CHAP. VIII.

Remains of the Romans still visible in Cornwall.

SECTION I.

Towns in Cornwall in which it is probable that the Romans had Settlements.

AS Cornwall was originally connected with Devonshire, and both were included under the general title of Danmonium, we have no right to expect on this side of the Tamar, so many memorials of Roman antiquity as might have been visible, if this western region had afforded them an exclusive abode. It was indeed long doubted whether the Romans ever visited this part of Danmonium; and in early years, the want of coins, urns, tools, and weapons, known with certainty to be Roman, was thought to be a decisive argument against their residence in this district. Succeeding observations, and persevering diligence, have however now placed the fact on a ground which is no longer questionable; and there are many decisive proofs that the Romans have been in Cornwall.

From the supposed residence of these conquerors in this county, it has been inferred, that some remains of their ancient towns or places of residence ought to be produced. But we have already noticed, that the government which they established in this country was chiefly military; that they kept standing forces; and held an intercourse with one another throughout a long chain of territory. It is therefore reasonable for us to suppose, that they fixed their abodes in camps. and fortified places, rather than in towns; and consequently, that we have more reason to expect memorials of these camps, fortified positions, and roads, than of towns, in which their residence was in all probability only occasional. Of Roman camps and fortifications we have many vestiges still remaining. Some fragments of their causeways have also survived the shocks of time; and even where these fragments have disappeared, the name has in some cases outlived their existence; and, hovering over the spot in which they have been interred, continues to the present moment to point us to their grave. Hence it is, that in the parish of Luxulian, we have a place called Bodmin Caunse, or Coanse, which signifies a pavement or causeway, although no vestiges of any ancient road remain visible. But from its vicinity to the remains of a Roman encampment, we may easily infer

FOWEY HARBOUR FORMERLY A STATION FOR THE ROMAN SHIPPING.

from what source it derived its name. places, similar observations may be made.

On Pounds-Coanse and on several other

Besides the ancient towns in which the aboriginal Britons resided, and in which after the conquest, the Romans no doubt claimed a joint occupancy, several others have been named as places of their general residence, if not of their exclusive abode. Among these towns, there was one that existed in former ages in the western part of the parish of St. Germans. This town, which was called Seaton, once stood on the mouth of a small river, which still retains the same name. At present no remains of this town are to be seen; although it is considered to have been a place of some importance, before the encroachments of the sea in these parts occasioned its total overthrow. Tradition, in this neighbourhood, unites with the voice of history, to assure us that these desolations of the sea have been very considerable.

To the town of Liskeard the same ancient honour has been attributed; but the foundation on which it rests is rather of a dubious nature. That this town is very ancient, is not to be doubted; this the fading remains of its ancient castle sufficiently demonstrate. But the vestiges of this once venerable pile are so scanty and indistinct, that nothing can be inferred with certainty from the fragments which remain. According to tradition, a Roman legion was once stationed in its vicinity, and some faint traces of Roman pronunciation have been thought still to remain in the latter part of its present name.

That Lostwithiel was the Uxela of Ptolemy, we have already noticed; and the authorities of Camden and Borlase have been cited in support of the fact. "The situation assigned by Ptolemy, and the name it bears to this day," says Camden, "sufficiently evince it to have been the ancient Uxela. Now, it is a little town, and not at all populous. For the channel of the river Fowey, which in the last age used to carry the tide up to the very town, and bring vessels of burden, is now so stopped up by the sands coming from the lead mines, that it is too shallow for barges. And indeed all the havens in this county are in danger of being choked up by these sands."

About four miles below Lostwithiel, and at the mouth of the same navigable river, which at Fowey spreads into a secure and beautiful harbour, the Roman shipping must have resorted; for it is only through this spacious inlet that they could have any access by water to their celebrated Uxela. The country around, and also this harbour, must therefore have been well known to the Roman mariners. Indeed," says Dr. Borlase, "it is very likely that they had a station for ships here; for on the other side of the river, about a mile from Fowey, and somewhat below it, there is an ancient village, with a fair cove before it, still called Polrouan,

STRATTON ANCIENTLY A TOWN OF GREAT CELEBRITY.

signifying the Roman pool; or as I find it sometimes written Port-Rouan; that is, the Roman cove or port.'

"

Although the origin of Launceston Castle has been attributed to the Britons, it still appears to bear about it some strong marks of Roman workmanship. The Romans succeeding the Britons in the dominion of the county, no doubt took possession of all their strong and fortified places; and consequently this fortress then fell into their hands. All such alterations as were then deemed necessary, were therefore made in the Roman style. Its repairs were finished on the same common principle; and hence the motley appearance which its parts exhibit, even in the present day.

Dr. Borlase says, "The buildings which remain of this castle are of different styles, and shew that the several parts of it were built at different times. For at the first entrance through the great gateway, you have a flat but pointed arch over the first gate; but, within at the second gate, you have a much rounder arch. There is a round tower on the angle of the rampart, which if not built by the Romans, is undoubtedly of the Roman style. There is a squareness also in the area of the base court, which agrees with the manner of the Romans, much more than any thing we have in our other castles; but whether these parts are as old as the Roman times, I cannot say; however, that the Romans should fortify here is not at all improbable, considering that the situation of this castle near the ford of the river Tamar, makes it a pass of great consequence." That Launceston Castle was in possession of the Romans, no doubt seems to be entertained. And it is hardly to be supposed that they held possession of the castle without making any residence in the town, which was placed under its immediate protection. The latter seems to be a necessary consequence of the former; and the fair conclusion is, that the Romans possessed both.

Stratton, though a town of little importance at present, carries with it many marks of being of Roman original. Its situation is in the northern extremity of the county. Its name, which is common to many other towns in the kingdom that are confessedly Roman, gives a corroborating sanction to various other branches of evidence, which, when taken in the aggregate, furnish us with all the testimony that we could reasonably expect. For although at present it has neither extent, population, trade, fortification, nor beauty to recommend it, yet it was anciently of such importance as to give its name to the hundred in which it is situated. This is an honour of which no other town in Cornwall could boast, when about the year 900 the county was divided into hundreds.

It is unnecessary to prove, that the Romans carried their roads through the countries which they conquered, and that they caused their principal stations or

VESTIGES OF ROMAN ROADS REMAINING IN CORNWALL.

towns to be joined with some of their branches. When dominion in this island was transferred from the Romans to the Saxons, these latter denominated the roads or causeways of the former, streets. Thus the Roman roads at Watling and Icknild, were called Watling Street, and Icknild Street. The places where these roads passed through rivers, the Saxons called Street Fords; and such towns as were placed on the margins of these roads, they called Street Towns, or Strettons; and this appears to be the proper orthography of our present Stratton. In Warwickshire there are several places called Stretton, all of which, according to Sir William Dugdale, take their names from some great road which once lay, or which now lies in their vicinity. In Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Oxfordshire, we have Strettons; and there is hardly any county through which these ancient roads have passed, in which a Stretton is not to be found. Some vestiges of a Roman causeway have been discovered in the vicinity of our Cornish Stretton, which we shall shortly notice; and from this fact we cannot but infer, that the name itself determines this town to be of Roman original. In addition to the preceding towns, there are others which lay some claims to Roman antiquity. Among these Mr. Polwhele reckons St. Austell; but it ought not to be dissembled, that its claims are very problematical. Both Grampound and Tregony can support their pretensions to Roman honours with much better authority, and perhaps advance claims which it will not be easy to resist.

There can be no doubt that the Romans were well acquainted with Falmouth Harbour, and with the various branches into which that spacious harbour spreads; it is not improbable, therefore, that they had some settlements besides those which have been already noticed in their vicinity. About Truro, Dr. Borlase thinks they were conversant, and the scite of its long demolished castle has been produced to give authenticity to the fact. To Penryn the Romans were certainly not strangers; but whether they formed any actual settlements in this place cannot now be satisfactorily ascertained.

SECTION II.

Vestiges of Roman Roads which have been discovered in Cornwall.

It is well known, that the Romans had four principal ways or roads, through which the whole island was laid open to their inspection and control. Of these roads, as they verged towards the west, we have reason to believe that there were two which were continued onward to the banks of the Tamar, renewed again on the Cornish side, and conducted towards the western extremity of the county. It

VESTICES OF ROMAN ROADS REMAINING IN CORNWALL.

appears from the traces of these roads which have been discovered, that one came down by Exeter through Totness; thence passing near Plymouth towards Saltash. Renewed again at Saltash, it is supposed to have proceeded onward to Liskeard, Lostwithiel, St. Austell, Grampound, and from thence to Truro. The other road seems to have taken a more northerly direction. This is supposed to have come from Somersetshire, through the northern parts of Devon, by Torrington; from thence to have proceeded to Stratton, Camelford, Bodmin, and continued onward on this high ridge towards the Land's End. From these two principal roads, others of a subordinate description have been discovered to branch off in different directions towards the camps or fortifications, the passes which their interest led them to secure, or the ports which their shipping frequented.

Dr. Borlase, who seems minutely to have examined this subject, has given us a variety of marks by which such Roman roads have been distinguished, as are known with certainty to be theirs. But whether all the varieties that existed among them have been explored or not, it is impossible to determine. And hence, from the variety that has been discovered, and the uncertainty of those which may still remain unexplored, the subject itself is involved in considerable difficulties.

The Romans having the mines of Cornwall in their possession, on the riches of which they set a considerable value, it is but reasonable to suppose that they would take every precaution for the preservation of so valuable a prize. And as every thing shews that it was their intention to complete the conquest of the island, and add it to their permanent possessions, we should be led to conclude that the formation of public roads was among their earliest cases, even if no vestige of any such roads had ever been discovered.

But it is not on mere probability that the fact depends. If we appeal to actual observation, we shall soon be led to consider that as a certainty, which we admitted as a probability before; and of this the evidence which appears on the southern road, will furnish us with a convincing example.

"The Roman road is visible at Kentford, about three miles below Exeter ; there are not bolder remains in the kingdom of such ways than from the passage over the Exe, through Kentford and Newton Bushel to Totness. It appears with a high crest and entire, most part of the way, which is at least twenty miles. I travelled twice along it; at Totness I lost it; but about Brent, a small market town six miles farther, I imagine I struck into it again, whence it continues in as straight a line as that rocky country admits of, to Ridgeway, a small village near Plympton. In the neighbourhood of this place, in the grounds of Mr. Parker, of Borrington, I observed a remarkable camp, though of no great magnitude. Near this entrenchment, the said road having passed the small river Plym, mounts a 3 D

VOL. I.