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THE ANCIENT EARTH-FENCED TOWN AND VILLAGE SITES 

 OF CORNWALL. 



By OTHO B. peter, I,aunceston, F.R.I.B.A. 



The following account of the ancient earthworks in the 

 North Eastern or Launceston division of the county of 

 Cornwall is the result of recent explorations in that district, and 

 researches into the writings of the few authors who have 

 described the rude monuments of the early inhabitants of this 

 corner of England. 



The existing remains of the homes of the old inhabitants of 

 Cornwall carry us back to the very earliest times, when earth 

 and unwrought stones enclosed the villages ; saplings, turf, 

 clay, and rushes formed their huts ; and hard stones and bronze 

 their cutting tools. 



Mr. St. John Hope, the secretary of the London Society of 

 Antiquaries, informs me that he knows of no good work on such 

 earthworks as ours are, and that the spade and pick are the only 

 means of studying them. It is only by comparing the objects 

 known to have been dug up within and near to these ancient 

 sites, with the prechristian relics found in other lands that the 

 modern investigator is able to lift the cloud which has hung over 

 the unrecorded history of our county, and to reveal to us that 

 ages before the Roman invasion and the rise of Chi'istianity, 

 Cornwall must have been inhabited by a highly civilized, active 

 and industrious people. The relics found disclose the fact that 

 very early commerce with the Continent and the East flourished 

 here, that the Cornish were miners, artificers in stone, bronze 

 and iron, and able potters. They were a numerous people, 

 and herding and farming must have been carried on by them to 

 supply the necessary food. Earth-fenced hamlets and villages 

 were more frequent here than in any other portion of England. 

 Each village was linked to its neighbour by well defined track* 



