THE IRISH AND CARLYON
The place name Kelliwic occurs not only in the Arthurian legend but also , as the variant Kaellwig in later Cornish history and is therefore certainly an area of the county and probably one of the Moorland. Although its site is in dispute, the signs are that It will eventually be permitted to settle where it already hovers between the hill forts ofKillybury and Canyke-by-Callywith, that is in the Camel Valley. And this could be to the dismay of sceptics for Camlan also seems to fit this district.Charters clearly demonstrate that the present misnomer A| len, by which the RivoiCamel's tributary is known instead of by its correct name Laine, originally applied to the Camel itself and was accurately rendered ALAN . As this RiverAlan or Cameltwisted and turned, the Cornish epithet 'cam' meaning 'crooked' apparently prefixed not only theword 'heyle' meaning 'estuary' but also on occasion the name Alan. Thus, it would seemthat the present name Camel is a corruption of one or both of the Cornish names for thisriver - Camheyle and CAM ALAN. °It might therefore be interesting to seek the required conditions in the CamelValley. Of six known stones in Cornwall which are inscribed in the Irish script copiprising unconnected strokes and called Ogham, five are on Bodmin Moor and three of thesein the Camel area. Should the sixth seem curiously remote from the others at Truro, wemay be forgiven for remembering that one of Arthur's reputed battle sites was on the 'RiverTreuroit . However and regarding names on the three Camel Ogham stones, that at St.Endellion-which also bears the early Christian Chi Rho symbol, 'X P‘,the first two lettersof the Greek word for Christ - commemorates 'Brocagnus', identified^with the IrishmanBrychan who arrived in Cornwall via Wales. Both names on the WorthyvaleOgham stoneare Roman as is the one on the St. Kew memorial . xAn Irish incursion is certainly evident as is also a lingering Roman usage. Thelatter is hardly surprising in an area where Roman road stones at Boscastle and Tintagelland a 'camp of the legion' at Tregear have been found. Moreover, even AFTER the Romancavalry station at Nanstallon meaning 'Vale of Alan' was abandoned, it is apparent thatagents of Rome used the most accessible route to and from England across this north coastdistrict at least as late as the fourth century when the Tintagel stone was inscribed. Ami,
as some 300 years of contact with Roman custom appears to have influenced the local
In Early Irish literature a
Bríatharogam "word ogham", plural Bríatharogaim is a two wordkenningwhich explains the meanings of the names of the letters of the
Oghamalphabet.
Three variant lists of bríatharogaim or 'word-oghams' have been preserved,
dating to theOld Irishperiod. They are as follows:
Bríatharogam Morainn mac Moín
Bríatharogam Maic ind Óc
Bríatharogam Con Culainn
The first two of these are attested from all three surviving copies of theOgam Tract, while the "Cú Chulainn" version is not in theBook of Ballymoteand only known from 16th-and 17th-century manuscripts.
TheAuraicept na n-Écesor 'Scholars' Primer' reports and interprets the Bríatharogam Morainn mac Moín.
Later Medieval scholars believed that all of the letter names were those of trees, and attempted to explain the bríatharogaim in that light. However, modern scholarship has shown that only eight at most of the letter names are those of trees, and that the word-oghams or kennings themselves support this. The kennings as edited (in normalized Old Irish) and translated by McManus (1988) are as follows:
Letter Meaning Bríatharogam Morainn mac Moín Bríatharogam Maic ind Óc Bríatharogam Con Culainn
ᚁBBeithe'Birch' féochos foltchain "withered foot with fine hair" glaisem cnis "greyest of skin" maise malach "beauty of the eyebrow"
ᚂLLuis'Flame' or 'Herb' lí súla "lustre of the eye" carae cethrae "friend of cattle" lúth cethrae "sustenance of cattle"
ᚃF Fern'Alder' airenach fían "vanguard of warriors" comét lachta "milk container" dín cridi "protection of the heart"
ᚄSSail'Willow' lí ambi pallor of a lifeless one" lúth bech "sustenance of bees" tosach mela "beginning of honey"
ᚅNNin'Branch-fork' costud síde "establishing of peace" bág ban "boast of women" bág maise "boast of beauty"
ᚆHÚath'Fear' condál cúan "assembly of packs of hounds" bánad gnúise "blanching of faces" ansam aidche "most difficult at night"
ᚇDDair'Oak' ardam dosae "highest tree" grés soír "handicraft of a craftsman" slechtam soíre "most carved of craftsmanship"
ᚈ TTinne'Iron Bar' trian roith"one of three parts of a wheel" smiur gúaile"marrow of (char)coal" trian n-airm"one of three parts of a weapon"
ᚉ CColl'Hazel' caíniu fedaib "fairest tree" carae blóesc "friend of nutshells" milsem fedo "sweetest tree"
ᚊQCert'Bush' or 'Rag' clithar baiscill
"shelter of a [lunatic?]" bríg anduini
"substance of an insignificant person" dígu fethail
"dregs of clothing"
ᚋ MMuin'Neck', 'Ruse/Trick' or 'Love;' How about 'breath?' tressam fedmae "strongest in exertion" árusc n-airlig "proverb of slaughter" conar gotha
"path of the voice"
The History of Herodotus, parallel English/Greek: Book 3: Thaleia: 110Arimaspians
These are the extremities in Asia and in Libya; but as to the extremities of Europe towards the West, I am not able to speak with certainty: for neither do I accept the tale that there is a river called in Barbarian tongue Eridanos, flowing into the sea which lies towards the North Wind, whence it is said that amber comes; nor do I know of the real existence of“Tin Islands”from which tin comes to us: for first the name Eridanos itself declares that it is Hellenic and that it does not belong to a Barbarian speech, but was invented by some poet; and secondly I am not able to hear from any one who has been an eye-witness, though I took pains to discover this, that there is a sea on the other side of Europe. However that may be, tin and amber certainly come to us from the extremity of Europe.
115. [1] αὗται μέν νυν ἔν τε τῇ Ἀσίῃ ἐσχατιαί εἰσι καὶ ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέρην ἐσχατιέων ἔχω μὲν οὐκ ἀτρεκέως λέγειν· οὔτε γὰρ ἔγωγε ἐνδέκομαι Ἠριδανὸν καλέεσθαι πρὸς βαρβάρων ποταμὸν ἐκδιδόντα ἐς θάλασσαν τὴν πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον, ἀπ᾽ ὅτευ τὸ ἤλεκτρον φοιτᾶν λόγος ἐστί, οὔτε νήσους οἶδα Κασσιτερίδας ἐούσας, ἐκ τῶν ὁ κασσίτερος ἡμῖν φοιτᾷ. [2] τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἠριδανὸς αὐτὸ κατηγορέει τὸ οὔνομα ὡς ἔστι Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ οὐ βάρβαρον, ὑπὸ ποιητέω δὲ τινὸς ποιηθέν· τοῦτο δὲ οὐδενὸς αὐτόπτεω γενομένου δύναμαι ἀκοῦσαι, τοῦτο μελετῶν, ὅκως θάλασσα ἐστὶ τὰ ἐπέκεινα Εὐρώπης. ἐξ ἐσχάτης δ᾽ ὦν ὁ κασσίτερος ἡμῖν φοιτᾷ καὶ τὸ ἤλεκτρον.
116. Then again towards the North of Europe, there is evidently a quantity of gold by far larger than in any other land: as to how it is got, here again I am not able to say for certain, but it is said to be carried off from the griffins by Arimaspians, a one-eyed race of men. But I do not believe this tale either, that nature produces one-eyed men which in all other respects are like other men. However, it would seem that the extremities which bound the rest of the world on every side and enclose it in the midst, possess the things which by us are thought to be the most beautiful and the most rare.
one intriguing question that arises is whether the tin islands described by ancient Greeks or Romans could be linked to this captivating land. Join us on a journey of exploration and uncover the secrets of Devon's historical connections to these ancient civilizations.
albion and Ivernia
Albion, the earliest-known name for the island of Britain. It was used by ancient Greek geographers from the 4th centuryBCEand even earlier, who distinguished “Albion” from Ierne (Ireland) and from smaller members of the British Isles. The Greeks and Romans probably received the name from the Gauls or the Celts. The name Albion has been translated as “white land”; and the Romans explained it as referring to the chalk cliffs at Dover (Latinalbus, “white”).
IERNE is a better form for the ancient name of Ireland than HIBERNIA, IBERNIA, IVERNIA, &c., both as being nearer the present Gaelic nameEri,and as being the oldest form which occurs.
It is the form found in Aristotle. It is also the form found in the poem attributed to Orpheus on the Argonautic expedition, which, spurious as it is, may nevertheless be as old as the time of Onomacritus (i. e. the reign of the first Darius):----νήσοισινἸέρηισινἆσσονἴκωμαι.(Orpheus, 1164, ed. Leipzig, 1764.)
Aristotle (de Mundo, c.3) writes, that in the ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules “are two islands, called Britannic, very large, Albion and Ierne, beyond the Celtae.” In Diodorus Siculus (5.32) the form is Iris; the island Iris being occupied by Britons, who were cannibals. Strabo (ii. p.107) makes Ierne the farthest voyage northwards from Celtica. It was too cold to be other than barely habitable, the parts beyond it being absolutely uninhabited. The reported distance from Celtica is 500 stadia. The same writer attributes cannibalism to the Irish; adding, however, that his authority, which was probably the same as that of Diodorus, was insufficient. The form in Pomponius Mela is Iverna. In Iverna the luxuriance of the herbage is so great as to cause the cattle who feed on it to burst, unless occasionally taken off. Pliny's form is Hybernia (4.30). Solinus, whose form is Hibernia, repeats the statement of Mela as to the pasture, and adds that no snakes are found there. Warlike beyond the rest of her sex, the Hibernian mother, on the birth of a male child, places the first morsel of food in his mouth with the point of a sword .
oἵερα,writes:-- “Ast in duobus in Sacram,sic insulam Dixere prisci,solibus cursus rataest. Haec inter undas multa cespitem jacit Eamque late gens Hibernorum colit
”Ora Marit.109-113.)
Avienus's authorities were Carthaginian. More important than these scanty notices, and, indeed, more important than all the notices of Ireland put together, is the text of Ptolemy. In this author the details for Ireland (Ἰούρνια) are fuller, rather than scantier, than those for Great Britain. Yet, as Ireland was never reduced, or even explored by the Romans, his authorities must have been other than Latin. Along with this fact must be taken another, viz., that of the earliest notice of Ireland (Ἰέρνη) being full as early as the earliest of Britain; earlier, if we attribute the Argonantic poem to Onomacritus; earlier, too, if we suppose that Hanno was the authority of Avienus.
If not Roman, the authorities for Ierne must have been Greek, or Phoenician,--Greek fromMarseilles,Phoenician from either the mother-country or Carthage. The probabilities are in favour of the latter. On the other hand, early as we may make the first voyage from Carthage (viâ Spain) to Ireland, we find no traces of any permanent occupancy, or of any intermixture of blood. The nameIernewas native; though it need not necessarily have been taken from the Iernians themselves. It may been Iberian (Spanish) as well. Some of the names in Ptolemy--a large proportion--are still current, e. g. Liboius, Senus, Oboca, Birgus, Eblana, Nagnatae, &c.,--Liffy, Shannon, Avoca, Barrow, Dublin, Connaught,&c. Ptolemy gives us chiefly the names of the Irish rivers and promontories, which, although along a sea-board so deeply indented as that of Ireland not always susceptible of accurate identification, are still remarkably true in the general outline. What is of more importance, inasmuch as it shows that his authorities had gone inland, is the fact of seven towns being mentioned:--“Theinlandtowns are these, Rhigia, Rhaeba, Laverus, Macolicum, Dunum, another Rhigia, Turnis.”
Thepopulationsare the Vennicnii and Rhobogdii, inUlster;the Nagnatae, inConnaught;the Erdini and Erpeditani, between the Nagnatae and Vennicnii; the Uterni and Vodiae, inMunster;and the Auteri, Gangani, the Veliborae (or Ellebri), between the Uterni and Nagnatae. This leavesLeinsterfor the Brigantes, Coriondi, Menapii, Cauci, Blanii, Voluntii, and Darnii, the latter of whom may have been inUlster.Besides the inland towns, there was aMenapia(πόλις) and an Eblana (πόλις) on the coast.
Tacitus merely states that Agricola meditated the conquest of Ireland, and that the Irish were not very different from the Britons:--“Ingenia, cultusque hominum haud multum a Britannia differunt.” (Agric.24.)
It is remarkable that on the eastern coast one British and two German names occur,--Brigantes, Cauci, and Menapii. It is more remarkable that two of these names are more or less associated on the continent. The Chauci lie north of the Menapii in Germany, though not directly. The inference from this is by no means easy. Accident is the last resource to the ethnographical philologist; so that more than one writer has assumed a colonisation. Such a fact is by no means improbable. It is not much more difficult for Germans to have been in Wexford in the second century than it was for Northmen to have been so in the eighth, ninth, and tenth. On the other hand, the rootm-n-pseems to have been Celtic, and to have been a common, rather than a proper, name; since Pliny gives us the islandMonapia==Anglesea.No opinion is given as to the nature of these coincidences.
Of none of the Irish tribes mentioned by Ptolemy do we meet any separate substantive notice, a notice of their playing any part in history, or a notice of their having come in contact with any other nation. They appear only as details in the list of the populations of lerne. Neither do theIerniappear collectively in history. They lay beyond the pale of the classical (Roman or Greek) nations, just as did the tribes of Northern Germany and Scandinavia; and we know them only in their geography, not in their history.
But they may have been tribes unmentioned by Ptolemy, whichdoappear in history; or the names of Ptolemy may have been changed. Ptolemy says nothing about anyScoti;but Claudian does. He also connects them with Ireland:-- “madueruntSaxonefuso
Orcades;incaluitPictorumsanguineThule
ScotorumcumulosflevitglacialisIerne.
” (De Tert. Consul. Honorii,72-74.)
Again:-- “totumquumScotusIernen
Movit.
” (In Prim. Consul. Stilich.2.252.)
The extent to which the current opinions as to the early history of the Gaels of Scotland confirm the ideas suggested by the text of Claudian is considered underSCOTIAt present it may be said thatScotimay easily have been either a generic name for some of the tribes mentioned in detail by Ptolemy, or else a British instead of a Gaelic name. At any rate, the Scoti may easily have been, in the time of Ptolemy, an Irish population.
Two other names suggest a similar question,--Belgae, and Attacotti. The claim of the latter to have been Irish is better than that of the former. The Attacotti occur in more than one Latin writer; the Belgae (Fir-bolgs) in the Irish annals only. [SeeATTACOTTIand BELGAE OF BRITANNIA.]
The ethnology of the ancient Ierne is ascertained by that of modern Ireland. The present population belongs to the Gaelic branch of the Celtic stock; a population which cannot be shown to have been introduced within the historical period, whilst the stock of the time of Ptolemy cannot be shown to have been ejected. Hence, the inference that the population of Ierne consisted of the ancestors of the present Irish, is eminently reasonable,--so reasonable that no objections lie against it. That English and Scandinavian elements have been introduced since, is well known. That Spanish (Iberic) and Phoenician elements may have been introduced in the ante-historical period, is likely; the extent to which it took place being doubtful. The most cautious investigators of Irish archaeology have hesitated to pronounce any existing remains either Phoenician or Iberian. Neither are there any remains referable to pagan Rome.
Devon , cornwall , and somerset have a rich history deeply rooted in the mining industry.
Historians will appreciate exploring the historical significance of various products mined in this region. While Devon is primarily known for its extensive tin mining, it's worth mentioning incidentally the other minerals found in Great Britain. The mining of copper, lead, and silver also played a crucial role in shaping the industrial heritage of this picturesque county. In addition to tin, the presence of other minerals in Great Britain cannot be overlooked . Copper, for instance, was highly prized for its malleability and durability. Lead mining, too, left an indelible mark on the history of Devon, as it was widely used for roofing and piping in ancient times. Moreover, silver mining added to the economic importance of the region, with its precious metal being utilized in various industries. Exploring the history of mining in Devon offers historians a fascinating glimpse into the wider context of mineral extraction throughout Great Britain.
"PHŒNICIANS IN DART VALE.
BELSTONE
Derivation of the name—Phœnicians—Taw Marsh—Artillery practice on the moors—Encroachments—The East Okement—Pounds and hut circles—Stone rows on Cosdon—Cranmere Pool—Sticklepath—Christian inscribed stones—South Zeal—West Wyke—North Wyke—The wicked Richard Weekes—South Tawton church—The West Okement—Yes Tor—Camp and Roman road—Throwleigh.
AGOOD deal of pseudo-antiquarianism has been expressed relative to the name of a little moorland parish two and a half miles uphill fromOkehampton. It is now called Belstone, and it has been surmised that here stood a stone dedicated toBaal, whose worship had been introduced by the Phœnicians.
I must really quote one of the finest specimens of "exquisite fooling" I have ever come across. It appeared as a sub-article in theWestern Morning Newsin 1890.
It was headed: —
"PHŒNICIANS IN DART VALE.
[SPECIAL.]
"Much interest, not only local but world-wide, was aroused a few months back by the announcement of a Phœnician survival at Ipplepen, in the person of Mr. Thomas Ballhatchet, descendant of the priest of the SunTemple there, and until lately owner of the plot of land called Baalford, under Baal Tor, a priestly patrimony, which had come down to him through some eighteen or twenty centuries, together with his name and his marked Levantine features and characteristics.
"Such survivals are not infrequent among Orientals, as, for instance, the Cohens, Aaron's family, the Bengal Brahmins, the Rechabites, etc. Ballhatchet's sole peculiarity is his holding on to the land, in which, however, he is kept in countenance in England by the Purkises, who drew the body of Rufus to its grave in Winchester Cathedral on 2nd August, 1100.
"Further quiet research makes it clear beyond all manner of doubt that the Phœnician tin colony, domiciled at Totnes, and whose Sun Temple was located on their eastern sky-line at Ipplepen, have left extensive traces of their presence all the way down the Dart in the identical andunaltered names of places, a test of which the Palestine Exploration Committee record the priceless value. To give but one instance. The beautiful light-refracting diadem which makes Belliver[1]the most striking of all her sister tors, received from the Semite its consecration as 'Baallivyah,' Baal, crown of beauty or glory. The word itself occurs in Proverbs i. 9 and iv. 9, and as both Septuagint and Vulgate so render it, it must have borne that meaning in the third century B C., and in the third century A.D., and, of course, in the interval. There are many other instances quite as close, and any student of the new and fascinating science of Assyriology will continually add to them. A portrait of Ballhatchet, with some notes by an eminent and well-known Semitic scholar, may probably appear in theGraphic; in the meantime it may be pointed out that hisname is typically Babylonian. Not only is there at Pantellaria the gravestone of one Baal-yachi (Baal's beloved), but no less than three clay tablets from the Sun Temple ofSippara(the Bible Sepharvaim) bear the names of Baal-achi-iddin, Baal-achi-utsur, and Baal-achi-irriba. This last, which bears date 22 Sivan (in the eleventh year ofNabonidus, B.C. 540), just two years before the catastrophe which followed on Belshazzar's feast, is in the possession of Mr. W. G. Thorpe,F.S.A.It is in beautiful condition, and records a loan by one Dinkiva to Baal-achi-irriba (Baal will protect his brother), on the security of some slaves."
One really wonders in reading such nonsense as this whether modern education is worth much, when a man could write such trash and an editor could admit it into his paper.
Ballhatchet means the hatchet or gate to a ball,i.e. a mine.
As it happens, there is not a particle of trustworthy evidence that the Phœnicians ever traded directly with Cornwall and Devon. The intermediary traders were theVenetiof what is now Vannes, and the tin trade was carried throughGaultoMarseilles, as is shown by traces left on the old trade route. In the next place, there is no evidence that our British or Ivernian ancestors ever heard the name of Baal. And finally,Belstoneis not named after a stone at all, to return to the point whence we started. InDomesdayit is Bellestham, or the ham, meadow of Belles or Bioll, a Saxon name that remains among us as Beale.
Belstone is situated at the lip of Taw Marsh, once a fine lake, with Steeperton Tor rising above it atthe head. Partly because the river has fretted a way through the joints of the granite, forming Belstone Cleave, and partly on account of the silting up of the lake-bed with rubble brought down by the several streams that here unite, the lake-bed is now filled up with sand and gravel and swamp.
The military authorities coveted this tract for artillery practice. They set up butts, but woman intervened. A very determined lady marched up to them, although the warning red flags fluttered, and planted herself in front of a target, took out of her reticule a packet of ham sandwiches and a flask of cold tea, and declared her intention of spending the day there. In vain did the military protest, entreat, remonstrate; she proceeded to nibble at her sandwiches and defied them to fire.
She carried the day.
Since then Taw Marsh has been the playfield of many children, and has been rambled over by visitors, but the artillery have abstained from practising on it.
The fact is that the military have made the moors aboutOkehamptonimpossible for the visitor, and those who desire to rove over it in pursuit of health have been driven from Okehampton to Belstone, and object to be moved on further.
What with the camp at Okehampton and the prisons atPrincetownand encroachments on every side, the amount of moorland left open to the rambler is greatly curtailed.
The privation is not only felt by the visitor but also by the farmer, who has a right to send outhis sheep and cattle upon the moor in summer, and in times of drought looks to this upland as his salvation.
A comparison between what the Forest of Dartmoor was at the beginning of this century and its condition to-day shows how inclosures have crept on—nay, not crept, increased by leaps; and what is true of the forest is true also of the commons that surround it. Add to the inclosed land the large tract swept by the guns at Okehampton, and the case becomes more grave still. The public have been robbed of their rights wholesale. Not a word can now be raised against the military. TheTransvaal Warhas brought home to us the need we have to become expert marksmen, and theForest of Dartmoorseems to offer itself for the purpose of a practising-ground. Nevertheless, one accepts the situation with a sigh.
There is a charming excursion up theEast Okementfrom the railway bridge to Cullever Steps, passing on the way a little fall of the river, not remarkable for height but for picturesqueness. There is no path, and the excursion demands exertion.
On Belstone Common is a stone circle and near it a fallen menhir. The circle is merely one of stones that formed a hut, which had upright slabs lining it within as well as girdling without.
Under Belstone Tor, among the "old men's workings" by the Taw, an experienced eye will detect ablowing-house, but it is much dilapidated.
TheTawand an affluent pour down from the central bog, one on each side of Steeperton Tor,and from the east the small brook dances into Taw Marsh. Beside the latter, on the slopes, are numerouspoundsandhut circles, and near its source is astone circle, of which the best uprights have been carried off for gateposts. South of it is amenhir, the Whitmoor Stone, leaning, as the ground about it is marshy. Cosdon, or, as it is incorrectly called occasionally, Cawsand, is a huge rounded hill ascending to 1,785 feet, crowned with dilapidatedcairnsand ruinedkistvaens. East of the summit, near the turf track from South Zeal, is a cairn that contained three kistvaens. One is perfect, one wrecked, and of the third only the space remained and indications whence the slabs had been torn. From these three kistvaens in one mound start three stone rows that are broken through by the track, but can be traced beyond it for some way; they have been robbed, as the householders of South Zeal have been of late freely inclosing large tracts of their common, and have taken the stones for the construction of walls about their fields.
By ascending the Taw, Cranmere Pool may be reached, but is only so far worth the visit that the walk to and from it gives a good insight into the nature of the central bogs. The pool is hardly more than a puddle. Belstone church is not interesting; it was rebuilt, all but the tower, in 1881. Under Cosdon nestles Sticklepath. "Stickle" is the Devonshire for steep. Here is a holy well near an inscribed stone. A second inscribed stone is by the roadside to Okehampton. At Belstone are two more, but none of these bear names. They areChristian monuments of the sixth, or at latest seventh, century. At Sticklepath was a curious old cob thatched chapel, but this has been unnecessarily destroyed, and a modern erection of no interest or
Inscribed Stone, Sticklepath
beauty has taken its place. South Zeal is an interesting little village, through which ran the old high-road, but which is now left on one side. For long it was a treasury of interesting old houses; many have disappeared recently, but the "Oxenham Arms," the seat of the Burgoyne family, remains, the fine old village cross, and the chapel, of granite.Above South Zeal, on West Wyke Moor, is the house that belonged to the Battishill family, with a ruined cross near it. The house has been much spoiled of late; the stone mullions have been removed from the hall window, but the ancient gateway, surmounted by the Battishill arms, and with the date 1656, remains untouched. It is curious, because one would hardly have expected a country gentleman to have erected an embattled gateway during the Commonwealth, and in the style of the early Tudor kings. In the hall window are the arms of Battishill, impaled with a coat that cannot be determined as belonging to any known family. In the same parish of South Tawton is another old house, North Wyke, that belonged to the Wyke or Weekes family. The ancient gatehouse and chapel are interesting; they belong, in my opinion, to the sixteenth century, and to the latter part of the same. The chapel has a corbel, the arms of Wykes and Gifford; and John Wyke of North Wyke, who was buried in 1591, married the daughter of Sir Roger Gifford. The gateway can hardly be earlier. The house was built by the same man, but underwent great alteration in the fashion introduced from France by Charles II., when the rooms were raised and the windows altered intocroisées.
Touching this house a tale is told.
About the year 1660 there was a John Weekes of North Wyke, who was a bachelor, and lived in the old mansion along with his sister Katherine, who was unmarried, and his mother. He was a manof weak intellect, and was consumptive. John came of age in 1658. In the event of his death without will his heir would be his uncle John, his father's brother, who died in 1680. This latter John had a son Roger.
Now it happened that there was a great scamp of the name of Richard Weekes, born at Hatherleigh, son of Francis Weekes of Honeychurch, possibly a remote connection, but not demonstrably so.
He was a gentleman pensioner of Charles II., but spent most of his leisure time in the Fleet Prison. One day this rascal came down from London, it is probable at the suggestion of consumptive John's mother and sister, who could not be sure what he, with his feeble mind, might do with the estate.
Richard ingratiated himself into the favour of John, and urged him not to risk his health in so bleak and exposed a spot as South Tawton, but to seek a warmer climate, and he invited him to Plymouth. The unsuspicious John assented.
When John was cajoled to Plymouth, Richard surrounded him with creatures of his own, a doctor and two lawyers, who, with Richard's assistance, coaxed, bullied, and persuaded the sickly John into making a deed of settlement of all his estate in favour of Richard. The unhappy man did this, but with a curious proviso enabling him to revoke his act by word as well as by deed. Richard had now completely outwitted John's mother and sister, who had been conspirators with him, on the understanding that they were to share the spoils.
After a while, when it was clear that John was
North Wyke Gate House
dying, Richard hurried him back to North Wyke, where he expired on Saturday, September 2ist,
1661, but not till he had been induced by his mother and sister to revoke his will verbally, for they had now learned how that the wily Richard had got the better of them.
Next day, Sunday, Richard Weekes arrived, booted and spurred, at the head of a party of men he had collected. With sword drawn he burst into the house, and when Katherine Weekes attempted to bar the way he knocked her down. Then he drove the widow mother into a closet and locked the door on her. He now cleared the house of the servants, and proceeded to take possession of all the documents and valuables that the mansion contained. Poor John's body lay upstairs: no regard was paid to that, and, saying "I am come to do the devil's work and my own," he drove Katherine out of the house, and she was constrained to take refuge for the night in a neighbouring farm. The widow, Mary Weekes, was then liberated and also turned out of doors.
The heir-at-law was the uncle John, against whom Mary and Katherine Weekes had conspired with the scoundrel Richard. This latter now sought Uncle John, made him drunk, and got him to sign a deed, when tipsy, conveying all his rights to the said Richard for the sum of fifty pounds paid down. Richard was now in possession. The widow thereupon brought an action in Chancery against Richard. The lawyers saw the opportunity. Here was a noble estate that might be sucked dry, and they descended on it with this end in view.
The lawsuit was protracted for forty years, from 1661 to 1701, when the heirs of the wicked Richard retained the property, but it had been so exhausted and burdened, that the suit was abandoned undecided. Richard Weekes died in 1670.
The plan resorted to in order to keep possession after the forcible entry was this. The son of Richard Weekes had married a Northmore of Well, in South Tawton, and the Northmores bought up all the debts on the estate and got possession of the mortgages, and worked them persistently and successfully against the rightful claimants till, worried and wearied out, and with empty purses, they were unable further to pursue the claim. In 1713 the estate was sold by John Weekes, the grandson of Richard, who had also married a Northmore, and North Wyke passed away from the family after having been in its possession since the reign of Henry III.
It was broken up into two farms, and the house divided into two. Recently it has, however, been repurchased by a descendant of the original possessors, in a female line, the Rev. W. Wykes Finch, and the house is being restored in excellent taste.
In South Tawton church is a fine monument of the common ancestor, John Wyke, 1591. The church has been renovated, monumental slabs sawn in half and used to line the drain round the church externally. With the exception of the sun-dial, bearing the motto from Juvenal, "Obrepet non intellecta senectus"and a Burgoyne monument and that of "Warrior Wyke," the church does not present muchof interest at present, whatever it may have done before it fell into the hands of spoilers.
The West Okement comes down from the central bogs through a fine "Valley of Rocks," dividing and forming an islet overgrown with wild rose and whortleberry. Above it stands Shilstone Tor, telling by its name that on it at one time stood a cromlech, which has been destroyed. This valley furnishes many studies for the artist.
Hence Yes Tor may be ascended, for long held to be the highest elevation on Dartmoor. The highest peak it is, rising to 2,030 feet, but it is over-topped by the rounded High Willhayes, 2,039 feet. Between Yes Tor and Mill Tor is a rather nasty bog. Mill Tor consists of a peculiar granite; the feldspar is so pure that speculators have been induced to attempt to make soda-water bottles out of it, by fusing without the adjunct of other materials.
On the extreme edge of a ridge above the East Okement, opposite Belstone Tor, is a camp, much injured by the plough. Apparently from it leads a paved raised causeway or road, presumed to be Roman; but why such a road should have been made from a precipitous headland above the Okement, and whither it led, are shrouded in mystery. Near this road, in 1897, was found a hoard of the smallest Roman coins, probably the store of some beggar, which he concealed under a rock, and died without being able to recover it. All pertained to the years between A.D. 320 and 330.
Of Okehampton I will say nothing here, as the place has had a chapter devoted to it in myBook ofthe West—too much space, some might say, for in itself it is devoid of interest. Its charm is in the scenery round, and its great attraction during the summer is the artillery camp on the down above Okehampton Park. On the other side of Belstone, Throwleigh may be visited, where there are numerous prehistoric relics. There were many others, but they have been destroyed, amongst others a fine inclosure like Grimspound, but more perfect, as the inclosing wall was not ruinous throughout, and the stones were laid in courses. The pulpit of Throwleigh church is made up of old bench-ends.
- Jump up↑Belliver is a modern contraction of Bellaford, as Redever is Redaford.
the Ravenna Cosmography identifies a major regional Roman-era settlement as Nemetostatio in central Dumnonia identified with North Tawton , Devon , which would translate from Latin as
*The Outpost of the Sacred Grove*
The south-west
The first section of the Ravenna Cosmography to deal with Britain, covering 10546 to 1065, is obscure but nevertheless generally recognised as dealing with south-western England . Why it should have been separated out by the Cosmographer is not at all clear.
Rivet and Smith (1979, 197) see it as evidence for a special source covering this area in greater detail than the rest of Britain.
This does not seem a necessary hypothesis for reasons to be given.
Indeed, the words that introduce the next section, ‘Again, next to the aforementioned civitas Isca Dumnoniorum’ iterum iuxta superscriptam ciuitatem scadumnamorum , strongly hint that the Cosmographer is looking at the same map as he used as a source for this section.
We will see many instances of the Cosmographer duplicating names throughout his text, the most startling being *Moridunum* , Sidford, which is repeated no less than four times. However, they are not noticeably more common in this section than in those that follow. Had he employed a special and separate source for the south-west, it is difficult to see how he would have integrated the information he derived from it with that he derived from his main source without making many more such duplications. We would on this hypothesis also expect the following long section which covers the province or diocese of Britannia to contain a few names relating to the south-western peninsula which the Cosmographer had not noticed as duplications: we do not find them.
Arguments e silentio are never strong; more telling are the duplications within this section that cannot be the result of taking names from two different sources.
For instance, the name*Antiuesteum*appears twice, at , in both cases with virtually the same truncation.
This truncation may well have occurred if the first three or four letters of the name were written ‘in the sea’ on the Cosmographer’s postulated map source . The same error of reading is extremely unlikely to have occurred as a result of using two separate source documents.
There are thus no compelling reasons to believe that the Cosmographer was using a separate and fuller source for the south-west of Britain than for the remainder of the island. True enough, the density of names in the peninsula is high, but it is also high in Cumbria and between the Roman walls . The contrast is not so much with a low density in the remainder of the province, but with specific areas, such as Wales and East Anglia, very poorly represented.
This does not solve the problem of why the Cosmographer should have seenIsca Dumnoniorum, Exeter, as a point at which to insert a break in his listing. The Peutinger Table may offer a clue: although Britain is severely truncated, with only East Anglia and Kent appearing on the surviving copy, Moridunum and Isca Dumnoniorum are also shown without any intervening south-coast places.
It is possible that Isca Dumnoniorum was depicted as prominent in some way, perhaps isolated on a promontory or, as seems more likely, as the gateway to .
In this way the Cosmographer might have decided to break his text at a point which appeared dictated by the geography of the region. He does so further north, where his listing of the Antonine Wall forts occurs ‘where that same Britain is seen to be narrowest from sea to sea’ubi et ipsa britania plus angustissima de oceano in oceanum esse dinoscitur.
Although this was not the primary reason for inserting a break at this latter point, the Cosmographer was clearly sensitive to the depicted shape of the island.
14
On the other hand, we should perhaps take into account the curious fact that the Civitas Dumnoniorum (basically the Cornish peninsula west of Exeter) appears to have been a part of Britain virtually unaffected by those changes to élite behaviour usually termed ‘romanisation’. Is it possible that much of it lay outside provincial or diocesan control and that some kind of border was depicted on the Cosmographer’s map source as separating the south-western peninsula from the rest of Britain? In that case, Isca Dumnoniorum may have been prominent as a point of contact between the wilds of the far south-west and the more ‘civilised’ Durotriges (or Durotrages, following RIB 1673: the form of the name is very uncertain according to Rivet & Smith 1979, 352) to the east. Group 1: the Cornish Peninsula V ¶31 in qua britania plurimas fuisse ciuitates et castra legimus ex quibus aliquantas designare uolumus id est:
Giano Barnstaple 10546
Eltabo River Taw 10546
Elconio River Torridge ? 10547
Nemestotatio North Tawton 10547
Puro coronauis ? 10548
Pilais ? 10549
Vernilis Liskeard ? 10549
Ardua rauenatone River Dart 10550
Deuionisso Statio ? 10551
deuentia steno Buckfastleigh / Totnes ? 10551/10552
Duriarno Plymouth 10552
Vxelis Barnstaple ? 1061
Verteuia Land’s End 1061 = 1069
This group appears to take us on a general perambulation of the Cornish Peninsula and adjacent area
*Taua, the second name, is clearly the River Taw .
*Nemetostatio is probably the fort at North Tawton, which is in an area where a group of modern names containing the elementsNymetandNemetare found .
The identification of*Conio*with Ptolemy’s must therefore be questioned as the general progression seems to be from north-east to southwest.
It may refer theRiver Torridge, although this is a Celtic name, derived from a Brittonic *Torric-, ‘violent, rough’.
*Glano*should therefore be somewhere in north Devon, perhaps in the vicinity of Barnstaple.
Tamaris, this a site on the River Tamar , perhaps at the crossing at Launceston , not the river itself , as the name recurs in the list of river-names . *Durocornouio* and *Pilais*
Britannia in the Ravenna Cosmography: a reassessment K J Fitzpatrick-Matthews
15
cannot now be identified. Charles Thomas (1966a, 87) originally identified the former with The Rumps, a pre-Roman defended enclosure.
More recently, he suggested that it might be Tintagel, the site of an important sub-Roman trading settlement, although its Romano-British status is not clear . *Vernilis* may be the , perhaps near Liskeard ; the correct RomanoBritish form may have been *Verleua.
The Cosmographer’s form would have arisen by way of a transposition of-l-and -u-, the latter being miscopied as -n-.
The next name must be for * Deruentione, the River Dart, so the Cosmographer’s eye may have moved from travelling along the spine of Cornwall, following the poorly known road along the centre of the peninsula, and he has possibly now turned his attention to the road south from Exeter, closer to the south Devon coast.
Deuionisso Statio and *Deruentio Statio (which are wrongly divided in the text) are probably unlocated Roman government establishments, perhaps tax offices. The latter may have lain in the Dart valley (Dart being Brittonic *Deruentiu: Ekwall 1928, 114), perhaps at Buckfastleigh or Totnes, and the former perhaps near Newton Abbot or elsewhere on the River Teign. The next name, Duriarno, is probably not the same as Durnouaria (Dorchester), as suggested by Rivet & Smith (1979, 345) following Horsley (1732, 490), since it is probably not corrupt (compare the Arnodurum quoted by Williams (Richmond & Crawford 1949, 32), which shows the more usual ‘continental’ ordering of elements). Instead, it may be the name of a site in the vicinity of Plymouth where the inhumation cemetery at Mount Batten and a sequence of coins attest a settlement of some importance (Thomas 1966a, 86). Uxelis is too far west to be the same as Ptolemy’s Οὔξελλα (II.3, 13), which must be on the River Parrett, his Οὐεξάλλα εἴσχυσις (II.3,2), and may be a site or river in Cornwall, perhaps the Fowey or the Fal, unless it is an example of a name written to the west of its symbol on the map source. If this is the case, then it may have been near Barnstaple (Strang 1997, 30). Group 2: the south Devon and Cornish coast Melamoni Sidford ? 1062 = 1064/1069/10613 Scadumnamorum Exeter ,TermoninMesteuia -Land’s End
The mention of Moridunum, Sidford , for the first time indicates a change of direction, and there are now hints of an ordering of names with a general progression from east to west. The -l- for -r- in Moridunum is also found in the next section; it may be that the name was very difficult to read in the Cosmographer’s source. It is unlikely to have occurred as a result of misreading two separate documents, further evidence for the essential unity of the Cosmographer’s sources. The unlocated *Terminum would have been somewhere between Exeter and Land’s End, an admittedly imprecise location. The River Gowy in Cheshire was formerly known as the aqua de Tervin (‘water of Tarvin’) in 1209, the name deriving from the Latin terminus, ‘boundary’, via Welsh Terfyn (Dodgson 1970, 26), which has been retained by a large parish and village. Although the origin of the latter name is generally sought in the post-Roman politics of the region (Bu’Lock 1972, 24), it is probable that the River Gowy was the eastern boundary of the prata legionis of the fortress at Chester. Could a similar origin be suggested for this name, at the western boundary of the prata legionis of the early fortress at Exeter or the territorium of the later capital of the CivitasDumnoniorum?
Somerset Milidunum Sidford
Apaunaris Bath
Masona Camerton? 1065
Alouergium Shepton Mallett 1065
The Cosmographer returns to Moridunum, with the same peculiar -l-for -r-as in the previous group, and a similarly logical ordering of names this time jumping north-eastward and then working back to the starting-point identifyApaunariswithAquae Sulis, Bath, perhaps correctly, so the two remaining names may relate to sites between Bath and Sidford.
<Masona> suggests a name derived from that of a river, although which cannot now be ascertained; it perhaps refers to the small town at Camerton. The name is corrupt. *Alobergium should be in a hilly location, probably near the Mendip Hills at Shepton Mallett, where parts of a Romano-British small town have recently been identified.
TIN
The Phoenicians traded with England for more than 1100 years before the Christian era.
Under the Saxons, our tin mines appear to have been neglected; but under the Normans, they produced considerable revenues to the earls of Cornwall, particularly to Richard,
brother of Henry III. A charter and various immunities were granted by Edmund, earl Richard’s brother, who framed the Stannary Laws {which see), laying a duty on the tin. Edward III. confirmed the tinners in their privileges, and erected Cornwall into a dukedom, with which he invested his son, Edward the Black Prince, 1337. Since that
time the heirs-apparent to the crown of England, if eldest sons, have enjoyed it successively. Tin mines were discovered in
Germany, which lessened the value of those in England, till then the only tin mines in Europe, 1240.— Anderson. Discovered in Barbary, 1640 ; in India, 1740; in New Spain, 1782. In 1859 783 tons; in i860,
10,462 tons; in 1864, 10,108 tons; in 1865, 10,039 tons; in 1870, 10,200 ton ; in 1874, 9942 t,ons; in 1876, 8500 tons ; in 1879 9532 tons; 1882, 9158 tons; in 1884, 9,574 tons ; in 1887, 9,282 tons; in 1888, 9,241,
in 1889, 8,912, in 1890, 9,602 tons, 1893, 8*837 tons of metallic tin were procured from British mines. Of tin plates 3,953,04
TIN. 81
discovery of Great Britain by the Romans. The mercantile Phoenicians traded to the Scilly islands, the Cassiterides, or land of tin, from the port of Cadiz, four hundred years before Christ. The Romans, for a
considerable time, could not discover the place from whence the former procured the precious metal. They attempted to detect the trade, by following the course of a Phoenician vessel; but the master, faithful to
the interest of his country, voluntarily run his ship ashore in another place; preferring the loss of all, rather than sillier n. foreign nation to become partakers of so profitable a secret. The public immediately
compensated Iris loss out of its treasury. This did but make the Romans more eager for the discovery; and after many trials they succeeded. Publius Crassus (father of Marcus Crassus the Triumvir) who was
praetor, and governed Spain for several years, landed in the Cassiterides, and found the report of their riches verified1. As soon as the Romans made a conquest of the country, they formed in the tin province
camps and roads, still visible; and left behind vases, urns, sepulchres, and money, that exhibit daily proofs of their having been a stationary people in those parts”
1; and that Dunmonium extended even to the Belerian promontory, or the Land’s-end;
1 Strabo, lib. iii. p. 240. 1,1 Borlase, Antiq. Cornwall, p. 278 to 309.
Rivers and navigable creeks, p. 36. Tamar, Lynher, p. 38. Tide, or Tidi, p. 40. Seaton, ib.
Loo, or Eaft-Loo, ibid. ProfpoCt of Loo Bridge," ib. Duloo, or Weft Loo river, p. 41. fawy, ib.
Fal, 42, and it’s harbour. Hel, or Heyl river in Kerricr, p. 43. Lo or Low river in Kerrier, p 44.
A1
Heyl in Penwith, ibid. Ganal creek, p. 45. River Alan, al Lamel, ibid. Wade navigable rivers in
may be made notbeneficial, p. 47. Subject: to obftrudtions, p. 49.