365 



THE ROMANS IN CORNWALL.* 

 By the late R. N. WORTH, P.G.S., Corresponding Member. 



In the course of the discussion upon my paper, "The 

 Romans at Tamar Mouth," read to this Society at the 

 annual meeting in 1888, my friend the Eev. W. lago referred to 

 the ancient use of the word street "wherever the Romans had a 

 road"; while my friends Mr. H. M. Jeffery and Mr. Howard 

 Fox, with Mr. lago, spoke of the contents of "military chests" 

 as having been found in the county. And I seem somewhat to 

 have been misunderstood, since while I denied the existence of 

 Roman stations in Cornwall, and held that there was no proof of 

 the presence in the county of Roman roads, I held also that there 

 was ample evidence that " the Romans not only visited Cornwall, 

 but that there was some amount of occupation by them, probably 

 in the form of trading ports," while I went so far even as to 

 suggest that we had a very imperfect knowledge of the vestiges 

 of their intercourse and presence among us. 



And in fact the main object of the paper was to put on 

 record the existence of what were probably structural relics of 

 the Romans on the Cornish border, at Stonehouse. 



It can hardly be suggested, therefore, that my scepticism 

 went beyond that of my friend Mr. N. Whitley, who, in 1875, 

 came to the conclusion "that the occupation of Cornwall by the 

 Romans, slight as it appears to be, was rather that of 

 friendly intercourse for the purpose of trade than that of 

 conquest and dominion " ; or than his other deduction " the great 

 military roads of our Roman conquerors extended no further west 

 than Exeter." 



The chief topic suggested for consideration in these few 

 remarks is the evidence of the existence of Roman roads in 

 Cornwall, which, of course, materially affects any conclusion we 



* In view of the intei-Gst in this question re-awakened by Mr. Quiller-Couch's 

 paper, read at the Joint Meeting at Falmouth in 1900, the Editors have printed 

 this paper read at a meeting of R.I.C. in 1888, but not then published in the 

 Journal. 



