King Arthur - another lost Temple?

I was so excited on reading Michael Harrison's book (see yesterday's blog) to find some evidence of the veneration of King Arthur in London because it is in London that his story starts and if there was to be a temple to him anywhere it would be in London.  If Michael Harrison's identification of St Martin's as a key clue to identifying a temple of Artemis/Arthur (they probably shared temples as they are both represented by a bear) as suggested by the connection with St Martin's Vintry then another possible temple site would be further to the west at St Martin's in the Fields. 

This is a good candidate because it was on the banks of the river Tyburn, another of London's tributaries, the name of which is usually said to derive from the old welsh Ty Burn, burn still being a common name for a stream in Scotland and is therefore translated as 'House by the Stream'.  But, using Harrison's method, what if the corruption is actually from Ty Bruin ie the House of the Bear?  The site as potentially a temple to Arthur makes sense because it is at Westminster, then Thorney Island, that Arthur finds the all-important Sword in the Stone.  The temple would have looked across the river estuary towards the island where, if the story 'The Sword in the Stone' is accurate there was a temple to Merlin, later shared with the Christians.  You don't need me to tell you how closely Arthur and Merlin have always been connected.

Bearing in mind what Michael Harrison has to say about the continuity of London's history (which I would agree with) it is worth noting that this was the site of religious worship right through the Middle Ages.  Covent Garden, which lies right behind the church of St Martin's In the Fields, is a corruption of Convent Garden.  The nunnery at Tyburn lasted until the reformation.

It's a bit of a long-shot as this area of London has been thoroughly dug over what with the 17th century damming of the Tyburn to change its course and create the lake in St James's Park and the creation of the underground.  It's unlikely that any physical archaeology will provide us with substantial proof and it may be that the tenuous linguistic connection is all we will ever have but it might be worth some furtghher investigation so watch this space!

I should add that I disagree with Michael Harrison on one point, that is his identification of Billingsgate with the Roman war goddess Bellona.  I have found an early Tudor reference to 'Bolin's Gate' which seems to me much closer to 'Balin's Gate' as I suggest.  Balin is clearly an important Druid God as he has a whole section in 'The Sword of the Stone'.  He is the one who demonstrates the principle of free will, a crucial element in Druid and later Christian Druid theology.  It is natural that he would have a shrine adjacent to that of his brother Bran which archaeology does provide us with under the White Tower at the Tower of London.  Bellona does not make a contribution to British culture at all - most of the Celtic gods were war gods and they had at least three war goddesses of their own so she was hardly needed.