THE ROMANS AT TAMAR MOUTH. 463 



the god Mercury, was dug up in a garden overlooking Hooe 

 Lake, a land-locked inlet from Cattewater, in the vicinity of 

 Batten. It is small, 2| inches in height, 1 J in extreme breadth, 

 and weighs only f of an ounce. With the exception of the 

 right foot it is perfect. This is just one of the little gods that 

 Roman merchants carried with them, and there can be no 

 reasonable doubt it is the relic of the presence of a Roman 

 trader, who, for aught we know, may have had his post at this 

 peculiarly convenient spot. 



Still more important is the last matter to which I have to 

 refer ; for if my hypothesis is correct, we have in a discovery 

 at Stonehouse, in 1882, evidence that there must have been a 

 Roman settlement of very definite character on " Tamara ostia." 

 Though the discovery was made in 1882, the men who made it 

 had reasons for keeping their own counsel ; and the whole of 

 the facts would have been lost to archaeology had not Mr. 

 Stenteford of Hooe perseveringly followed up a clue, and put 

 me in possession of particulars since supplemented by personal 

 investigation. 



Without going into details, which may be found elsewhere,* 

 I may state that in 1882 there was found in Newport Street, 

 Stonehouse, on the edge of Stonehouse Creek, and extending 

 back from the ancient beach to a low limestone cliff (once the 

 water boundary) a few feet only above tide level, an area which 

 had been paved with pebbles ; and in one corner of which there 

 was a group of little tombs — 4 -ft. to 4 -ft. 6 -in. in length, 2 -ft. 

 to 2-ft. 6-in. in height, and about 2^-ft. wide. The sides and 

 ends were of thin tile bricks greatly decayed, and they were 

 covered by slate-slabs. They ran north and south. 



The whole area was buried under a mound of ashes, bones, 

 and refuse matter, the surface of which had been levelled, 

 covered with earth, and planted as a shrubbery. Some pottery, 

 &c., seemed to date the refuse heap about the early part of the 

 16th century ; but there was nothing found by which to date 

 the tombs. 



* Trans. Devon Assoc. 18S8, pp. 134-138. 



