Kings under hills

Five more mountains with monarchs beneath them…

ALDERLEY EDGE, Cheshire

Almost the exact same legend as the Eildon story, including traveller, wizard and milkwhite mare. The traveller enters the hill via a set of iron gates, possibly at Stormy Point atop the Edge. The story was spun into the epic fantasy novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner.

THE CHEVIOT, Northumberland

The Northumbrian knight Sir

Henry Percy, also known as

Harry Hotspur, was killed in 1403 while leading a rebellion against Henry IV.

But according to some legends, he’s actually resting with his hunting hounds deep within the Hen Hole, a huge clough in the western flank of the Cheviot, ready to awaken and rebel again at the blowing of a hunting horn.

SNOWDON, Snowdonia

Wales positively sings with

Arthurian legend. One version has it that a shepherd blundered into a cave beneath Y Lliwedd (part of the Snowdon Horseshoe) and discovered a king

(Arthur) and his sleeping knights, accidentally waking the king when he knocks a bell. The king says he shall rise for ‘the final battle’ before going back to sleep. Shepherd legs it.

UNTERSBERG, Austria

The ninth-century warriorphilosopher-poet-king Charlemagne is said to sleep beneath this dramatic peak on the Austrian-German border, looked after by dwarves called the mandln.

Every hundred years he wakes to check if ravens are still flying above the summit and if they are, he sleeps for another century. (He’s really buried in Aachen Cathedral.)

KYFFHAÜSER, Germany

Similarly, the 12th century Holy

Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa is meant to be slumbering beneath this gentle wooded hill in central

Germany, sitting at a stone table while his beard slowly fills the cave chamber. Again, ravens on the summit supposedly indicate his continued presence, and he’ll one day rise to light Germany’s hour of need.