Coel Hen was my 49 x great grandfather and lived c350 to after 410. Also known as Coel the Old, he is believed to be the inspiration for the Old King Cole nursery rhyme.
Coel Hen ap Tegfan was the head of several post Roman royal families of the Hen Ogledd. He was also the father in law of Cunedda, founder of Gwynedd in north Wales, by his daughter Gwawl.
He lived during the time when the Romans were departing from Britain, and he may have been the last of the Duces Brittannarum (Dukes of the Britons) who commanded the Roman army in northern Britain. His lands extended from Hadrians Wall south and into north Wales.
He is believed to have taken over Eboracum(York) to rule over this province. Upon his death his lands were split between his two sons Garmonion and Cunedda II, and later split further amongst his grandsons, creating the many old northern kingdoms.
Old King Cole was a merry old sole
And a merry old sole was he.
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three. Every fiddler had a fine fiddle
And a very fine fiddle had he.
Oh there is none so rare as can compare With King Cole and his fiddlers three.
Tuesday 26 December 2017
Featured Post
Popular Posts
-
For many centuries, from the time of the Normans, until 1919, one of the main families in my family tree, the Mainwaring's owned and liv...
-
My 5x great uncle Richard Kelsall Glenton, a customs clerk who lived 1794 - 1863, was featured in episode 1 of A House Through Time, first ...
-
Below is the tomb of William Longespee, son of Henry II, husband of Ela Countess of Salisbury, founder of Salisbury Cathedral, where...
-
I recently visited the National Trust property of Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, home to the Ferrers family for many centuries from the ...
-
Sir Philip Mainwaring was born in 1589, the 7th son of Sir Randle Mainwaring (1553 – 1612) of Over Peover, Cheshire and Margaret Fitton ( - ...
-
Earlier this year I visited the New Forest. Just outside the village of Boldre, near Lymington, at the top of the hill is one of England’s o...
-
The war medals of George Edward Hindley and John Henry Hindley were sold at auction by Lawrence's auction house on 3 November 2011 for...
-
My great aunt Hilda Heywood was born in October 1909 in Bolton to Ellen Eliza Hindley and Ernest Heywood. She was their eldest child. In A...