Source Of Mysterious “Excalibur” Sword Found In Lake Revealed

Published September 8, 2017
Updated January 17, 2023

The mystery behind the sword found by a young girl in a legendary pool has been solved and it involves an offering to the Gods.

Excalibur Sword

Despite being found at the bottom of a famous lake, it turns out the sword found by a young girl in a Cornish lake isn’t actually ‘Excalibur.’

Earlier this week, on a trip to Cornwall, 7-year-old Matilda Jones noticed a sword lying on the bottom of Dozmary Pool while paddling with her father. They retrieved the sword — which was found in the same spot where the Arthurian legend says King Arthur’s sword was left after his death — and the story went viral.

While the legend might say the sword was put there by Arthur’s knight, Sir Bedivere, a man named Mark Wilkins claims it was in fact him.

“I threw it in the lake in the 1980s and wasn’t expecting to see it again,” Wilkins said. He said he threw it in the lake as an offering to the Celtic gods.

Mark Williams Sword

“Back in the 80s I was very into spiritualism and followed the Celtic religion,” he said. “It’s well known in Celtic belief that if you want to honor the Gods you can make a sacrifice or an offering.”

“I’m Cornish through and through so for me myths and legends are everything,” he added. “Cornwall is steeped in legend and because of the history of Dozmary Pool and King Arthur. I decided to make an offering and give the blade back.”

“I didn’t offer the sword for anything special, only to honour the legend,” he said.

The legend says that Excalibur was given to Arthur by the mysterious Lady of the Lake, to give him special powers in battle.

Wilkins said he bought his sword, the ‘Flambard Fantasy’ from ‘Battle Orders UK’ to use in battle reenactments for the local celebration of Heritage Day in Bodmin.

Mark Williams Knight

“The funniest thing is that I have people who can vouch I had the sword back then because I had a phase when I would have a few drinks and go around knighting the people of Bodmin when I lived there,” he said.

The legend claims that the sword could only be retrieved from the Dozmary Pool by the rightful Queen of Britain, and Wilkins says he’d like to believe that.

“Sir Bedivere threw the sword in the lake, as did I, and now the lake has given the sword back,” he said. “The lake decided to give it to somebody worthy.”

Wilkins said it was amusing how much press the story was given, as he’d almost forgotten about the sword after throwing it in the lake all those years ago.

“I loved the photos,” he said. “It was quite comical really because the sword is so much bigger than the little girl.”

He added that he’s not trying to steal the spotlight from Matilda, but that he’s simply shedding light on the sword’s true history.

“I love the legend,” he said. “I hope for her it’s a magical thing and that she gets strength from it.”


If you enjoyed this, read about the 1,200 year old Viking sword found on a Norwegian mountain. Then check out the sword found in a Polish swamp.

author
Katie Serena
author
A former staff writer at All That's Interesting, Katie Serena has also published work in Salon.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.