230 RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVEEIES IN CORNWALL. 



These two camps, the round and the square, command the 

 two ports mentioned, in Endellion, and are not more than a mile 

 and half from each other on the south side of the great North 

 Coast road which runs down from Stratton to the Eoman station 

 by Pad stow. 



Sir John Maclean,* (to abridge his account slightly), thus 

 refers to the straight -sided camp, which seems to have been a 

 thorn in the side of its round neighbour the British Tregaer, 

 but at a safe distance from it : — 



' ' Close to a road in a field on the farm of Trevinick, are 

 the remains of a quadrangular encampment measuring about 

 100 yards on each side, nearly levelled by agricultural operations, 

 but very clearly defined on the northern and eastern sides. 



Pieces of swords in a very advanced state of decay have 

 been found in great quantities in ploughing the field. It has 

 never been ploughed very deep. We do not learn that coins or 

 pottery have been noticed. Nevertheless we are disposed to give 

 to this work a far higher antiquity than has been ascribed 

 to it." [viz: that it was a military post during the 17th 

 century civil war.] — " Its position close to the great road 

 leading to the Eoman settlement, which undoubtedly existed in 

 St. Minver, seems to point it out as Eoman. Human remains 

 have not unfrequently been found. It may have been occupied 

 in the civil war [as other ancient earthworks were], though we 

 are not aware that any engagement in the neighbourhood has 

 been mentioned in the history of the period. Such occupation 

 however would not be inconsistent with the higher antiquity we 

 claim for this work." 



Here then, just inside Port Isaac, we have this camp made 

 (as Sir John considers) by the Eomans. They probably landed 

 at that port, if they did not come along by the coast road. This 

 camp "shadowed" that of the Britons which headed the next 

 creek, and, as "broken swords" have been found " in great 

 quantities," it seems there must have been a battle close to the 

 Eoman work. The Britons of Tregaer, St. Kew, probably 

 attacked the new comers. 



* History of Trigg Minor, Vol. 2, p. 80. 



