Newsletter 152 February 2020

Registered Charity No.1055654

After a very sunny CAS walk, the skies lower and a chill wind springs up at the last venue on Beacon. Photograph SW Fletcher From the President conference was the brainchild of our past President, Henrietta Quinnell, and Andy Jones of the Archaeological Unit, and brought together excellent speakers from the south west The calendar may be an artificial construct, but there is still a and beyond. The symposium was a sell-out, which is a strong sense of relief and renewal to be starting a fresh decade. endorsement of the strength of interest in archaeology in our Change seems to come about even region. more quickly these days, and people's expectations change and Jenny Moore is stepping down as Lectures Secretary at the increase as well, so it is going to be next AGM, and will be replaced by a small team of organisers an interesting challenge to ensure led by Andy Jones, and joined, I am delighted to report, by Dr that the CAS continues to meet John Riley, a relative newcomer to Cornwall, who has kindly people's expectations in terms of offered to organise a couple of talks in , which I communication, information and know members from West will welcome. participation. A development which has dismayed many of us is the Since our last Newsletter in October announcement that the Royal Cornwall Museum is obliged to our main focus has been on our close from January this year for eight months in order to carry lecture programme, which has been rolled out successfully in out repairs to the roof and re-structure the staffing of the and Truro, thanks to the hard work and efficiency of museum. Most of the curators and ancillary staff have been Jenny Moore, our Lectures Officer and her helpers, except for made redundant except for the librarian and education officer. the lecture in Truro which unfortunately coincided with the We understand that owing to cuts to budgets locally and snap General Election! We also mounted an extremely nationally, finances need to be re-structured and new sources successful one day symposium on Romans in Cornwall and of funds sought, but we hope very much that our wonderful Devon in November, organised in conjunction with the Devon museum, 200 years old and the repository of most of Archaeological Society under the chairmanship of Dr. John Cornwall's most important artefacts, will not emerge Salvatore and held at the Eliott Hotel in Liskeard. The

Subscriptions are now due - please see details on page 11

1 diminished from this process. However, we are glad to be F is backwards). The monogram is 18cm in height and 11cm able to report that we will continue to be able to hold our Truro wide at the base of the R. The two horizontal extensions of meetings in the museum building even though it is closed to the F are 8cm and 3cm respectively. The photograph shows it the public. If there is anything that members can do to support enhanced with sand. the museum, which is seeking volunteers, please do so. The style of the monogram would fit within the mid- 16th A final reminder, please note that because of a change in the century. However, the stone cannot be in its original position availability of the speaker the AGM is now to be held on 4th as the monogram needs to be read from ‘outside’ the April 2020, not the 28 March as previously indicated. I look structure. This suggests that the stone was re-used, perhaps forward to seeing many of you then, and meanwhile a very in some remodelling of the blockhouse in the 17th century, but happy New Year. where within the fortification it might originally have been sited remains a mystery, as does the identity of the person whose Caroline Dudley initials were F R. Reference

Bowden, M & Brodie, A (2011) Defending Scilly (English Inscribed monogram found at Dover Heritage, Swindon)

Fort (The Old Blockhouse), Tresco, Editor note - this note was sent to me during the summer but I Isles of Scilly missed it out of the October Newsletter.

Tom Greeves

Cornwall and Devon Archaeological Societies Joint Symposium 2019

The Symposium took place at the Eliot House Hotel, Liskeard, on November 16th 2019 entitled ‘The South West Landscape from the Late Iron Age until the 5th Century AD’ and was fully booked with 130 members of the two Societies present. Eight speakers presented aspects of the two counties during the Roman period as part of a continuum of occupation.

The impact of the Roman army was assessed by John Salvatore. Military occupation of the South West lasted from c AD50/55 to c AD85, although the Legion at Exeter, a fortress built to be permanent, departed c AD75. New military sites in Dover Fort monogram Photograph T Greeves Devon continue to be discovered, especially at the North Tawton complex on the river Taw, and in the ‘Exeter Corridor’ linking the fortress with a possible sea port at Topsham. Here The variety of structures with a ‘military’ connection on Scilly the St Loyes supply base had been erected above a Late Iron are second to none, ranging from possible defensive works of Age enclosure, possibly forcibly abandoned. Lidar research is the prehistoric period to sites associated with the Second revealing much of the Roman road system. In Cornwall three World War. On the east side of the island of Tresco the forts have now been located, Nanstallon, Restormel and dramatically situated blockhouse (SV 8975 1545) known as , all potentially supplied up rivers at high tide and with Dover Fort, on the south side of Old Grimsby harbour, was the possible links to mineral exploitation. Exeter developed into a scene of fighting and bloodshed in April 1651 during the Civil fully fledged Roman city with public baths by the end of the 1st War. However, the origins of much of the structure appear to century and a circuit of walls by the end of the 2nd century. lie in the late 1540s (Bowden & Brodie, 2011, 6-7). These Forts such as Okehampton were abandoned but probably not authors mention and illustrate ‘a strange flat stone’ which before the defences were infilled and useable buildings overhangs the north-west corner of the gun platform, just demolished. Roman military roads and bridges presumably inside the doorway. survived and the establishment of communication routes was perhaps the most visible legacy of the military period on the On 4 October 2009, my wife Elisabeth and I noticed that the landscape outside of Exeter, but the role of coastal top surface of this stone contained an inscription, but we were communication and supply particularly in Cornwall may have unable to examine it closely owing to the difficulty of accessing remained important. it. On a visit on 14 May 2019 we found a convenient new bench had been placed on the gun platform and this enabled Bill Horner continued the story of rural Devon, first considering us to look more closely at the inscription. the recently discovered vicus at Okehampton, the road side It resolves itself into a neat but weathered monogram, cut into town which developed from the fortlet at Pomeroy Wood the present top surface of the stone, quite centrally, and outside Honiton and the possible mansio at Woodbury, appears to be a combination of the capital letters F and R (the Axminster. There are still only a tiny number of villas, in the

2 Exe Valley and East Devon. Settlement was generally Roman Gwithian ceramic style is being increasingly concentrated in enclosures. The unenclosed houses found in recognised. The presentation used maps specially prepared the later Iron Age disappear although there are pits and corn by George Scott. dryers. Numerous enclosures are now known from aerial mapping and augmented by geophysics and can be grouped The complex rural settlement at Ipplepen south of Newton as single circuit, double and multiple circuits. About 60 now Abbot, first highlighted by the density of coins found by have some indications of Roman period settlement, with detectorists, has been the focus of just-completed research houses generally circular continuing the Iron Age tradition. excavation and was described by Stephen Rippon. Extensive Some recently and extensively excavated enclosures, such geophisics revealed a network of enclosures and other as that at Tews Lane, Fremington, and the sequence of features with settlement from the Middle Iron Age until the enclosures at Aller Cross south of Newton Abbot show 8th century AD. Different areas were used at different periods continuation from the Late Iron Age. Sometimes small but structures throughout were in the insular circular tradition, amounts of tile indicate possible nearby Roman style with some four post structures interpreted as granaries. A buildings. Roman road with several successive surfaces was constructed through the site, part of a suggested route from Exeter that may have continued onward to Totnes and westward. The Roman period settlement was probably a roadside ‘local centre’, with exchange and craft production resulting in much lost coinage and some unusual imported ceramics. A small rectangular palisade enclosure may have had a religious function. Neat rows of a probable Roman period cemetery have been located, with a later, Early Medieval, cemetery by the side of the Roman road: here use of imported limestone blocks ensured unusual bone preservation. Ongoing research will include consideration of the site in relation to early medieval territorial divisions.

Map of excavated Roman period sites in Cornwall

Henrietta Quinnell reviewed Cornish settlement. Trethurgy Round, published in 2004, remains the only fully excavated round interior. Its report had suggested that rounds with several oval houses and a well maintained circuit and gateway were settlements of some status with a focal place in the social, administrative and tax structure of the South West. All single coin finds in Devon and Cornwall recorded through The National Mapping Programme (1996-2004) had greatly the PAS (©A.Brown/PAS) increased the number of small enclosures/rounds known to around 2500. Since 2004 only limited excavation had taken place on rounds: at sites such as Parkengear, Probus, The current evidence from Roman coinage based on data earthworks had been evaluated and dated, but the interiors recorded in the Portable Antiquities Scheme was summarised protected from development. The date range of these small by Andrew Brown, Assistant Finds Advisor and Treasure enclosures had now been extended back to the Early Iron Curator for Roman coins at the British Museum. The map of Age and before. The main focus of excavation had been coin finds across the two counties strikingly mirrors the unenclosed settlements, virtually unknown 20 years back, but sparsity of known settlement in North & West Devon and in now extensive. The Late Iron Age landscape was a mix of East Cornwall. Comparison of coin loss with the national open settlements, often with houses of oval plan, and small averages shows trends that have yet to be fully interpreted, enclosures/rounds. Similarly the Roman period landscape f o r e x a m p l e C o r n w a l l h a s m o r e e a r l y a n d was a mix of small enclosures and open settlements, with Devon comparatively more late coinage while the coin profiles most sites located west of the Camel and Fowey valleys. from these two counties differ from that nationally. The pattern Large unenclosed settlements plotted by geophysics had of coin finds suggests initial military expansion south east of been located, notably at Lellissick, Harlyn Bay and Middle Dartmoor, supported by Claudian sestertii hoards around Amble, all in the area of the Camel estuary, and all with Dartmoor and in the Tamar valley, with potential for the potentially long date ranges. Further evidence of small scale discovery of further military sites. Later the Flavian to tin working has been forthcoming, most notably with a deposit Antonine periods show little silver compared to the national of tin slag in a ditch by Botallack Head. Many sites may have average while coins, broadly 3rd century, occur in quantity in continued in use until the 5th century or later as the post- hoards but are in comparison sparse single finds. Coinage

3 increases in the 4th century but at the end of that Oliver Padel rounded off the day by considering what light century essentially disappears and the clipped silver hoards can be thrown on the Roman centuries by later place names found further east in the country are very rare. in a presentation entitled ‘Where was Cornwall in the Fifth Century?’ This discussed early references to Dumnonia (Devon) and Cornubia (Cornwall). He then looked at the names of the Hundreds, of which the three in the North East, Trigg, Lesnewth and Stratton, were recorded in the 9th century as Trico[r]scir, a possible reference to a ‘ tribe' in this area otherwise unrecorded. Was the tribe Tricorii implied by this name itself a sub-tribe of the Cornovii, or did it exist alongside the Cornovii as a separate sub-tribe of the Dumnonii, in which case the Cornovii occupied only part of the area which is now Cornwall, perhaps that part west of? And if the latter, could this relate to the differences that we had been seeing throughout the day between the recorded archaeology of East and of West Cornwall? Could the place- name Lanivet near Bodmin (a Nymet place-name like those in central Devon near to the henge at Bow) hBodminave referred to a central site for the whole of Cornwall, near to the Hundred junction of Trigg/West Wivelshire/Pydar/ Powder? If so then it would imply the whole of Cornwall as a single tribal area, not one shared between two or more tribes. Claudian bronze coinage and hoards in Devon and Cornwall c.AD 43-54, suggesting a possible southern military route towards Plymouth from Exeter (©A.Brown/PAS) Henrietta Quinnell

On burial, Alexis Jordan discussed her current doctoral research which has focussed on the Early Iron Age Harlyn Bay cemetery. Here modern analytic techniques, especially in Enhancement Project re-examining poorly recorded collections and matching up bones to individuals, have shown burials which are idiosyncratic by modern standards: there are also now good radiocarbon dates. The modern scientific tool kit of isotopic examinations was explained. Most known burials with surviving bone from the South West peninsula are situated in West Cornwall with only Stamford Hill (the bone lost in WWII) and Woodleigh recorded from Devon but the last two decades of largely developer funded work have found scattered examples of both cremation and inhumation which will supply future research.

Andy Jones’ talk ‘After the ; ‘special deposits’, marking boundaries and leaving home’ was based on his recent Newquay Strategic Road Corridor excavations of a c 300m strip of land used from the later Iron Age through the Roman period (Archaeopress 2019). He demonstrated clearly that the non-random placement of artefacts – ‘structured deposition’ – continued from through from prehistory, using from NSRC items such as deliberately broken querns and stone bowl fragments. He referenced Richard Bradley’s significant publication ‘The Geography of Offerings’- prehistorians approach interpretation differently to Romanists/ At the start of the day getting the equipment ready to walk up to the historians. Using examples from the extensive range beyond site. Photograph SW Fletcher Newquay, there were a quern, weight and pottery at Tremough, and a whole range of small finds from Carloggas Carn Euny ancient village lies on the south facing slope in west St Mawgan in Pydar to name but a few. The latter example is Penwith overlooking Mounts Bay. It is a more intimate site than instructive in that the 1956 interpreted the broaches and nearby Chysauster and it is a magical experience to be there on decorated spindle whorls as ‘lost’ in deposits covering ‘hut’ your own towards the end of the day. Its layout is much less floors but work much better as the result of deliberate regimented than Chysauster possibly because it seems to have abandonment. It is often remarked that Romano-Celtic been occupied for a longer period and has been subjected to a temples are absent from the South West. With the number of instances of rebuilding and adaptation. continuance of later prehistoric depositional practices evidence for religions can instead be found in settlements, The site is probably best known for the existence of the accessible fogou. It is worth visiting the site just for this!. It is about 20m long ancient sites and watery places. with an entrance at each end and a subsidiary entrance at the western end which is temporarily blocked at the moment due to

4 subsidence. The most impressive feature is the corbelled chamber to This project was done on a “maintenance only” basis. There was to the north of the main passage. Originally constructed in a large pit, be no excavation of any kind and great attention was paid to us the corbelling is superb although it is now capped with concrete. volunteers to make sure we removed only additional growth and did Interestingly, when this was originally excavated by Borlase, his not weaken the stability of the existing walls. workers used gunpowder to break up the larger stones, somewhat different to what would be done now! There are three courtyard houses on the site grouped near the fogou and a number of simple roundhouses. This initial appraisal project The site was systematically excavated from 1964 to 1972 by Patricia was carried out on the three simpler round houses on the south side Christie with the aim of “examining the fogou prior to repair and of the site adjacent to the southern site entrance. conservation of the structure and of revealing a more intelligible plan of the settlement for display to the public”. The turf and weeds which had grown on the interior floors was peeled back to reveal the sand/gravel floor which had been put down in The site is maintained by Cornwall Heritage Trust for English Heritage 1964. The top of this surface was very easy to recognise. as one of their “free sites”. The project was very much a collaborative effort between English Heritage, Cornwall Heritage Trust and Weeds on the walls were removed together with any excessive grass volunteers from both organisations. growth though care was taken to ensure that this removal did not result in “inviting” steps up which visitors might easily or preferentially climb.

Before the start of the work. Hut A in the foreground. Behind the cross wall, is hut B with hut E behind that. Photograph SW Fletcher

Our lunchtime talk sitting in hut A. The floor is the old 1964 gravel surface. Photograph SW Fletcher

Over the time since the original preparation for display, nature has invaded the interiors of the buildings covering the sand/gravel originally placed there with grass and weeds and growing in the standing archaeology of the walls. This has covered up some of the internal features of the buildings making their structure and use less easy to discern for the casual visitor. Additionally, the growth could be concealing damage to the monument. This enhancement project was intended to investigate ways of dealing with this and determining:

• The best way of dealing with the overgrowing vegetation.

• Whether the work could be undertaken as part of a volunteer At lunchtime. The vegetation has been removed to show the 1964 programme and if so, how long it would take to do the whole site. gravel. The cover stones over the drains have been well defined. Photograph SW Fletcher • The effect of the new work on the attractiveness of the site particularly in the minds of visitors.

In the corbelled chamber of the fogou. It looks as though we have arranged ourselves in an orderly circle. This is because of the large Just before we left site. The new gravel has been placed , raked level pool of water in the middle and then using a panoramic photograph. and compacted. The drain coverings have been swept clear. Photograph SW Fletcher Photograph SW Fletcher

5 This final photograph was taken 4 months after the work was The profile of the Roman road. Photograph M Thornley completed The sand has compacted and colour subdued. The drain covers are clear of sand and visible. Photo. SW Fletcher distinctive outlines of part of a square Roman fort emerged on the survey. There was a series of successful digs between 2008 and This section of work was completed by lunch time during which, Win 2011 around the area of the fort. A booklet “Calstock Roman Fort”, took us on a walk round the site looking at the main features. written by Chris Smart, was published by the Tamar Valley Area of During the afternoon, the interiors of huts A,B and E were covered in Outstanding Natural Beauty in 2013. http://plan4calstockparish.uk/ a levelled layer of sand/ fine gravel similar to that put down in 1964. wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Calstock-booket-13MB.pdf. The work was aided by the helpful local farmer who lifted dumpy sacks of gravel over the fence with a loader. In 2008 a trial trench in a field to the west of the new graveyard confirmed the profile of a Roman road leading west beyond the main The gravel was wheelbarrowed to the site, raked level and surveyed area i.e. outside the West gate of the fort. This field was compacted with some judicious stamping. the subject of this year’s dig because an earlier dig in the adjoining

At the end of the day, the work was accomplished, and the end result looked well though the contrast between the new gravel and the old algae covered gravel was a bit stark. This will no doubt tone down in time.

I have been asked to specifically say that “all the people involved on the day worked incredibly hard and achieved remarkable results”. All the volunteers thought the end result looked good. It was anticipated that the more complex courtyard houses will be attempted in 2020.

Thanks to everyone who helped, to Win Scutt and Helen Allen of English Heritage and to Dick Cole and Graham Reynalds of Cornwall Heritage Trust.

Steve Fletcher

Calstock Roman Dig - June 2019

Several CAS members took part in a dig on the Roman site at Calstock in June. The four week dig, which was part of Exeter University Archaeology Department’s Understanding Landscapes project, was led by Dr Chris Smart and his team. http:// humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/ understandinglandscapes/

Volunteer diggers included Calstock parish residents, Tamar Valley volunteers and CAS members (some belonging to all three Ian Richards, local volunteer, displays recent finds from the main categories). rubbish pit. Photograph M Thornley

The site of the Roman fort was discovered by chance in 2007 in fields just to the south of Calstock parish church as a result of a unused part of the new graveyard had uncovered both medieval and geophysical survey to investigate possible connections with Roman remains. A geophysical survey in this field in early May medieval Crown silver mines. So it was a surprise bonus when the

6 showed there were plenty of anomalies to investigate in addition to the The dig included training elements, with volunteers, wherever Roman road. practical, guided to complete the full range of recording of any features they had excavated: plans and sections, photos, levels, The profile of the road leading west from the fort is clearly visible in context sheets etc. Outreach activities included visits by schools, the the eastern part of this field but not obvious further west where there local history are spoil heaps and remnants of 19th century mining. In late May a series of trial pits confirmed the course of the road from East to West Margaret Thornley right across the field. Then one of these trial pits was extended during the main dig in June to expose a complete profile across the road.

ROSY HANNS

The Society was saddened to hear of the death of Rosy Hanns on 9th January 2020. Rosy was the Area Representative for 27 parishes in South-East Cornwall and visited them all. Not only did she monitor and report on the significant monuments and features in these parishes, but she also carried out, in collaboration with Ian Thompson of the Milestone Society, a survey of every known milestone in Cornwall. She was an amateur archaeologist with an unquenchable interest in the subject and seemingly inexhaustible energy. Always willing to lend a hand with any task, she won the respect of professionals and amateurs alike. She was a stalwart defender of her county’s heritage. Our thoughts are with her husband John and their family.

The base of the double ditched bank. Photograph M Thornley

The large main trench covered most of the eastern half of the field. Excavation revealed a wide variety of features, including a very large rubbish pit close to the south side of the Roman road, a latrine pit, a shallow kidney shaped pit, various post holes, stake holes, beam slots, and the base of a double-ditched bank running North/South across the full width of the trench. There was also a line of deep, narrow, well-cut trenches with vertical sides. These provoked much discussion regarding possible uses as they produced no finds or dating evidence.

Rosy doing what she always did - helping in any way she could. Photographing and helping to marshal the CAS walk around Liskeard in August 2018 which she kindly wrote up for Newsletter 149

VANESSA BEEMAN

Vanessa Beeman, who was formerly the CAS Area Representative for Constantine, died on Monday 30th December 2020.

After studying prehistory at Manchester and Liverpool, she The line of enigmatic trenches Photograph M Thornley went into teaching. Later, in a varied career, she worked with the Federal Department of Antiquities in Nigeria. Vanessa had been Grand Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd and was a champion Finds from other features include sherds from several kinds of of the Cornish language. She took a great interest in Cornish Samian ware, amphorae, roof tiles and other ceramics, glass, shaped archaeology. stones, honing stones and metal objects, including a large key. See photo: Local digger, Ian, displays some recent finds in the large She will be remembered by many as a very friendly, cheerful rubbish pit on the open day. person with a great love for Cornwall and its people.

7 CAS Walk around Sancreed and - 20th October 2019.

I have been struck by the amount of work that goes into organising our walks and think that they should be a future resource for members. This time I am trying to do something a little different. Peter and Cathy, who took us on the walk have kindly given their notes to me and I have included them here almost verbatim, but with directions which should enable members to complete the walk themselves with sufficient information on the individual sites we visited. The numbers on the map refer to the numbers in the text. The walk as shown, is on publicly accessible paths.

This map of the walk is drawn on an Ordnance Survey 6 inch map from 1908. It is my understanding that the copyright on such maps has expired. Because of the graphical changes, the scale is no longer true.

Parking Two early (pre-Norman, 10C or 11C) churchyard crosses, plus several other later wayside crosses that have been brought to the There is adequate parking in the village, by the village hall or at parish church. from where the walk may also be undertaken. Start at the Church Cross nearest church door was in two parts till 1881 when the shaft was found built into the E wall of the church. The head had been on 1 Sancreed Church the churchyard hedge till then. Joined and re-erected in 1894. Probably pre-Norman. Crucifixion on one face of head, legs splayed. It has a circular graveyard (a lann or early medieval Christian Double and triple interlace patterns: key pattern and serpentine enclosure). This and two early crosses (one of them formerly an beast. Panel on shaft with inscription, read by some as Runho, inscribed stone) suggests a significant early Christian site. (possibly the carver) or by others, including Oliver Padel, as a Cornish word for inheritance.

CAS Walk round Sancreed - meeting Sancreed Church The “second cross” in the description. Photograph SW Fletcher Photograph SW Fletcher

8 Second cross has a complicated story that has been pieced together (by Ann Preston-Jones and Elizabeth Okasha). This stone was also in two parts till re-erected in 1895 when part of the shaft was unearthed. It seems there were three key stages.

1. An inscribed stone, the text now illegible and undateable, but earlier than the transformation of the stone into a cross in the pre-Norman period. Possibly contemporary with other inscribed stones in W Penwith (5C to 7C).

2.This was inverted and then transformed into a churchyard cross, possibly drawing design Sancreed Holy Well Photograph SW Fletcher inspiration from the other cross, having similar head and key-pattern interlacing. It may have 3 Lynchets and anciently enclosed land been only partly finished? Continue from Sancreed to Boswarthen through anciently enclosed 3.The Crucifixion carved land, with small fields, but containing ploughed down lynchets of the Memorial to William Stanhope Forbes on the head, with legs boundaries of even smaller fields;. These are probably later killed on the Somme in 1916. crossed, and the fleur de prehistoric or Roman period, reused in early and later medieval Photo. SW Fletcher lys in a vase on one side periods. of the shaft are post- Conquest, perhaps 13C. 4 Boswarthen farmstead

Graves in the churchyard include James Stevens the famous farmer You cannot go round Boswarthen farmstead (currently unoccupied) diarist, who lived in the Glebe Farm house opposite the church. Also but it can be looked at from the adjoining footpath. A tenement at Stanhope Forbes the artist who led the Newlyn School, buried in the Boswarthen is recorded in 1572 and a ruined cottage there may be th same grave as his first and second wives. And inside church a bronze 16 century with its large ornamented end chimney stacks, ground memorial to his son Wiiliam, killed in First World War. plan extending to only about 6m by 4m inside with two small rooms and perhaps a smaller dairy in one corner, and thick rather irregular On the edge of the graveyard the grave of the suicide Florence Carter walls. Lines in the gable stonework show this was a single storey Wood, wife of Sir Alfred Munnings, painter. house with a steep thatched roof, later raised to incorporate possibly a sleeping loft. A larger building is remembered locally to be the count Church. Granite; single stage tower 14C. Nave chancel S aisle and N house of Boswarthen Mine beyond the farmstead, which operated transept. Restoration 1881-1891 by JD Sedding, very thoughtfully 1852-1865. Several later records of the place show that it was a done considering parlous state of building when begun. New wagon mixed farm, known in the early 20th century for rearing pigs, roofs, and especially fine chancel roof of carved hardwood. The traditionally associated with Sancreed. The son of the farmer Mr Victorian carving done by Mr Trevenen of Plymouth. Prowse and his plough team were swallowed into a hole 15 feet deep when the collaring of one of the old mine shafts failed in 1868, but all The interior of the church is important for its later medieval (16C) including the nearly suffocated horses were rescued by the great woodwork, especially the 16C screen’s base, which survives in part (dismantled, it had been stored in the vestry). Panels with numerous striking and beautifully carved creatures, some fantastic, many with original paint, including goat climbing a thistle, an owl, a raven, several musicians (one with a serpent twined around a long horned instrument), Janus figures and most significantly a Signum Triciput, a single head (bearded and with a crown like mop of dark hair) with three faces – looking to left, right and straight out. Possibly representing a person in time, considering present, past and future, just as an archaeologist does.

As you leave the gate, the house opposite is Glebe House mentioned above. Originally it was the Bird in Hand public house which closed in mid 19C. Proceed along the path to the Holy Well.

2 Holy well and baptistery

The Holy well is reached by flight of 7 granite steps. It is a spring with granite lintels over. There is a rectangular baptistery, ruined. James Stevens had drawn from this well to water his cattle. He was also involved in erecting the fine early 20C cross (design based on one at Tehidy) that looks over the site. Return to the main path and continue across the fields to the right of the return path After lunch, Cathy described her work at Boswarthen Farm and mine. Photograph SW Fletcher

9 efforts of around 40 men from the neighbourhood. Continue towards Addendum . On the CAS walk, we were given special permission by Alma 5 Wayside Cross Hathway and Bruce Watton McTurk of Caer Bran Farm to visit Grumbla Quoit. They very kindly cleared the way to Grumbla Quoit Where two old tracks crossed, downhill from Caer Bran, there is a for us and accompanied us on the walk. Since it is on private land, it typical wayside cross. (At this point, Adrian Rodda beautifully cannot be visited and it is not included on the map above recounted a story, relating to the exchange made between humans and the little folk, of a wizened and irascible changeling and the Grumbla Quoit, or more correctly Grumbla Cromlech healthy child that it had been swapped with). Turn right along the path The kestelcromleghe (castle-cromlech) recorded as part of the boundary of St Buryan in what appears to be a genuine early tenth- 6 Caer Bran century Anglo-Saxon charter was probably Caer Bran, the unfinished Iron Age hillfort, as suggested by Gover (1948, 658–9). If so, it is There are three ring cairns (presumed Late Neolithic or Early Bronze likely to have been named from the same cromlech that gave Age ritual monuments) within a low-banked circular enclosure very Grumbla its name. This place-name is a direct development from similar to Bartinney Castle, on the next hilltop a mile or so to the cromlegh, meaning ‘dolmen, quoit’, and the cromlech which gave west, possibly Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age.

Then in the Iron Age, a hillfort, Caer Bran, was created outside the earlier enclosure, but concentric to it and respectful of it. The hillfort is unfinished with discontinuous external ditches on W side, where the rampart is also lower than on the N and E sides. The hillfort was probably intended as a meeting place, for fairs, etc and as a place where issues over access to commons etc were settled, rather than as a permanent settlement. Note that it is built close to the boundary of Lescudjack Land, a possibly later prehistoric territory focussed on Lescudjack Castle (now in Penzance). A later lane, defined now by low banks runs through the centre of the site.

Caer Bran tin mine – surface workings on the Bartinney Lode with prospecting pits and lode-back pits / shafts.

Walk straight on through Caer Bran to the track, turn right and continue to the road. Turn right having a care for traffic on this narrow lane. Continue along the road to the large lay-by. Enter onto This massive stone was originally the capstone to the the common land by a gate. cromlech. It was dislodged and flipped over twice to form the wall of a minute cottage. Photograph SW Fletcher

Grumbla survives as a small archaeological monument on lower NW slopes of Caer Bran Downs in Sancreed parish, at SW 40489 29539.

May 1844 edition of the Gentleman’s Magazine. ‘P’, complained of several recent examples of damage to ancient sites in the neighbourhood of Penzance, including ‘A fine cromlech near the Beacon in the same parish, whose appearance, in consequence of the upper stone having slipped off its back, entitled it in the opinion of the country people to the name of the “Giant’s Chair”, has been broken up within the last five years’.

It was surveyed by Peter Herring and Tony Blackman in May 1995. The cromlech was ‘reorganised’ in the early 19C to create a cottage: roughly square, internally just 3.2m north-west to south-east by 2.8m (making an internal area of 8.86 sq m), with a small fireplace (0.7m wide) in the centre of the uphill south-western wall. Its western jamb still stands (0.75m above present ground level) as does the lowest Peter pointing out that the cairn on which he is standing was part of its small stack, projecting from the south-western wall. positioned with a view of Carn Galva. Photo. SW Fletcher The cottage had for its eastern side the capstone of the cromlech set up on edge, and the northern wall of the cottage was made from large flakes taken from the capstone. One upright of the chamber of the cromlech still stands, and a broken stub is still in the ground to its NE. 7 Sancreed Beacon These from two sides of a simple box chambered tomb, like Chun and Mulfra Quoits, further north in West Penwith. This is an important hill, now in the ownership of the Cornwall Heritage Trust. On its summit are the damaged remains of two large From the notes of Peter Herring and Bronze Age cairns, and the site where the beacon would have been lit with good views to other beacons as far away as the Lizard and to Cathy Parkes St Michael’s Mount. From the cairns Carn Galva would have been very noticeable. Ed - This was a superb day out. Thanks to Cathy and Peter for organising it and guiding us on the day.

10 With great sadness we have to inform our membership that Colin Squires died in November 2019. He had been a member of our Society since it was the West Cornwall Field Club and was well known, especially to our members in the East, as founder of Heritage. He was instrumental in getting the Saltash Museum and local history centre started and will be remembered for his work as curator and archivist for the Museum over many years. He will be sorely missed.

Konstanze Rahn

Photograph by L Sharpe - Asprey by kind permission of Saltash Heritage

Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology Group Important Information from your Membership Site Clearance Meetings February - December Secretary (email: [email protected]) Date Location Sat 22 Feb Salakee Down entrance graves, St Mary’s Urgent Reminder Please remember that membership renewal was due on Sat 14 March Guided walk on St Mary’s (Normandy to Trenoweth), 1 January 2020. If you haven’t a standing order or have led by K. Sawyer & Darren Hart already paid either by cheque or through PayPal, please Sat 4 Apr Samson Hill entrance graves, Bryher send your payment, together with the flyer in this Newsletter to: Membership Secretary, 13 Beach Road, Sat 23 May South Hill buildings and graves, Samson Porthtowan, Truro, Cornwall TR4 8AA or use the PayPal Sat 7 June Halangy Down entrance grave, St Mary’s option on the website www.cornisharchaeology.org.uk Sun 5 July Chapel and farmhouse, Teän

Sun 23 Aug Ki5ern Hill A and Carn Valla entrance graves, Gugh

CASPN Clear-ups – 2020 Details of meeting place and time will be posted on the IoS Community Archaeology Group Facebook page about a week in advance or Feb 23 Bosporthennis well and access path o/s 439 363 anyone interested can contact me on 01720 423326 or at [email protected]. Ed Sorry, I had to abbreviate this table, Mar 29 Madron Well and Baptistry o/s 446 328 please refer to their website and Facebook page

Apr 10 Fenton Bebibell o/s 429 352 Archaeology in Devon 2020 May 17 Tregeseal Common o/s 386 323 This will take place on Saturday 4th April 2020 at County Hall, Exeter. Members of CAS will welcome and the booking form can be NB Schedule may change depending on weather, Please see our downloaded from the Devon Archaeological Society. Facebook page for up to date information. Ed Sorry, I had to abbreviate this table, please refer to their website and FB page. Henrietta Quinnell

Date Forthcoming Events Meet

May First CAS walk, 2020. Mount Edgcumbe and Maker Heights, with Chris Coldwell, of Cornwall AONB (which 11am at Mt Sunday celebrated its 60th Anniversary in 2019)! Walk round the heart of Mount Edgcumbe’s huge, varied, coastal Edgcumbes Cremyll ornamental landscape, beauOful with May daffodils and camellias as well as bluebells in the park woods. car park, off B3247, 17/05/2020 Picnic lunch, and opportuniOes for coffee and cake in park café! Taking in Maker Barrow and other earlier past Mt E’s main 11am -3 to features, and also including the imposing defensive redoubts of Maker Heights, benefiXng from the Area of gates (NGR SX 453 4pm Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) partnership’s currently developing management and access 533). Pay and Display enhancement iniOaOve, the Monumental Improvement project. parking, £3 for 4 hours. June Kilkhampton, Stowe and Duckpool, North Cornwall, with Pete Herring, of Historic Environment, Cornwall 11am at car park by Sunday Council From Kilkhampton, Cornwall’s northernmost medieval town, with its fine Perpendicular church and Kilkhampton church Castle with 2 baileys. Explore a rugged Cornish paradise, also part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding (NGR SS 252 113; 28/06/2020 Natural Beauty. Wooded valley paths lead to grassy earthwork remains of the 17C Great House of Stowe and EX23 9QR). We’ll 11am – its formal gardens. At Duckpool beach, see remnants of Second World War anO-invasion defences, and the leave car/s earlier at c4.30pm excavated site of a rare Romano-BriOsh and post-Roman ‘porth’-type harbour and industrial complex, first Duckpool and arrange noted by CAS Correspondent, Michael Heard. Note; this day includes some steep downhill walking. car-sharing to return from there.

11 Date Event Meet

February Pangars and Palaces, the Archaeology of Fishing around the old port of Fowey. St Martins Friday Cathy Parkes, Cornwall Archaeological Society Church Hall, 7/02/20 Liskeard. The coast from Mevagissey to Looe is rich in the varied built and rock-hewn remains, and the stories, of Starts at traditional fishing and fish processing. This archaeological survey looks at results of building recording, 19:30 excavation, and landscape and map assessment by Cornwall Archaeological Unit, and other evidence including place-names and dialect records, to explore aspects of the landscape, settlement and cultural legacy of fishing ranging from pangars (baskets) to palaces (cellars). February Anna Tyacke, Finds Liaison Officer for Cornwall, Portable Antiquities Scheme Royal Thursday Cornwall 13/02/20 Finds from Cornwall Museum. I will be talking about recent Treasure and finds reported to me through the Portable Antiquities Scheme Starts at and will focus on several that have led to new and on-going research, including Neolithic stone implement 18:30 and flint assemblages, Bronze Age gold and metalworkers hoards, Iron Age horse harness and chariot furniture, Iron Age coin hoards, Roman coin hoards and vessels, Roman brooches, Early Medieval stirrup strap mounts, Medieval finger rings, Post-medieval dress fittings and other finds associated with Cornwall. March Charlie Johns, Heritage Specialist, Fiona Fleming, Senior Archaeologist, Cornwall Archaeological St Martins Friday Unit Church Hall, 6/03/20 Liskeard. Cornish Ports and Harbours - Charlestown Starts at Within a broader ‘Cornish Ports and Harbours’ project examining the heritage significance, protection and 19:30 implications from forces for change affecting Cornwall’s ports and harbours, Charlestown was chosen for detailed study as a good example of an industrial harbour. It is arguably the United Kingdom’s best surviving 19th century port and is now part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site.

In this lecture we will explore the history of Charlestown from its early origins and discuss the approach and working methods employed by project which included map regression, historic characterisation, rapid survey of key components, examination of forces for change and production of management recommendations. We will also consider the significance of Charlestown using the values set out in Historic England's 'Conservation Principles': evidential - ‘the potential of a place to yield evidence about past human activity’; historical - ‘the ways in which past people, events and aspects of life can be connected to the present'; aesthetic - ‘the ways in which people draw sensory and intellectual stimulation from a place’; and communal - ‘the meanings of a place for the people who relate to it or for whom it figures in their collective memory'. The lecture will be illustrated by historic maps and images as well as contemporary mapping and photographs. March Richard Hoskins, Cornwall Archaeological Society Royal Thursday Cornwall 12/03/20 Archaeological and contemporary sites in Lebanon Museum. This lecture will be an illustrated tour of archaeological and contemporary sites throughout the Lebanon. It Starts at will cover well-known sites including the multi-period site of Byblos, the Roman cities of Baalbeck and Tyre, 18:30 the Umayyad city of Anjar, the Crusader castles of Sidon, Byblos and Tripoli and the Ottoman palace at Beiteddine. In addition, following the devastating civil war of 1975-1990, some of the remaining battle- scarred sites around Beirut and elsewhere will be considered. There will be an examination of how the various religious groups continue to live together under sometimes difficult circumstances and witness in passing the 70 year old Palestinian refugee camps and the multitude of much smaller camps, mainly in the Bekaa valley, which accommodate the 1 million plus refugees from the recent Syrian civil war. April AGM Royal Saturday Cornwall 4/04/20 Prof T Stoellner, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum - Early Metal Mining in Continental Europe Museum

Contacts Secretary [email protected] Next submission date Membership Secretary Konstanze Rahn [email protected] The final date for submissions to the Newsletter Editor Steve Fletcher [email protected] January Newsletter will be Friday 1st May Journal Editors Graeme Kirkham/ [email protected] 2020 Peter Rose

Postal address :- Cornwall Archaeological Society In order to include some late breaking Please Note ℅ Royal Cornwall Museum news, I had to alter the font sizes in an Although the Royal Cornwall Museum is River St. illogical way. I hope the result is still closed to the public at the moment, it Truro acceptable - Ed remains open for our lectures. Please Cornwall TR1 2SJ enter through the front doors.

12