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Mesolithic Period 8000 - 4000BC: Hunters and Gatherers |
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Neolithic Period 4000 - 2500BC: Monuments of the first farmers |
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Bronze Age 2500-800BC: Settlement and ceremony: organised landscapes |
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Iron Age
800BC - AD43: Farmers and Fighters |
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Romano-British Period AD43 - AD410: Under New Management |
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Early Mediæval Period AD410 - 1066: Cornish Kings and Celtic Saints |
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Mediæval Period AD1066 - 1540: Tin, fish and farming |
8000 - 4000BC
Mesolithic Period: Hunters and Gatherers |
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Climate and vegetation changed rapidly after 8000 BC. From cold
grassland and patches of birch woodland, the fuller wildwood of oak
and hazel with some elm and lime had developed by 6000 BC. Upland
areas, even during the forest maximum, had only sparse tree cover
with grassland covering the highest and most exposed parts.
Sometime after 5500 BC Britain became separated from the continent
by the rising sea; before this it was the north-westernmost
extremity of a land mass that stretched east to Siberia and south to
the Mediterranean. Cornwall at that time fits into a general
'Southern English' tradition of semi-nomadic hunting bands. In
winter they hunted amongst the lowland woods, in summer, they
followed the grazing herds onto their upland pastures; in spring
they caught fish in the rivers and from boats at sea, and along the
coast hunted seals and gathered crustaceans, shellfish, edible
plants and seaweeds. Bushes and trees provided abundant berries,
nuts and fruits in the summer and autumn. This was a way of life
intimately bound up with the natural world: a world of woodland
animals and birds, of the beaver, the red deer, wolf, bear and wild
ox; a world regulated by the seasons - campsites abandoned when the
herds moved on or the fish run was over; shelters, perhaps tents or teepees, made from hide stitched together with sinew or gut; fires
for roasting meat and hardening wooden points; sheltered hollows in
which to make the tools and equipment so necessary to the hunter -
armatures (arrowheads, speartips etc) made from flint, fish spears
from bone, and wood, nets from vegetable fibre, bags from skins,
grinding stones for vegetable and dyestuff preparation; mocassins
and clothes made from hard wearing but supple hides and skins. The
raw materials were found close by; flint from beach pebbles around
the coast, washed up from submarine chalk deposits (only rarely
imported from South Devon and beyond); wood from the forest, skins
and bone from the animals they hunted.
Towards 4000 - 3500 BC hunting bands began to use their
environment more purposefully; burning woodland to flush out game
and encourage the growth of lush pasture; the partial domestication
of animals, similar to the relationship that Laplanders have with
their reindeer today.
We have little physical evidence for this early period of Cornish
prehistory, except for the scatters of imperishable flint and stone
tools and waste flakes marking camp sites. The rising sea has
covered many of the favoured coastal campsites, but in some areas (eg.
around Gwithian, Trevose Head and the Padstow estuary) we can,
through examining flint scatters in the ploughed fields, still catch
a glimpse of a way of life familiar to us through early accounts of
travellers amongst the Native Americans.
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4000 - 2500BC
Neolithic Period: Monuments of the first farmers |
Between 4000 BC and 3500 BC a new dimension in food provision was
added to the already developing domestication of animals, namely
farming: the deliberate cultivation and harvesting of food plants.
There is evidence that the economy was a mixture of mobile pastoralism and hunting (but by 1500 BC this was in decline), small
scale farming, with early enclosures (Tor
Enclosures) acting perhaps as seasonal meeting places.
Communities were now increasingly bound to the land they cultivated
and much of the history of the succeeding millennia is concerned
with the creation of agricultural land and pasture, its maintenance,
its allocation, and later its defence in the face of a steadily
increasing population.
It is from this period that our first monuments have survived. It is
known from flint scatters and other artefacts that settlements
developed throughout the county, often on the sites of earlier
Mesolithic camps, there are no visible remains of these first farms
to be seen today. As the heavily wooded landscape was increasingly
cleared and farmed the growing population developed a social
organisation and sense of territory that is reflected in their
monuments. The massive 'megalithic'
Chamber Tombs
(Lanyon Quoit,
Trethevy Quoit, Mulfra Quoit,
Chûn Quoit would have
required the co-ordinated labour of a sizeable community. Generally
known in Britain as 'Portal Dolmens' these monuments of the fourth
millennium BC would have served as ritual foci and marked the
community's ancestral territory. Long Cairns are rare in Cornwall
and appear to be contemporary with the Chamber Tombs (eg. Lanyon
Quoit, Woolley Barrow as well as several on Bodmin Moor). It is
clear that landmarks such as tors and hills with distinctive
profiles were important and there is increasing evidence that
structures were being built both to mimic and to view these
landmarks In the fourth millennium tribal centres developed, perhaps
controlling relatively large territories. There may be as many as
seven Tor Enclosures in Cornwall, including
Helman Tor and
Carn
Brea. That at Carn Brea is an astonishing achievement for such an
early date. A series of massive defensive ramparts enclose 46 acres.
These ramparts take the form of a 2m wide and 2-3m high stone wall
faced with upright stones back and front and stretch over at least
3,750m; no less than fifteen stone-lined entrances have been found.
Other enclosures at
Roughtor and
Stowe’s Pound may be of similar
date.
During the Neolithic period there is good evidence from Cornwall of
an extensive trade in objects of increasing sophistication, of the
developing art of pottery and of polished stone axe production. By
examining the mineralogical characteristics of these artefacts it
has been possible to establish that much of the pottery of Cornwall
for this period was made from clay originating on the Gabbro rock of
the east Lizard; there were also at least six axe factories, sited
where suitable igneous rock (often greenstone) could be easily
exploited (eg. St Just, Mount's Bay, SW of Camborne, W Hensbarrow,
Balstone Down). Pottery and axes were distributed right across
southern England. Axes were used for tree felling and wood-working
but were clearly more significant than this: symbols of power and
perhaps, magic, and were traded far and wide.
No farming settlements from this period have been located or
excavated in Cornwall, but evidence from Carn Brea and elsewhere
indicates that houses were rectangular. Fields cultivated with
wooden stone-tipped hook ploughs (ards) or tipped hoes, began to
have formal boundaries as a result of the never-ending struggle to
clear them of stone, to keep the animals out, or pen them in.
Towards 2500 BC, henges, sites consisting of roughly circular areas
enclosed by banks with internal ditches, were built across Britain.
There are three in Cornwall - Castlewich, Castilly and The Stripple
Stones. Their function is clearly not defensive and is assumed
therefore to be social and ritual.
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2500-800BC
Bronze Age: Settlement and ceremony; organised
landscapes |
Although the introduction of metalworking is an important cultural
marker it was not for many hundreds of years (not until c1400 BC)
that bronze was used for everyday tools and weapons, rather than
being a rare metal used by an elite for objects of prestige and
display. A more significant break occurs earlier in prehistory; the
appearance of henges in the late Neolithic sees the beginning of a
tradition of ceremonial monuments which stretches without a break
through the Early Bronze Age. At first gold and then copper objects
were made, but increasingly bronze (made by the alloying of tin and
lead with copper) became the material most used for metal artefacts.
During those early days (before 2000 BC) there is stylistic evidence
for close contact and trade with Ireland. Four gold lunulae (crescentic
collars) found in Cornwall are of Irish design. It is likely that
Cornish sources of tin, copper and perhaps lead and even gold were
used even at this early date - the tin lying as alluvial gravel in
many streams and copper clearly visible as a green streak on rock
outcrops and cliffs. The discovery of early artefacts within the tin
gravels takes the tin industry back to prehistory. Over the
succeeding centuries, technological advances allowed metalwork
styles to evolve from flat axes (made in single moulds) to more
complex weapons and tools (made in two-sided moulds) and
sophisticated bronze jewellery.
The late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c2500-1400 BC) is
characterised by its ceremonial and burial monuments, the stone
circles, stone rows, standing stones (menhirs) and barrows or
cairns. A local variant of barrows, the entrance graves are found in
Penwith and on Scilly where they may have originated. A kerbed stone
mound contains a simple passage or chamber of drystone construction
capped with massive slabs. Whilst not as sophisticated as
Stonehenge, the Cornish circles are nonetheless beautiful and
evocative (Merry Maidens,
Tregeseal,
Fernacre,
Trippet stones, the
Hurlers). They are best interpreted as places for the public
performance of ceremonial and ritual. Even more enigmatic are the
stone rows, though their form hints at use in processions; they are
straight alignments of stones, usually either all large or all
small, some closely, some widely spaced. These, with standing stones
(menhirs) were originally much more widespread, and as with stone
circles they survive today largely in upland areas; there are
seven stone rows on Bodmin Moor and one, the Nine Maidens, on St Breock Downs.
Standing stones: many in West Penwith eg. Goon Rith and on Bodmin Moor eg. The Pipers. The standing stones were probably marker
stones: the burials sometimes found by them suggesting that they
were memorial stones, grave markers, way markers or territorial
boundary stones, as well as the focus for rituals.
We get our best glimpse of Bronze Age life and death on Bodmin Moor,
on the Lizard, and in West Penwith. During the 2nd millennium BC
these areas were densely settled (eg. Roughtor area, Stowe's Pound
areas). The foundations of hundreds of stone round houses (none
dated before 1500 BC) and many hundreds of acres of fields, now
defined by low stone banks, lie scattered across these upland
plateaux and valley sides. Some appear to be permanently occupied
settlements, complete with fields, but others may have been used
only seasonally during summer grazing of the uplands. Close by are
stone circles, standing stones, stone rows, and the barrows and
cairns (the former being mounds of earth, the latter of stone)
although most are dated before the period of permanent settlement.
In some parts of Britain these are first and foremost burial mounds,
but in Cornwall excavation has shown them to be complex and varied
sites where burial was only one of the rites performed; many do not
have burials at all. Most date from the period 2000 to 1600 BC. The
variety in size and shape is remarkable. Diameters range from 2m to
40m. Some are simple mounds of earth, turf or stone; others have a
revetting wall or kerb; some incorporate a natural outcrop or tor,
and a few are doughnut-shaped 'ring-cairns'. Many have a stone
burial box (cist) as a component. The dead were usually cremated and
the ashes buried in an urn, sometimes with other personal objects
such as beads, a dagger, or a bone ornament such as a pin or
archers' wrist brace. Some mounds are probably burials of important
people. The largest barrows are in prominent locations on hilltops
and ridges. The smaller barrows, which do not normally survive in
lowland Cornwall, are inconspicuously sited amongst the fields and
near the contemporary settlements. It is only in these upland areas
that it is possible to examine the spatial and chronological
relationships between the settlements, burials and ritual monuments
in their contemporary setting. We can conclude that the many barrows
found elsewhere in lowland Cornwall (eg. Cubert Common, Veryan
Beacon) would have had round house settlements close by which are
not now visible. Settlements of Middle Bronze Age round houses (c
1500-1200 BC) have been discovered and excavated at more than five
sites in lowland Cornwall, including Trevisker (St Eval), Trethellan
(Newquay) and Penhale (St Enoder), The houses were typically built
with their floors sunken a little beneath the surrounding ground
level. In looking at the area around Roughtor we are looking at the
upper edges of a 3,000 year old farming landscape which has
elsewhere in the lowland Cornwall now been largely ploughed away.
These farms consist of large curvilinear fields attached or accreted
on to each other with round houses accessible via trackways through
the fields. They are usually separated from their neighbours by open
areas of common grazing or perhaps woodland. As the population
increased so farms began to crowd closer together. There is evidence
that at some time after 1700 BC there was a pressing need for a more
systematic organisation of the landscape. On Dartmoor this took the
form of Reave systems where very large areas were subdivided by a
regular pattern of fields and major pastoral boundaries. On Bodmin
Moor, grazing blocks were defined by substantial stone boundaries,
and in Penwith and probably over much of the rest of lowland
Cornwall the countryside was divided into regular small arable
fields. The rectilinear net-like field systems laid out during this
period underlie the modern field pattern of parts of the northern
part of West Penwith. The pastoral boundaries on Bodmin Moor may
indicate that, after a widespread early attempt at arable farming,
soil degradation and deteriorating climate necessitated a change to
seasonal grazing and less intensive exploitation. Permanent
settlement retreated to the moorland edges and the lowlands but
clusters of moorland round houses were still used for seasonal
grazing.
It is difficult to imagine what society must have been like but in
the Early Bronze Age it seems certain that religion and ceremony
were inseparably woven into the fabric of everyday life. The
presence of an elite or aristocracy is very occasionally indicated
by burials with prestigious grave goods of display and rank, such as
daggers, and jewellery of amber and faience glass. Weaponry is
present throughout, but the apparent disappearance of the bow (by
c1500 BC) may reflect a greater emphasis on individual combat.
Pottery styles are very conservative and change little throughout
the period. Trevisker Ware is the dominant style between c 2000-1000
BC, and Beakers and Collared Urns are not common. Most of this
material comes from burials and is recovered through excavation of
the mounds. Houses, whether built in stone or wood, were round, and
often have evidence of internal compartments and central hearths and
bear the traces of indoor activities such as weaving. Wooden rafters
supported thatched roofs. Many had an internal capacity as large or
larger than a typical Cornish 19th century one up one down cottage.
Excavations of Bronze Age fields buried by sand at Gwithian showed
evidence of scratch marks in the sub soil made by the hook-shaped
ploughs as well as marks around the field edges made by spade
digging in those areas the plough could not reach. The farming
calendar and activities for most of the population in the Bronze Age
cannot have been dramatically different to that known to the Cornish
peasant farmer only 150 years ago. By the 1st millennium BC the
megalithic ritual monuments (standing stones, stone rows, stone
circles) had long since been abandoned, the uplands, now largely
moorland, had been turned over to seasonal grazing. As yet the
centuries from c1200-400 BC are very obscure because of the lack of
obvious ritual monuments or defended sites but this is likely to
have been an important formative period during which the lowlands
were increasingly being opened up to permanent farming.
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800BC
- AD43 Iron Age: Farmers and Fighters |
Iron gradually replaced bronze for the weapons of fighting and tools
for farming during the 7th century BC. It is possible that iron
deposits found in Cornwall were exploited at this early date (Trevelgue).
In Cornwall more significant cultural and social changes may have
occurred both before and after the adoption of iron, which is not
now thought to have been introduced by invaders; pottery styles
changed completely in the Later Bronze Age, and hillforts and
defended farmsteads were not widely constructed until the fourth
century BC.
It is these defended sites which characterise the period, though
unenclosed settlements of round houses and fields may always have
been equally common; these however have been obliterated by 2000
years of continuing agricultural activity.
The hillforts were defended by substantial earth, rubble or stone
ramparts topped by wooden palisades or stone walls and had deep,
sometimes rock cut, ditches. Fortified gateways through the
formidable defences gave access to well organised permanent
settlements of round houses; evidence of metalworking is sometimes
found. (Castle an Dinas,
Castle Dore, Warbstow Bury, St Dennis,
Helsbury). Similar sites known as cliff castles were sited on
coastal promontories or headlands; these are often in very exposed
locations and some may have been only temporary refuges. (Mayon,
Treryn Dinas, Gurnard's Head,
Rame Head, Trevelgue,
The
Rumps).
Another variation of the hillfort is the 'multiple enclosure', with
either an annexe or a series of widely spaced ramparts, thought to
be for the corralling of cattle.
The strongly defended hillforts, cliff castles and multiple
enclosures were economic and social centres (places for display, for
trade and politics as well as defence and power) strongholds of the
aristocracy or tribal chiefs who wielded considerable power over the
surrounding countryside, their wealth perhaps expressed in cattle,
their position bolstered by tribute from the surrounding farmers.
Classical authors portray the Britons as dominated by a warrior
aristocracy fond of fighting, feasting and boasting and incapable of
concerted action. The sheer number of hillforts in Cornwall (over
80) seems to tell the same story.
Contrasting with these strongly defended sites are the 'rounds',
farmsteads and hamlets defended by a single rampart and found not on
hilltops but on hillslopes and spurs in generally favoured farmland.
Many hundreds are known throughout Cornwall. Found at a few
settlements in West Cornwall are the mysterious stone-built tunnels
known as 'fogous' (Cornish for 'cave'; eg Carn Euny,
Halliggye).
Examples found in rounds (eg. Halliggye) may have an exit running
out beneath the rampart. This lends credence to the theory that they
were used as temporary refuges during brief onslaughts by raiding
parties, but a case can also be made for use as cold stores (eg. for
dairy products) or as structures used for religious purposes.
Burial was in cemeteries of pit-graves, sometimes lined with stone,
with the dead placed on their side in a crouched position, and
normally aligned north-south. Little is found with them, usually
just the brooch that fastened their clothes.
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AD43 - AD410
Romano-British Period: Under New Management |
We must imagine a rural society over large parts of lowland
Cornwall, ruled over by a fractious aristocracy. For many decades
before the Roman invasion Cornwall must have received its share of
Gaulish refugees with tales of hardship under the Roman yoke but for
some the arrival of the Romans may have been a godsend - chiefs who
saw the chance to gain an advantage over other tribal groups,
traders anxious to exploit the commercial opportunities of becoming
part of an Empire that stretched to Egypt and beyond.
It appears that many of the larger hillforts were already abandoned
by the time the Roman legions marched west. Following the
subjugation of the southern tribes, the Second Augustan Legion
marched west and built and occupied the fortress at Exeter (ISCA
DUMNONIORUM) between AD55-75. Presumably up until then the Dumnonii
had not posed any threat. Whatever caused the Romans to extend the
frontier zone into Cornwall, the results were not as dramatic as
elsewhere in Britain. So far only two forts, either side of Bodmin,
at Nanstallon to the north and at Restormel to the south are
certain. Nanstallon is sited close to the then navigable River
Camel, whilst Restormel close to the Fowey, and both could
therefore have access both to the sea and to the ridgeway along the
high ground between the Camel and Fowey rivers - a routeway
dominated in previous centuries by the enormous hillfort of Castle
Canyke.
Cornwall was incorporated into the administrative area or 'civitas'
centred on Exeter. It appears that many hillforts were forcibly
abandoned during the military occupation but what is equally clear
is that most important rounds were not; they were probably left in
the hands of client or trusted chiefs. Large enclosures or rounds
such as Carvossa in the Fal Valley and Carloggas, St Mawgan
continued in occupation and excavation has produced a wide range of
typical Roman artefacts, Gaulish Samian ware, glass and metalwork.
Elsewhere rounds continued to be built although a sub-rectangular
shape was often preferred and in some cases such as that excavated
at Killigrew (Mitchell) evidence of an industrial function is
indicated. Half a tin platter was found as well as evidence of metal
working. Excavation has shown that during the Roman period the shape
of houses changed from circular to oval or elongated, perhaps
influenced by Roman building practice. However, the main agents for
Romanisation are not found in Cornwall: there are no towns and only
one or two villas. Rural life no doubt continued much as before and
even though power had shifted decisively to the invader, it is
likely that, apart from a few Roman administrators, Roman Cornwall
was still ruled by the pre-invasion tribal leaders and their
descendants.
A form of settlement not found elsewhere in Britain developed in
west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the 2nd century AD.
Courtyard Houses consist of round and oval stone dwellings, sub
rectangular byres and other farm buildings that look onto open,
partially paved, farm yards (courtyard). The structures are confined
within massive stone walls with substantial gates giving access to
the yard. Each unit represents a self-contained farmhouse. Over
thirty courtyard house settlements are known. They vary from
substantial hamlets as at
Chysauster to single units. Many developed
from open settlements of round houses, and their fields, by then
already many centuries old, continued to be used. By the end of the
5th century AD the area under cultivation along the north coast of
Penwith cannot have been much different from the area cultivated
only 150 years ago. The constant clearing of stones and the
relentless movement of ploughsoil downhill during this period, and
over the succeeding centuries, has ensured that the massively walled
fields survive and today they are a vital part of this uniquely
beautiful and ancient landscape. It is likely that the fields here
have been in use since at least the Iron Age, over 2000 years ago.
Tin became important after the 2nd century AD when the Empire's
Iberian mines were in decline. Used in coins and pewter ware, tin
was transported from the tin gravel extraction sites to the markets
in ingot form. Many ingots of this date are known from Cornwall and
it is likely that, as with other mineral producing areas, Cornish
tin was worked under Imperial control.
By the time the last legions were withdrawn from Britain in AD410
for the defence of the Roman heartland, Cornish society had changed.
There was a monetary economy where none had existed before, trading
links had been extended, farming had undoubtedly expanded and finds
of fine wares, coin hoards and expensive high status metalwork
suggest that, though unsophisticated by Roman provincial standards,
Cornwall was by no means impoverished. Some people had no doubt
adopted Roman names, manners and accents but it was not long before
society began to splinter; Cornwall was still, despite 350 years of
Roman bureaucracy, essentially Celtic in character.
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AD410 - 1066
Early Mediæval Period: Cornish Kings and Celtic Saints |
From the 5th century, after Rome had abandoned its peripheral areas,
Britain fragmented into a series of kingdoms, British in the west,
Anglo-Saxon in the east. A handful of Dumnonian kings are known by
name Constantine in the 6th century, Gereint in the 8th, Dumgarth in
the 9th - but most are unrecorded or are lost in myth.
This obscure period saw considerable movement of peoples; as well as
the migrations of the Anglo-Saxons, the Irish crossed to Scotland
and Wales and their presence is attested in Cornwall by Irish names
and the use of the ogham script on early Christian inscribed stones
(eg. Lewannick). At the same time, a British migration to NW France
was effected on such a scale that from the mid 6th century Armorica
was known as Britannia or Brittany. The names of two Breton regions,
Dumnonia and Cornouaille, point to the source of this migration, and
continuing contact is shown in the traditions of the Cornish and
Breton saints, and in a shared language, indistinguishable before
the 8th century.
The sporadic conquest of the 'West Welsh' (Cornish) by the armies of
the Kings of Wessex was under way by 710 when Gereint was obliged to
cede territory in SE Cornwall, but this was followed in 722 by a
Cornish victory. Egbert's campaigns in the 9th century, culminating
in 838 in the defeat of a combined Cornish and Danish army at
Hingston Down, left Cornwall a vassal kingdom. But only in the
extreme SE and NE of Cornwall are there concentrations of English
place-names, suggesting that actual English colonisation was on a
small scale. Two Linear Earthworks, the Bolster Bank, St Agnes
(still partly visible as a rampart between Trevaunance Cove and
Chapel Coombe) and the Giant's Hedge (originally stretching between
Lerryn and Looe, substantial sections of which are visible north of
Lanreath), may have been territorial defences of the early part of
this period.
The key archaeological site of this period is Tintagel, which is
now thought to be a royal stronghold of the early 6th century. The
occupation can be dated by large quantities of pottery, both storage
vessels (amphorae) and fine wares, imported from the Mediterranean,
an indication of western Britain's continuing cultural and economic
links with Byzantium.
At the same time there is a little evidence for the reoccupation of
Iron Age hillforts (Chûn
Castle is the only good example), perhaps by the local aristocracy.
Other important places are suggested by the place-name lis, 'hall'
or ‘court', eg. Liskeard, Lesnewth, Lizard, Lesingey.
By the time of the Norman conquest the Cornish countryside was quite
thickly populated. This is clear not so much from Domesday Book as
from the place-name evidence. Places with the elements 'tre' (estate,
farm, or hamlet) or 'bod' (dwelling), indicative of settlements of
pre-Norman origin, are found in profusion throughout Cornwall and
many may originate in the 7th century or before. Many other
settlements with Cornish place-names are likely to be equally
ancient; the pattern of settlements found in mediæval Cornwall (and
later) is almost entirely pre-Norman in origin. just how far back
this pattern goes has yet to be established; there was an, as yet,
unexplained change, sometime between the 4th and 7th centuries when
the rounds were abandoned in favour of the undefended, open
settlements which became the predominant type.
Very little is known from archaeological excavation about the
character of these early settlements. Excavated sites of the 5th and
6th centuries are mostly of Romano-British origin, such as the round
at Trethurgy with its oval houses. Most pre-Norman farms have
continued in use to the present day but one settlement of the 10th
and 11th centuries, buried beneath the sand at Mawgan Porth, was
found on excavation to be a hamlet of rectangular houses, and is a
forerunner of the typical later mediæval hamlets.
If most of Cornwall's farms are probably of pre-Norman origin the
same is likely to be true of the lanes and tracks that link them,
and many of our Cornish hedges may be on the line of early field
boundaries. The general pattern of land use found in the mediæval
period and later is also an early feature. In most cases each farm
or hamlet would have had access to an area of rough grazing, usually
on higher ground, but this pattern has mostly been obscured by the
enclosures of the 19th century and earlier.
A major force for change, in the 5th and 6th centuries, was the
introduction of Christianity from Wales, the Mediterranean and Gaul.
The earliest religious communities (or monasteries) took the form of
enclosed settlements not unlike the contemporary rounds. Known as
lanns, these may have contained a chapel, perhaps a burial ground
and even a few houses. The form of these enclosures can still be
seen in the outline of many churchyards (eg. St Buryan). These
communities were supported by endowments of land, which in some
cases (eg. St Petroc's of Padstow and Bodmin) became very
considerable. But by 1086 most had dwindled or disappeared as their
estates were seized first by the English (Anglo-Saxons) and then by
the Normans.
Inscribed stones, commemorating important individuals of the 5th to
7th centuries, were set up in some lanns but also beside boundaries,
tracks and fords (eg: Lewannick, St Clement). The names on the
stones reflect the mixed cultural influences of the time - Irish,
British and Latin names all occur, some inter-mixed: the stone in St
Kew church is inscribed IVSTI (Latin: 'the stone of Justus') but the
name is repeated in Ogham, the Irish stroke alphabet. The earliest
Cornish crosses, finely ornamented with interlace designs, date from
the late 9th century and served both as memorials and as churchyard
crosses. Fine examples can be seen at St Neot, Sancreed and
Cardinham. The
Doniert Stone was probably erected by Dumgarth, the
last Cornish king to be recorded, who drowned in 875.
By the 10th and 11th centuries many more religious sites had been
established. Important manors had their own chapels and every small
group of hamlets would have had its own burial ground, such as at
Mawgan Porth, or Merther Euny in Wendron, where an abandoned
Romano-British round was re-used. As the parochial system developed
some of these cemeteries acquired a parish church, but many others
went out of use.
Old pagan beliefs may have been assimilated as well as ousted by the
spread of Christianity. This is suggested by the large number of
holy wells. Most have mediæval superstructures but their supposed
supernatural powers may well have pre-Christian origins.
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AD1066 - 1540
Mediæval Period: Tin, fish and farming |
The Norman Conquest saw the complete replacement of one ruling elite
by another. By the time of Domesday Book (1086) only 67 poor manors
were held by Anglo-Saxons (English) and these were held not directly
but from Norman overlords. Robert of Mortain, the Conqueror's half
brother, held 277 of the 350 Cornish manors; as well as displacing
the English he dispossessed several of the ancient Cornish religious
houses such as at St Neot and St Kew. Wealth and power resided in
the holding of land; the Normans secured what they had taken with a
series of formidable and intimidating castles. Robert had castles at
Launceston and Trematon. Others belonged to his chief sub-tenants,
as at Cardinham, Week St Mary and Restormel although these appeared
perhaps a generation later.
The castles of the 11th and 12th centuries are either of motte and
bailey type, as at Launceston Trematon near Saltash, Cardinham and
Kilkhampton, or are ‘ringworks' where the principal stronghold is a
simple bank and ditch that would have contained a building or two
(Upton Castle, Bossiney Castle, Restormel Castle).
From the 13th century the major castles, Launceston, Trematon,
Restormel and Tintagel, now in the hands of the Earls and then
the Dukes of Cornwall, were allowed to slide into decay; they were
remote from the heartland of mediæval politics where the Earls and
Dukes actually resided.
In the 13th and 14th centuries some of the leading Cornish families
provided their residences with some form of defence. Little now
survives of these sites; a broad, deep moat may still be seen at
Binhamy, Stratton, the home of the Blanchminsters, though the
buildings within are reduced to amorphous mounds. At Berry Court,
Jacobstow, the layout of the moated manor has been revealed by
excavation.
As in other parts of Britain the 11th to 14th centuries was a period
of economic and population growth resulting in the development of
Open Field systems, and the appearance of many small towns. In
addition Cornwall had the basis for a very diverse economy with the
development of trade, fishing, quarrying, the cloth industry and
especially the tin industry.
By the early 14th century Cornwall would have been more densely
populated than ever before. The county was already thickly covered
with farms and hamlets at the time of the Norman Conquest and so the
pressure on available land led to the colonisation of upland areas
like Bodmin Moor as well as the growth and subdivision of existing
hamlets.
After the Black Death of 1349 many of the hamlets on Bodmin Moor
were abandoned as people took up holdings that had become available
on better land off the moor; these deserted sites are our best
evidence for the form of mediæval settlements. Most are hamlets,
with from two to six farmhouses, though those in lowland Cornwall
would have been rather larger.
In Cornwall mediæval houses very rarely survive in use and those
that do tend to be the grander examples (eg. Cotehele). Typical
peasants' houses are best known from excavation. These were normally
'long-houses', which provided accommodation for the family and for
the wintering of stock under the same roof, but separated by a cross
passage (eg. Lamlavery, Louden).
In the 13th and early 14th centuries most hamlets would have been
surrounded by arable fields divided into strips - the local version
of the open field system. These survive best on Bodmin Moor where
the strips are divided by low banks of stone. As pressure on land
was eased after the Black Death, holdings became amalgamated and
blocks of strips were enclosed, sometimes preserving the strip-like
pattern. A few open-field systems continued in use to the 19th
century and one can still be seen at Boscastle - the Forrabury
Stitches.
Although Cornwall was essentially rural in character, by the 14th
century it was well served by a network of towns and markets. Only
on the Lizard and on Bodmin Moor would country folk have had to
travel more than six or seven miles to market. There has been
virtually no archaeological excavation to examine the character of
early Cornish towns, and only very rarely do mediæval buildings
survive, but in most cases the original layout of the towns, the
pattern of streets and house plots, can still be seen. Only
Launceston was deemed important enough to have a town wall; the
South Gate remains intact.
Most market towns were set up by local landowners as a profitable
source of revenue. Some like Week St Mary or Mitchell were scarcely
more than villages and would have provided local farms and hamlets
with basic commodities and a market for their produce. Others like
Bodmin or Lostwithiel would have had populations of a few thousand
and a wide range of craft specialists. Some towns were located on
spine roads and routeways (eg Mitchell, Grampound, Camelford and
Wadebridge) but most had connections with the sea, as fishing ports,
trading ports or both. In addition to coastal trade, Cornwall
exported tin, fish, slate and cloth and imported salt, linen and
canvas from Brittany, white fish, cloaks and wood from Ireland, wine
from France, wine and fruit from Spain. Smuggling and piracy were
traditional supplements to fair trading. Piracy, of course, could
also be a grave threat, There are numerous records of fishermen from
Cornwall being taken by barbary pirates.
Mediæval Cornwall was remarkable for its diverse economy, based on a
wide range of industries which involved thousands of people. The
tinners and fishermen were pre-eminent but wool cloth manufacture,
quarrying and ship building also grew in importance. Quarries such
as those at Pentewan, Polyphant and Cataclews provided building
stone on a local basis, but roofing slates had a wider market and
were quarried (eg. Tintagel and Delabole) and exported from the end
of the 12th century, for example to Dover and Southampton.
The tin industry had its own laws and privileges and the Stannary
Courts (Set up by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall in the late 13th century
at the Great Hall in Lostwithiel) administered justice in the four
stannaries or tin producing areas - Penwith/Kerrier; Tywarnhayle (St
Agnes); Blackmore (St Austell); Foweymore (Bodmin Moor). At this
date most of the tin would have been dug from the valley gravels,
into which tin ore, weathered and eroded from the lodes or veins,
had been redeposited. The earthworks resulting from the systematic
digging over of these deposits can still be seen as streamworks in
some of the valleys on Bodmin Moor. During the 13-16th centuries the
centre of tin production shifted from the streamwork-dominated
eastern stannaries to the west where opencast and shallow
underground mining was more common. The ore was crushed in
water-powered crazing and stamping mills and the tin smelted in
blowing houses. Twice a year the ingots were taken to the 'Coinage
Towns' (Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Truro and Helston) to be assayed. To
check the purity, the corner of the ingot was removed; the term
'coinage' is derived from quoin, French for corner. Then it was
taxed before sale to national and international markets, mostly for
the manufacture of pewter. There developed, inevitably, a strong
tradition of smuggling untaxed tin abroad.
It is difficult now to appreciate the importance of the Church in
mediæval Cornwall and its central place in everyday life. For
example, in 16th century Bodmin in addition to the priory, friary,
parish church, five chapels, two hospitals and two leper hospitals,
a large proportion of the forty guilds were religious or charitable
associations. Throughout Cornwall there was a profusion of chapels (eg.
Roche Rock, Madron), holy wells (eg. Dupath, St Cleer) and crosses (eg.
St Cleer) and important places of pilgrimage (eg. St Michael's
Mount).
On the other hand, Cornwall's religious houses were mostly on a
small scale; there were no abbeys, for example. St Germans and St
Michael's Mount are the most complete survivals of priory churches,
but fragments can also be seen at St Thomas, Launceston and at
Bodmin.
Many of the parish churches are on sites that have been in use for
worship since the 5th or 6th centuries. Most were extensively
rebuilt in the 15th century, though many retain traces of 12th and
13th century architecture; fine Norman fonts are often a feature of
Cornish churches.
Very little survives of the 700 or so mediæval chapels. Some were of
pre-Norman origin but most were private chapels attached to the
houses of the gentry (eg. Cotehele or Trecarrell). Others served a
more public function, standing by bridges or fords or acting as a
lighthouse or daymark (St Ives and Rame Head). Perhaps best known of
all is the chapel at
Roche Rock, served by a hermit. A particular
characteristic of Cornwall is its wealth of granite crosses. Most
are wayside crosses, marking the path to church, but some were set
up as churchyard crosses, including the more ornate 'lantern'
crosses which depict biblical scenes on their heads (St Neot).
By the mid-16th century Cornwall was relatively prosperous, but
still very much a county with a distinctive identity. Cornish was
still spoken widely in the west and communications with the rest of
England were by sea or along difficult and often dangerous roads.
The period closes with the Reformation, and the suppression of very
many religious houses. Cornwall was a major area of rebellion
against the changes brought about by the split from Rome. At the
same time it was moving to the centre of the stage regarding the
defence of England against France and then Spain. |
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