64 
JOUKNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
and that when the Saxon did find his way thither, the Briton was 
driven out. 1 
A few considerations will show the force of this contention. 
The Keltic names of Devon can only have "been handed down 
when there was continuity of occupation or association. Where 
there was no communication between Kelt and Saxon they must 
have perished. Wherever therefore in Devon we find Keltic 
names most plentiful we have the best proof of extended inter- 
course and early Saxon colonization. Immigrant peoples usually 
accept the place-names they find until further distinctions become 
necessary. Then there arises a crop of names in a new tongue or 
of mixed derivation. Paradox as it may seem, the Kelt is now 
most plainly visible where the foot of the Saxon was most firmly 
planted. 
How was the Saxon domination of Devon effected 1 I have 
used the term conquest, but I have also spoken of colonization. 
The latter word is the key to the solution of the whole question. 
Mr. Davidson has pointed" out that by the time the Saxons of 
Wessex reached Devon they had become Christians, and had begun 
" to make progress by colonization as well as by the sword." 2 So, 
too, Mr. E. J. King held it to be probable that "in the south and 
west of Devonshire settlements were gradually pushed beyond the 
recognized English border by small bodies of men," either by force 
or peaceably, but on the whole establishing themselves "in more 
peaceful fashion than would be the case when an entire district lay 
at the mercy of the conqueror after a great battle." 3 The Keltic 
population of Devon was comparatively thin and scattered, and 
1 The suggestion has been made that the conquered Britons may have 
been compelled to work the tin mines for their Saxon masters. It is at least 
as likely that their mining came to an end with their expulsion, and was 
afterwards taken up by their supplanters ; and that while the chief British 
mining villages were then deserted, those adopted or founded by the Saxons 
have continued to the present day — Ashburton, Chagford, aud Tavistock 
being three of the most notable examples. Crockern Tor was simply a 
central place of meeting for the tinners, and there is no pretence for claim- 
ing it, with Polwhele, as the seat of a British Court of Judicature. As a 
Crown chartered body the tinners were an ancient and influential corporation, 
with special rights and privileges — more extensive in Devon, where the 
Norman succeeded to a complete Saxon rule, than in Cornwall. 
2 Op. cit. Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. ix. p. 199. 
3 " Presidental Address," Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. vii. p. 31. 
