THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
SESSION ISTl-S. • 
PRE-HISTOKIC DARTMOOR. 
ABSTRACT OF PAPER BY MR. SPENCE BATE, F.R.S. 
(Read October 12th, 1871.) 
Starting from the admitted principle that the names of rivers and 
of mountains date back to the time of the earliest inhabitants of a 
country, the lecturer proceeded to apply it by tracing the names of 
the Dartmoor streams and their feeders, with those of some of the 
chief heights, to their least corrupt forms. He referred particularly 
to the names of rivulets in which Wal or Walla forms a part ; and 
to the other compound names into the composition of which Bal 
enters. These he identified as referring to ancient workings for 
tin, and as indicating by their frequent occurrences the extent to 
which tin was raised on the Moor in pre-historic times. The next 
stage in the argument was a reference to a number of names still 
extant in the heart of the Moor, as bearing distinct traces of 
Scandinavian origin. The cognomens of most of the old Vikinger 
were thus preserved. Mr. Bate's general conclusion was, that a horde 
of Northmen had landed on the Dart ; had found their way up that 
river ; and had settled on the Moor, where they worked the mines. 
He believed that this settlement took place in the early bronze 
period. Incidentally Mr. Bate advanced the suggestion that Mount 
Batten in early times answered the description of the Iktis of 
Diodorus Siculus far more than St. Michael's Mount. The Celtic 
cemetery which had been discovered hard by it shewed that there 
must have been a considerable population in the immediate 
neighbourhood. During the course of the lecture Mr. Bate 
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