Researching Celtic Pantheon in my area

[skydove]

I'm trying to find out about the local deities that may have been worshipped in the area now known as North Warwickshire in times long passed to get an intellectual awareness before trying a less cerebral method. Does anyone have any ideas how to go about this for my own or in general terms for any area? It seems a much easier thing to do if you live in Wales or Ireland where mythology is plentiful, but the middle of the country I'm unsure where to start.

The area I live in is near the river Tame and was colonised by the Tomsate who were an Anglian tribe living in the Tame valley at the time of the Roman occupation.
Looking at the Celtic tribes of Britain this area could be within the loose boundary of the Corieltauvi ( Coritani) who were a tribe that moved to Britain from Continental Europe after 100 BC. These Belgae warriors became farmers and lived in lowland settlements usually besides streams and surrounded or hidden by forests, so gods/goddeses of rivers forests farming would probably be appealed to. Could anyone make a stab at who they might be?
I know King Penda the pagan King had a court at Tamworth, who would he have worshiped?

[Gus]

Tiw's name is found in Wawrickshire - a war god whos name gives us "Tuesday"
Horned God prossibly

Hutton . R. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy pg267, pg231
Theress probably a few wells and prings around - find out where and ask the old folk about them.

[DaRC]

Penda would have worshipped the Germanic gods - particularly if he was an Angle.

Tiw is not a horned God, he was part of the Aesir (Norse Gods) and in later Norse mythology he is famous for giving his right arm to bind Fenris (the ravaging wolf that at Ragnarok will destroy the Odin / the world). Thus he is associated with law & order. He may well have started as a cthonic war god, possibly usurped later by Odin.

Now whether the Belgae tribe were more Celtic or more Germanic is very much up for debate. If they were Celtic then look at the Welsh pantheon but if they were more Germanic (as I tend to believe) then a book like
"The Lost Gods of England" might well be a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Lost-England-Kathleen-Herbert/dp/1898281041

[Gus]

Penda would have worshipped the Germanic gods - particularly if he was an Angle.

Tiw is not a horned God, he was part of the Aesir (Norse Gods) and in later Norse mythology he is famous for giving his right arm to bind Fenris (the ravaging wolf that at Ragnarok will destroy the Odin / the world). Thus he is associated with law & order. He may well have started as a cthonic war god, possibly usurped later by Odin.
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Sorry that was a clear as mud ! - I wasnt saying that Tiw is a horned God - I was referring to two seperate Gods. Firstly I was saying that Tiws name was found in Wawrickshire and is believed to be the origin of the name of the village Tysoe , interesting article on the Red horse of Tysoe which may be connected with the God here :

http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfig ... /tysoe.htm

and more info on Tiw here :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyr

It seems in many ways he is correlated with the war god mars (thus in Latin langauges like Spanish Tuesday is MARtes)

and in addition there may be some evidence of worship of some horned God though this speculative. This speculation is is based on the discovery of a strange ritual in Wasperton in Warwickshire :

" "There is evidence for British ritual activity associated with stags and demonstrated by archeology: most interesting is a deposit recently found at Wasperton (warks.) where face-down in a pit was placed a stone inscribed feliciter; on the upper surface below a layer of burnt material were placed two sets of unburnt antlers with bits of skull attached, arranged to form a square, in the centre of which a fire had been lit.""

The Gods of the Celts by Miranda Green, Sutton Publishing, 1986, 2004. Regarding stags and rituals, on page 173

This article tells more :

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 5/abstract

again both are mentioned here (respective page numbers of both given) : Hutton . R. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy pg267, pg231

It would also be a mistake to think that that area would be Celtic or Germanic - it is likely to have seen many different phases of culture and peoples over the centuries. If you think that ancient megalithic people, brythonic and germanic people have all occupied the area at some point or another and they may have worshipped different Gods and had different customs at different times - its really up to you which period you wih to investigate. According to wikipedia the Tomsate didnt get there until after the Romans had left in about 500 ad .
Penda apparently claimed lineage from Woden :

Penda was Pybba's offspring, Pybba was Cryda's offspring, Cryda Cynewald's offspring, Cynewald Cnebba's offspring, Cnebba Icel's offspring, Icel Eomer's offspring, Eomer Angeltheow's offspring, Angeltheow Offa's offspring, Offa Wermund's offspring, Wermund Wihtlaeg's offspring, Wihtlaeg Woden's offspring.[3].

^ a b c Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Manuscript A (ASC A), 626.2

so I guess would have worshipped your Anglo Saxon gods - but that doesnt mean there werent previous Celtic Gods being worshipped and from the look of it the Corieltauvi was a federation of tribes rather than one tribe formed of at leat two distinct groups. It is also likely some Gods were venerated in both Celtic and Anglo Saxon (and even Greco Roman) pantheons under different names .
Apollo feature on some Corieltauvi coins but were probably Roman :

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/celtic/b ... uvi/i.html

a horde of thousdands of these coins were dicovered recently so contacting the guy who found them or the museum might be a way to find out which Celtic Gods are printed on the coins and thus which were worshipped :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallaton_Treasure

Let us know if you find out anything !

[skydove]

Thank you both for your thoughts, I'll look into the suggestions you have made and get back in due course.

[cat]

The first thing that spring to mind to me is to study your area would be to get some local maps (Os)and look at the place names.
Especially if there are any old sites of interest.

Then look at what the place names means. Where there origins are(language) this will give you an idea of the history of the area and possible some clues.

I uses the internet to look up place name meanings. Many are compound words so can be broken down depending on which language they are in.

I think this is pretty much what you are doing and I would imagine that it will lead if you use the net to some interesting discovery and books on the subject .

Just a thought where i live often you find very local small print run books in the library or local tourist in with info about local places this may be of some help in your search.

follow you nose.

cath

[cat]

Names of rivers and ancient wood land may be too.

just a after though.

[DaRC]

Gus thanks for the clarification and update.

At the moment Stephen Oppenheimer's genetic based argument that there has been cultural change over the millenia since the Ice Age but the people form part of one continuum (i.e. the people have remained stable but have adopted different language & culture over the years) seems (to me) the most probable.

Which is what I think you're saying here:

"It is also likely some Gods were venerated in both Celtic and Anglo Saxon (and even Greco Roman) pantheons under different names ."

[Gus]

Gus thanks for the clarification and update.

At the moment Stephen Oppenheimer's genetic based argument that there has been cultural change over the millenia since the Ice Age but the people form part of one continuum (i.e. the people have remained stable but have adopted different language & culture over the years) seems (to me) the most probable.

Which is what I think you're saying here:

"It is also likely some Gods were venerated in both Celtic and Anglo Saxon (and even Greco Roman) pantheons under different names ."

It makes sense. Someone pointed out that to a future historian who did not adopt this approach it would seem from archeological evidence as if the "washing machine people" suddenly invaded the UK in the 1950's !