350 TOPOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. 



upon such flights of fancy as the conversion of Isca Damnoni- 

 orum into Scadomorum. "Neme" or "Nemet " is not a Kornu 

 word, though " totacio " may seem to be represented in such a 

 name as Tokenhuvj near St. Ive. It occurred to me, however, 

 that the neme or nemet might really represent a transposed and 

 inflected form of a word of frequent combination in Central 

 Cornwall — the Menna of Mennaglaze, Mennabroom, Polmenna, 

 Tuelmenna. Whether this means maenic " stony," or simply 

 maen " stone," is of no consequence. It certainly cannot in these 

 instances be read manach, monk, as in the popular derivation of 

 Bodmin, and it comes remarkably close to part at least of the 

 word we have to deal with. Are there not then fair grounds for 

 suggestion that this barbarous Nemetotacio really represents — 

 not precisely the modern Bodmin, but its parent, the magnificent 

 fortified town immediately to the south-east, commonlj'' known 

 indeed as Castle Caayke, but still retaining the older name of 

 Castle Mannau. Canyke of course is not Keltic but Saxon — 

 the Conig so frequent in Somerset, and not unknowoi in Devon, 

 in Conygar. This earthwork is clearly from its size and position 

 one of the most important sites in ancient Cornwall, and is 

 manifestly the parent of the more modern but still venerable 

 Bodmin, which, like Salisbury from old Sarum, and Dorchester 

 from Maiden Castle, has descended into the watered valley. 

 And I am not at all sure that while the " neme " represents the 

 modern afiix, the Bod may not be found in the "tot" of the 

 older form. 



However this may be, I feel no doubt that Oastle Canyke, 

 or Bodmin if you will, is the next station of the Ravennat to 

 Truro. The fact that Tamaris succeeds shows that Nemetotacio 

 is between Truro and the Taraar, and the identification of 

 Durocoronavis as Launceston appears to indicate that Nemeto- 

 tacio stood at a place where the roads to Tamaris and Durocoro- 

 navis diverged. 



Ptolemy failed to give us any certain indication of the 

 position of Tamaris ; but the Ravennat clearly strengthens the 

 conclusion to which I have come, for reasons which cannot be 

 given in full here, that it is to be sought on the old main line of 

 communication into Cornwall commonly called the Fosse Way, 

 which struck the Tamar at a ford, and must therefore be 



