. First mentioned by the 12thCentury French poet Chrétien de Troyes, Camelot became the central seat of Arthur’s reign, home to his Knights of the Round Table, and the epicenter of numerous adventures. The knights, including Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Sir Galahad, embarked on quests from Camelot, the most famous being the Quest for the Holy Grail. Camelot represents a utopian society, based on chivalry, justice, and virtue, but also a place of great tragedy, as internal betrayals and moral failings eventually led to its downfall. The illicit love affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot is often cited as a key factor in Camelot’s collapse, along with the final betrayal by Mordred, King Arthur’s nephew (or son, in some versions). Camelot Close was laid out over the grounds of one of the large houses that dominate the road.
