258 RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN CORNWALL. 



This branch-road passed by Maesmere through Treglynes and 

 (just below Eose-errow) crossed the stream (which flows out at 

 Polzeath), and thence tended over the hill in a direct line to the 

 Eoman station or colony. The road can be traced on the crest of 

 the hill, south of Trenean, but on the western slope, near the 

 Eoman station, and at that place itself, the land has been over- 

 whelmed by sand from the sea. 



From this description it will be perceived that the ancient 

 settlement would be found concealed behind Bray- 1 ' Hill (with its 

 barrows), when approached from the chief entrance of Padstow 

 estuary. * It lay between what is now St. Enodock, Bray Hill, 

 and Eock. From Eock to Padstow a ferry has existed from a 

 very remote time. 



Tradition asserts that, in the place we have been describing, 

 " the drifting of the sand was so sudden and violent, that in 2 

 nights many houses were covered ; in confirmation of which, 

 some have been discovered, like those of Pompeii, with the 

 furniture in them." Another account relates that " a village was 

 buried in the little valley near St. Enodoc's Chapel :" and that 

 is the very place in which the Eoman station was situate. Again, 

 we read, — "In St. Minver, a town stood between St. Michael's 

 and St. Enodoc ; and in 1778, in consequence of the shifting of 

 the sand-hills, a chapel and cemetery were discovered, many slate 

 coffins and human bones being exposed. Spoons, utensils, rings, 

 and other ornaments were found, together with a quantity of 

 English coins! of various reigns, especially from Henry I to 

 Elizabeth ; several of the coins were in the possession of the late 

 Eev. W. Sandys." This would shew that the spot was occupied 

 down to a late period. On the site of the Eoman station the 

 remains of a tumulus when opened yielded evidence of a cremated 

 burial. 



Bray Hill seems to have been an ancient British place of 

 sepulture, and some of its contents have been regarded as Anglo- 

 Saxon. One of its barrows contained a British urn, with zig-zag 

 adornment and burnt bones. Some bodies buried in the hill 

 were laid out with rude slabs of slate for coffins instead of 



* Brea or Bre, means hill ; so this present name is bi-lingual. 

 f Hist, of Cornwall, Lake, Vol. 3, p. 370. 



