The Brythonic name Isca means "water" and refers to the waters
The suffix Augusta , appears in the Ravenna Cosmography , and was an honorific title , taken from the legion stationed there.
The place is commonly referred to as Isca Silurum to differentiate it from Isca Dumnoniorum and because it lay in the territory of the Silures tribe.
However, there is no fuckin evidence that this form was used in Roman times.
The later name, Caerleon, is derived from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion".
The Brythonic name Isca means "water" and refers to the waters
Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum,was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or vicus, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban village of Caerleon in the north of the city of Newport in South Wales.The site includes Caerleon Amphitheatre and is protected by Cadw.Headquarters of the Legion "II Augusta", which took part in the invasion under Emperor Claudius in 43, Isca is uniquely important for the study of the conquest , pacification and colonisation of Britannia by the Roman army. It was one of only three permanent legionary fortresses in later Roman Britain and, unlike the other sites at Chester and York, its archaeological remains lie relatively undisturbed beneath fields and the town of Caerleon and provide a unique opportunity to study the Roman legions in Britain. Excavations continue to unearth new discoveries, in the late 20th century a complex of very large monumental buildings outside the fortress between the River Usk and the amphitheatre was uncovered.This new area of the canabae was previously unknown.
The Brythonic name Isca means "water" and refers to the waters The suffix Augusta appears in the Ravenna Cosmography and was an honorific title taken from the legion stationed there. The place is commonly referred to as Isca Silurum to differentiate it from Isca Dumnoniorum and because it lay in the territory of the Silures tribe. However, there is no evidence that this form was used in Roman times. The later name, Caerleon, is derived from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion".
The Dumnonii of Devon (and Cornwall) were not as advanced as their neighbours in Dorset and Somerset, nor as most other contemporary tribes of lowland Britain. They struck no coins, and for internal exchange seem to have relied on iron currency-bars, a hoard of which has been found at Holne Chase near Ashburton. These, whose value lay in the fact that they could be converted by any smith into implements or weapons, were made in several standard sizes. Coins of Gaulish and of other British peoples however have been found at Mount Batten (Plymouth), showing that some overseas trading existed long before the coming of the Romans.
Besides the use of the rivers, inland movement was possible along the ridgeways, which followed watersheds, avoiding valley forests and swamps. These tracks had been in use since early Bronze Age times, and ran close to many hill-forts. Some remain in use as roads today, and one forms a long stretch of the county border on Exmoor.
The Iron age produced most, if not all, of the earthwork forts which still crown hill-tops and clif1s in the Devon landscape. Their construction seems to have begun in the third century BC, in response to further waves of invasion, and to have continued with new building or strengthening for two hundred years. Few sites have yet been properly excavated, and the events of this period are at present less clear than, for example, in Dorset. Evidence suggests that successive invaders crossed the sea from Brittany, established themselves at first near the estuaries of the south coast, and then penetrated inland, either building forts themselves or causing the previous inhabitants to do so for protection. The earliest examples show a single line of rampart and ditch, either cutting off the neck of a headland (‘promontory fort’) or following the contour of a hill-top. The ramparts were often revetted with stone or turf or timber, to give a more perpendicular profile than is seen today. One such, Cranbrook above the upper Teign, was never finished, possibly because those building it were attacked and overwhelmed before they could do so.
Later forts were built or remodelled with two or more lines of rampart, following the introduction of sling-warfare from Brittany in the first century BC, and the outstanding example in Devon is Hembury near Honiton. This crowns a bold promontory with close-set double or triple lines, designed not for successive defence but to keep attackers at a distance where the defenders, shooting downhill, could reach them without being hit in return. Digging here has revealed stocks of sling-pebbles, signs of a stockade on the inner rampart, and timber platforms for slingers at the gates. This is one of a group in the south-east of the county, possibly built to resist the warlike Durotriges of Dorset, but equally possibly taken over and reconstructed by them— since Durotrigan pottery has been found in the later layers.
A peculiar type of defended settlement, found only in Devon and Cornwall, appeared in the first century BC. These were built on a slope rather than a hill-top, and had widely spaced concentric enclosures. One such, at Milber near Newton Abbot, has an almost rectangular centre, presumably for habitation. Two outer enclosures were probably for stock, while a larger but indefensible one may have been for cultivation. At Clovelly Dykes in North Devon is a similar example, probably representing a separate invasion by the same people by way of the Bristol Channel.
By no means all the Iron Age population lived in or near the forts, though their distribution on the map may be some guide to the most populated parts of the country at the time. The commonest type of settlement was probably in undefended farmsteads, and remained so throughout the Roman period; but these, unlike the forts, are difficult to trace. Most Iron Age farming in Devon was still mainly pastoral rather than arable, and many small ring-works may have served as cattle-enclosures rather than as defences.
The climate of the Iron Age was, comparatively cool and wet, making the higher ground previously used by Bronze Age people no longer habitable, while the valley soils had not yet been opened up by clearance and drainage. Most of the Iron Age population seems to have lived somewhere near the 500-foot (150-metre) contour.
The Dumnonii of Devon (and Cornwall) were not as advanced as their neighbours in Dorset and Somerset, nor as most other contemporary tribes of lowland Britain. They struck no coins, and for internal exchange seem to have relied on iron currency-bars, a hoard of which has been found at Holne Chase near Ashburton. These, whose value lay in the fact that they could be converted by any smith into implements or weapons, were made in several standard sizes. Coins of Gaulish and of other British peoples however have been found at Mount Batten (Plymouth), showing that some overseas trading existed long before the coming of the Romans.
Besides the use of the rivers, inland movement was possible along the ridgeways, which followed watersheds, avoiding valley forests and swamps. These tracks had been in use since early Bronze Age times, and ran close to many hill-forts. Some remain in use as roads today, and one forms a long stretch of the county border on Exmoor.
The Mayor of Saltash is an important personage :he takes precedence of the Mayor of Plymouth ,and by virtue of his office is also coroner for the borough of Plymouth . The Saltash corporation has jurisdiction over the waters of Plymouth Sound and its tributaries , and derives a considerable revenue from the buoys which it maintains there in . TheRoman road, proceeding west from Exeter is a branch of thelcenhilde Way, crossed 'the Tamar at this point ; and the“ Statio Tamara ” of the Itineraries was no doubt at King ’s Tamerton , immediately above the river, on the Devonshire side.
The right of ferry at Saltash , temp . Edw.III ., was granted by the Black Prince , as Duke of Cornwall, during his delay at Plymouth in 1355 to a soldier who had been wounded in the French wars. See Sir Nicolas’s Hist, of Navy). An excursion up the Tamar, as far as the Weir-head , and Morwell Rock's is one of the most interesting in the county. Saltash is known for its fishermen, but more so for its fishwomen, who are celebrated for their prowess at the oar, and not unfrequently bear away the prizes at the different regattas. It was an ancient borough previous to the Reform Bill . It is not long since Plymouth was accounted a mean fishing town . Until the conveniency of the haven which without striking sail admitteth into its bosom the tallest ships that be where they ridesafe in either of the two rivers,to take the opportunity of the first wind. Stuart Amos Arnold published an eighteenth-century navigation called The Merchant and Seaman’s Guardian in the British Channel . In it he gave detailed instructions to navigate into the port using the ancient system of seamarks -lining up landmarks by eye to chart a course through and past hazards In sailing into Plymouth take care of the Shovel and Tinker rocks ; on the former is sixteen, on the latter seventeen feet. The mark to sail in clear of them , is to keep Plymouth old church just open to the west of the citadel wall , sail in with this mark till you bring Withy hedge right up and down,and Drake’s island North West or open Mount Edgecombe ,when you may anchor in six and seven fathom of coarse sand If bound forHamoaze,take care of the Winter Rockon which there is a beacon that lies between Drake’s Island and the main landGo between the rock and east part of the islan, and give the island a good birth to clear the German Rock, which lies about two thirds of a cable’s length from the shore , and has a beacon on it ,as soon as you are abreast of the rock , which you will know by running the stone wall on Block-house point right up and down ,
steer over towards Mount Edgecombe till you open the Passagepoint and Blockhouse point; then haul over for Stone-pool , till you have hid Drake’s island behind Block-house point.
And to clear Passage-rock , there is beacon on it bring Stone-house on the Old Gunwharf crane ; run that mark on till you bring a large fall-gate gate ,that is on the hill above the Passagehouse , and the highest chimnies on the Passage-house in one ; then steer safely in for Hamoaze , and anchor in thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen fathom, or less water at pleasure.
These directions give a glimpse into a lost landscape, where patches of willow were significant enough to be landmarks visible from the Sound. Once moored, what might the merchant expect on arrival ? A number of travel writers described seventeenth-century Plymouth, among them Celia Fiennes in her epic journeyThrough England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary in 1698.She was delighted by the appearance of the local stone , which she referred to as ‘marble’ which madePlympton‘look white like snow’.From there she rode down the banks of the River Plym to the town itself.
Plymouth is two parishes called the old town and the new, the houses all built of this marble and the slatt [slate] at the top look like lead and glisters in the sun; there are no great houses in the town; the streets OH! are good and clean, there is a great many though some are narrow ; they are mostly inhabited by seamen and those which have altaiies on the sea, for here up to the town there is a depth of water for shipps of the first rate to ride ; its great sea and dangerous .
ST. GERMANSAugustinian was the seat of a bishop in early times.The bishops of the Celtic churcheswere not hke those of the English; their sphere influence was not defined in the same way.In Ireland a bishop often lived in a monastic settlement and was inferior in rank to Abbot.In Cornwall the Bishop of St. Germans was probably the head of a monastery.Whether his jurisdiction extended over the whole of modern Cornwall, or whether there were not other bishops—at Bodmin, for instance—in the quite early days, is not clear. The first bishop who is named is one Conan, in AthelStan’s time (in 936), but he will not have been actually the first. The last was Burhwold. In 1050 the old See of St. Germans was united with Exeter by Edward the Confessor, and Bishop Leofric, who had formerly had Crediton for his See, moved thither. He is said to have placed canons in St. Germans.But it was Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter in Henry II’s time, who made it a Priory of AuguStinian Canons.So it continued till the Suppression, when its annual value was somewhat under £250.The church has a certain cathedral flavour about it, in that it has two western towers; one is Norman, with an oCtagonal top of the thirteenth century.The other, the southern, has Norman base and Perpendicular upper Storey.Between them is a fine late Norman door.The nave has two Norman piers on the south side, and a Norman font is in the south tower.The original north aisle was pulled down in 1803 and replaced by the pew of the Eliots—the house of Port Eliot is immediately beside the church. The description in the Beauties of "England and Wales (Britton and Bray- ley; this volume was issued in 1801) is rather unwontedly minute and careful.I will quote a good part of it, and the visitor may be interested in comparing it with what he sees now. After describing the western arch it says : “ Over the arch is a pediment with a cross at the top resembling an heraldic cross patee within a circle; on each side is a small pointed window, and above these are three small narrow round-headed windows. [Above these is the main western gable.]“ The north aisle is divided from the nave by five short thick round columns, each connected with a half-pillar opposite to it in the north wall, by a low surbased arch.All the capitals of the columns are square, and curiously ornamented with Saxon (i.e. Norman) sculpture. The third from the weSt end is embellished with grotesque figures having bodies resembling dogs, opposed to each other, with their fore parts meeting at the angle of the capital in one head ;the upper part human, but the lower like a scollop-shell.Above these range six plain arches, some of them apparently of the same age and Style with those in the nave of St. Alban’s Abbey Church, Hertfordshire.“ In several windows of the aisle are a few coats of arms on painted glass.“ The architecture of the south aisle is very dissimilar from that on the
Archaeological discovery of tin ingots at the River Erme estuary wreck such that the local area was a significant tin trading port in ancient times ; it is unclear whether the ingots date from the Iron Age or Sub-Roman periods, however this discovery so close to Burgh Island has drawn comparisons with Diodorus Siculus 1C BCE text, more often associated with St Michaels Mount in Cornwall; "At this time we shall treat of the tin which is dug from the ground.
Those who dwell near Belerium, one of the headlands of Britain, are especially fond of strangers, and on account of their trade with the merchants they have a more civilized manner of living. They collect the tin after the earth has been skillfully forced to yield it.
Although the land is stony, it has certain veins of earth from which they melt and purify the metal which has been extracted. After making this into bars they carry it to a certain island near Britain called Ictis. For although the place between is for the most part covered with water, yet in the middle there is dry ground, and over this they carry a great amount of tin in wagons. . . . Thence the merchants carry into Gaul the tin which they have bought from the inhabitants. And after a journey of thirty days on foot through Gaul, they convey their packs carried by horses to the mouths of the Rhone River." Though the early history of the island is unclear, however it is mentioned in early records and on maps as St Michael's Island. Later the name changed to Borough Island, eventually being corrupted to Burgh. As late as 1947 an Ordnance Survey map refers to the island as Borough Island. In 1908 a postcard produced by Stengel & Co Ltd of London [4] referred to it as Burr Island.
A map published in 1765 shows "Borough or Bur Isle".
THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN. Text A (.Earlier Version).
The prologe of goode Wimmen . A thousand sythes have I herd men telle , That ther is joye in heven , and peyne in helle ; And I acorde wel that hit be so ; But natheles, this wot I wel also ,That ther nis noon that dwelleth in this contre , That either hath in helle or heven y-be , Ne may of hit non other weyes witen , But as ho hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen; For by assay ther may no man hit preve. But goddes forbode, but men shulde leve Wel more thing then men han seen with ye Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lye For that he seigh it nat of yore ago. God wot, a thing is never the lesse so ,Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see. Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde! Than mote we to bokes that we finde, Through which that olde thinges been in minde, And to the doctrine of these olde wyse, Yeven credence, in every skilful wyse, 20 And trowen on these olde aproved stories Of holiness , of regnes , of victories , Of love , of hate , of other sundry thinges , Of whibhe I may not maken rehersinges . And if that olde bokes were a-weye , 25 Y-loren were of remembraunce the keye. Wel oghte us than on olde bokes leve, Text B {Later Version). The prologe of .ix. goode Wimmen. A thousand tymes have I herd men telle, That ther is joye in heven, and peyne in helle; And I acorde wel that hit is so ; But natheles, yit wot I wel also, That ther nis noon dwelling in this contree, 5 That either hath in heven or helle y-be , Ne may of hit non other weyes witen, But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen ; For by assay ther may no man hit preve. But god forbede but men shulde leve 10Wel more thing then men han seen with ye! Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lyg But-if him-self hit seeth, or elles dooth ; For, god wot, thing is never the lasse sooth, Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see. Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde! Than mote we to bokes that we finde , Through which that olde thinges been in minde , And to the doctrine of these olde wyse , Yeve credence, in every skilful wyse, 20 That tellen of these olde appreved stories, Of holinesse, of regnes, of victories,Of love, of hate, of other sundry thinges , Of whiche I may not maken rehersinges. And if that olde bokes were a-weye, 25 Y-loren were of remembraunce the keye. I Wel oghte us than lionouren and beleve
