A SOMEWHAT cautious Cumbria Tourist Board is allowing itself to be associated with the renewed speculation that King Arthur, of Round Table and burned cakes fame, hailed from Cumbria and not Cornwall, reports Allan Muirhead.

The possibility that the historic figure was a northerner rather than a southerner has been revived with the launch of a new Hollywood film, called simply King Arthur, which will be screened in this country from July 30.

John Matthews, consultant historian to Touchstone Pictures which made King Arthur, believes the stories of the kindly king are based on a real historical figure who had been a Roman soldier on Hadrian's Wall in Cumbria.

His view is supported by historian Michael Wood who says the stories "surprisingly do not take us to the South West or to Wales, but to Cumbria, southern Scotland and the ancient kingdom of Rheged around the Solway." He also believes that Carlisle was the headquarters of either Arthur, or the chiefs on whom the stories are based.

Already, there are plans for a Cumbrian county trail called The Lost Realm of King Arthur,' and the tourist board has added information about the county's possible links on its website. But, in a statement this week, Cumbria Tourist Board says any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of Cumbria Tourist Board.

Nevertheless, the tourist board's chairman, Eric Robson, agrees with John Matthews' view that Arthur's fort at Camboglanna, was probably sited at what is now known as Birdoswald. Mr Robson explained: "Camboglanna means crooked glen, and Birdoswald is the only place on Hadrian's Wall which fits that description."

Ken Campbell, chairman of the Arthurian Society in Cumbria, says: "Many of the stories about King Arthur originated around the firesides of Cumbria" and the north American historian, Norma Lorre Goodrich, also claims that Arthur, or at least his head, is buried at Arthuret Church in Longtown, near Carlisle.

The proposition wins more support from the Rheged Visitor Attraction near Penrith. On its web site, it describes King Arthur's Round Table, an earthworks at Eamont Bridge, as mysterious. Excavations in the 19th Century revealed a cremation trench containing human bones.

King Arthur's knights were said to have roamed far and wide in search of adventure, and there is every reason to suppose that their travels included Cumbria, web site visitors are told.

But as is the way of legends, the latest film will simply add fuel to the speculation which has surrounded Arthur down through the centuries.