Gafulford Gafulford ( alternatively Gafulforda , Gafolforda or Gavelford ) is the site of a battle in South West England known from the first entry in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle for 823 AD ( usually corrected to 825 AD ) : " Her waes Weala gefeoht Defna aet Gafulford " . A translation is : " there was a fight between the Weala and the Defna at Gafulford " . The whereabouts of Gafulford is not known today , though it is generally assumed to be in the west of Devon or the east of Cornwall . Of the several locations that have been proposed , Camelford in Cornwall and Galford near Lew Trenchard in West Devon have had the widest acceptance . Historical setting . The battle at Gafulford was one of a series of encounters between the British ( " Wealas " ) and the Saxons ( here called " Defnas " ) that took place during the westward expansion of the Saxons under King Egbert , ruler of Wessex from 802 to 839 AD . It is known , on the basis of charters that he signed , that Egbert was at Crediton on 19 August 825 , and he was in Southampton by 26 December 825 . Not long afterwards he went on to defeat the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandun . Suggested locations . Camelford . Early historians and writers assumed that Gafulford was at the present day town of Camelford in East Cornwall . The poet John Milton was an early supporter of this theory , in his " History of Britain " of 1670 . More recently , Ralph Whitlock wrote in " The Warrior Kings of Saxon England " ( 1991 ) : " The ' Wala ' are held to be the Britons ( Welsh ) , the ' Defna ' the people of Devonshire , and ' Gafulford ' has been tentatively identified as Camelford . " Camelford was also one of the supposed locations of the final battle between King Arthur and Mordred . Galford . Most recent historians prefer attribution to Galford on the River Lew near Lew Trenchard in West Devon . Sabine Baring - Gould was the first to make this suggestion . Robert Higham , in his book " Making Anglo - Saxon Devon " ( 2008 ) , points out the derivation of the name is " Gafol - ford " meaning " tax / tribute ford " , and based on this derivation , he goes on to say that the location may have been a meeting place where either the West Saxons exacted tribute from the Cornish kings , or where tolls were levied on trade between the two territories . It had already been pointed out that such a location might well be a place where a dispute leading to fighting could arise . Higham also states that the battle may have been an influence on the early development of the nearby town of Lydford , which , as the westernmost burh in Wessex , suggests that the West Saxons did not consider Cornwall to be a defensible part of their kingdom . Other locations . Several other locations have been proposed : Other interpretations . Commentators have pointed out that although it is known that King Egbert was pushing west into Devon and Cornwall at that time , the Anglo Saxon Chronicle does not state that he was present at this battle – Higham says the men of Devon ( " Defna " ) may have been led by their ealdorman . It has also been pointed out that there is no mention of who won the battle , though it has generally been assumed that it was the invading Defnas . The incident has also been presented as a raid by the Cornish into Devon .