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Registered Charity No.1055654

From the PresidentIt has been a good year in many ways, but before I go on to report on the progress we have made, we also have to record some sad losses from the membership this year. One of these was Pete Nicholas, who for many years undertook invaluable survey work for the CAS, and who died last year. Another major figure in Cornish archaeology, Roger Mercer, the original excavator of

Carn Brea, died recently as well. I did not have the good fortune to know either of them, but they were very well known to many of our members and the contributions of both men have been recorded in our Newsletters.

Your Trustees have continued to meet regularly over the past twelve months in the Barham Room of the Royal Cornwall Museum, with the kind permission of the Director, and with

the invaluable assistance of Anna Tyacke, who opens the museum for us and gets the room ready and provides the essential tea and biscuits. The museum also allows us to use it as our postal address, and we really are grateful for the facilities they offer us.

This year we welcomed a new Hon. Treasurer, Richard Hoskins, and an old Hon. Secretary, Roger Smith, who to my everlasting gratitude and relief, agreed to resume this post after we lost our previous Secretary. Both officers have done an amazing job – Richard by bringing order and coherence to our management accounts and Roger by keeping tabs on everything that is going on, keeping wonderful records and keeping everyone in the loop. I can't thank either of them enough. This is just a snapshot of some of the many and varied activities that Rogers undertakes on our behalf.

He routinely receives numerous requests for information. Many are seeking information about certain sites or features. Others are unorthodox, such as a television company specialising in the paranormal seeking suggestions for a suitable location for filming. Fortunately, reference to the

Newsletter 150 June 2019

Caroline Dudley (Cornwall Archaeological Society), Professor Klaus Oeggl (University of Innsbruck), Dr Andy Jones (Prehistoric Society), Ian Wall (Royal Institution of Cornwall). Photograph N Foley

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‘default’ cancellations, i.e. members who didn’t pay a membership fee for 2018 without any contact. At the moment the membership stands at 358 single and 58 double memberships (plus 8 non-paying institutions). This brings the total number of members to 474, having taken off those who have officially cancelled this year. As in the years before, the total number will go down considerably if taking into account the high number of members who have so far neither reacted to the reminders in the Newsletters nor to the personal reminders; a high number of those have joined only in 2018. The problem might be that they are not sufficiently aware, when they join, that the subscription runs from January to December and not a year from their joining date.

I mentioned that Pete Nicholas did important survey work for CAS and others – he used geophysical survey equipment belonging to the Saltash Heritage Trust. After his death, Saltash H T decided that they no longer wanted to own this equipment and offered it to the CAS for a nominal sum, provided that we took over the storage and insurance. This the Trustees agreed to do last autumn, and the equipment is now looked after by Les Dodd, so it will continue to be available for our use in future.

Another priority for the Trustees this year has been to make sure that as a registered charity our policies and procedures are up to date. It started with the dreaded GDPR, if you remember – the General Data Protection Regulations which are intended to help us keep our own data safe. It meant amongst other things that we needed a Privacy Policy for our members,which is now on our website. At the same time, as a result of growing concern in society in general about safeguarding and welfare, the Charity Commission encouraged all registered charities to draw up their own policies, and in response to this our committee has drawn up a safeguarding and welfare policy and a volunteer policy, which covers both the Society's obligations to its members and the obligations of volunteers when they are working on behalf of the Society. Again, these policies are now available on our website. Here I have to thank Cathy Parkes for her help in drawing up these policies, attending a seminar on the subject and passing on what she gleaned to the rest of us. Because of her interest in this subject Cathy has agreed to act as our Safeguarding and Welfare representative on the committee.

Cathy is also our Excursions Officer, and the excursions this

excellent Cornwall mapping website, or past journals, often yields an answer. If not, an appeal to fellow trustees usually results in the desired information. Some enquirers are over-ambitious about the nature and reach of the society, believing that we have full-time archaeologists ready and equipped to carry out excavations and surveys. Nonetheless, the number of enquiries and their varied sources indicate that the society is considered (rightly) to be at the centre of matters relating to Cornwall’s past.Members are encouraged to contact Roger if they have a query or if they just wish to share some snippet of information

about local archaeology.Richard has also taken on another really important project for the CAS with the invaluable help of Konstanze Rahn, our membership secretary, which is to reclaim as much Gift Aid as possible on our subscriptions. This scheme has been in abeyance for a few years, but after extensive consultations with HMRC etc. Richard was able to confirm that we can do this, and Konstanze had the enormous task of getting as many members as possible to re-submit gift aid forms so that we could claim back this money. We can reclaim 25% of the membership fee on behalf of all members who pay tax, and have been able to reclaim over £2000. So far we have gift aid forms from about a quarter of our members, and we would really like everyone who is eligible to give us permission on their behalf. We know that many members signed a gift aid form in the past, but unfortunately the rules have changed and there is a new form which needs to be signed. Forms are available from Konstanze Rahn if you need one. I will seize this opportunity to say as well that it would help Konstanze enormously if you would also set up standing orders for your subs – it will save her chasing people over and over. She says that still only about 50% of members have set up a standing order, and it would be so helpful if everyone could do it. With online banking these days it is so easy to cancel if need be, so it's really not an onerous commitment. The income from Gift Aid helps the Society to keep the subscription fee at the current level, which I am sure we all welcome.

Konstanze reports that the positive trend of the last years regarding membership has continued this year; the great number of new members off-set the cancellations due to death, old age, ill health or other reasons, especially the

Archaeology in Cornwall Day at Truro College. Photograph SW Fletcher

Combined CAS and DAS day at Pentille Photograph SW Fletcher

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Wheal Martyn museum – and their meetings are really enjoyable and informative.CAS cooperation with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit continues to be a strength for archaeology in Cornwall and it is great advantage to have Andy Jones on the committee – hopefully an advantage to both organisations. An example of this is an exciting forthcoming research and survey project which is coming up shortly as a spin off from the work on the new A30 between Carland Cross and Chiverton, for which Andy will be looking for volunteers from CAS members.

I have already mentioned Anna Tyacke in connection with our meetings in the museum, but I should also mention her contribution to our committee meetings. Anna is the Finds Liaison Officer for Cornwall, which means that she is responsible for liaising with metal detectorists in Cornwall and encouraging them to bring their finds to her for identification and logging on the finds.org.uk database on line. She is also responsible for shepherding finds which are designated as Treasure (ie gold and silver etc.) through the coroners court, and last year alone she had 19 Treasure cases and a further four already this year. Some of the objects found are on display in the RCM at the moment, including a lovely Iron Age terret ring from Porthleven, an Iron Age bridle bit and mount from St. Erth and a selection of Roman Republican denarii.

As President I have been attending meetings of a forum called Heritage Kernow which is convened by the heritage section of Cornwall Council. The current preoccupation is in drawing up guidelines, mainly for the use of planners and developers, on identifying and preserving the cultural distinctiveness of Cornwall. At the same time, work is in hand on a Heritage Strategy for Cornwall, which will eventually involve consultation with interested parties. This is something that CAS needs to involve itself with and gives us the opportunity to feed in the knowledge that the Society has built up over many years.

Finally and by no means least, the editors of our Journal and the Newsletter have done a tremendous job this year. Pete Rose and Graeme Kirkham are on track to produce two volumes of the Journal this year, bringing us pretty well up to date , and the quality of both the Journal and the Newsletter under the editorship of Steve Fletcher are remarkable for a small society.

There are many other people I would like to thank who help the Society in so many ways, from Jenny Hancock and her wonderful biscuits to Adrian Rodda, who sends out the Journals and mans the bookstall at events. Too many people to mention, but thank you all for making this society such a success this past year.

Caroline DudleyPresident

year explored many kinds of sites and historic landscape across Cornwall; urban edge and industrial (Liskeard), medieval heartland (Cardinham), estuarine and coastal (The Rumps), parkland (Pentillie) and downs (Zennor). As in previous years we shared an excursion with DAS, at Pentillie. The day there included lunch at the Castle and this might be a kind of experience we could enjoy again elsewhere! The Risk Assessment process has been adapted and Outdoor First Aid course completed, and walks as well as other activities have been included in our review of Health, Safety and Welfare policies and practices. The range of excursions is thanks to the varied interests and knowledge of members, landowners and others. Cathy says contributions made through suggesting, designing, accommodating and guiding walks are very welcome. In future programmes it would be great to build on this variety if possible, including through more walks with joint leaders contributing different archaeological perspectives, perhaps even combining archaeology with different strands of environmental interest. Other issues arising include potential for designing more walks to be accessible by public transport as achieved at Liskeard.

A new programme of walks is now out, beginning on Sunday, 19th May with a visit to Week St. Mary and Penhallam moated mansion, led by Cathy and Nick Johnson. Remember that date, because while the whole programme will be in the June Newsletter, May comes before June, so please put it in your diary now. The programme will also be on the website, of course, and even possibly on the Facebook page.

Winter means lectures, and we have had some wonderful talks. It started in Truro with Pete Herring talking about transhumance in Cornwall, and culminated with Jenny Moore's tour de force, the lecture by Professor Klaus Oeggl of Innsbruck university on his research on the body of Oetzi the Neolithic iceman from the Alps. This was a real triumph – Jenny learned that Prof Oeggl was going to give a lecture in Devon and managed to persuade him to extend his visit to Cornwall. We managed to squeeze 150 people into the main gallery of the RCM to hear him, and the museum staff actually did a live video of him speaking, which I believe is still available on the museum's Facebook page. It was fascinating the detail that it was possible to extract from the iceman about his diet, his actions on the day he died, his genetic origins etc. Using the museum as a lecture venue worked well, and consequently the committee has decided that next season's lectures will all be held there, taking advantage of their new av system.

The lecture programme in Liskeard was also very successful and well-attended, in spite of some horrible weather on some evenings, and once again we are very grateful to Jenny Moore, our Lectures Officer, for all her hard work in finding lecturers, preparing the venues and looking after them while they are here.

Iain Rowe and his team of Area Representatives continue to do a remarkable job in keeping a watchful eye on the county's historic sites and monuments and reporting any problems, changes and discoveries. Area reps cover most of the parishes in Cornwall, but there are vacancies, and Iain would be very pleased if any more volunteers were to step forward to look after some of the vacant parishes. Area Reps are given training for the role and meet regularly to exchange reports and hear presentations – they meet generally at

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Iron Age chariot and harness ornaments bringing their coins to life The Royal Institution of Cornwall has recently acquired these two decorated bronze ornaments associated with Iron Age chariots and horse harness which date from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD and are on display in the PAS case on the Balcony. The winged terret ring (CORN-F6FD0F) was found by Rosemary Rundle in Breage parish and donated by Edward Coode. Terret rings were used widely in Iron Age and Roman Britain to harness pairs of horses for pulling carts and chariots. They were generally produced in sets of five, with four smaller terrets on the yoke and one larger ring like this one through which the reins would be gathered. So there are likely more to be found! The bridle bit (CORN-C36586) is in two pieces with a cheek ring mount and two links from the center of the bit. The square plate of the mount is decorated with an ‘S-curve’, inlaid with red enamel, which is illustrated here by George Scott to show the plate in plan and the mount in profile. It was found in St Erth parish by Dave Edwards.

Those members who are also RIC members would have read about the hoard of Iron Age and Roman coins found in St Levan (CORN-D6A344 & CORN-D4A789) in the RIC Spring newsletter in 2017, where the gold staters like this one often have horses and chariot wheels on the reverse. I have managed, after a year of applications to the Art Fund, V&A

Purchase Grant Fund and the Headley Trust, to secure enough external funding for the RIC to purchase the hoard with its unique mix of Iron Age gold coins and Roman Republican silver coins, some of which were still being used almost two hundred years later when the hoard was deposited around AD 69.

There are few other hoards buried after the Roman Conquest in AD 43 with Iron Age and Roman coins that have been

found together in the country as a whole, and even individual Iron Age coins are rare in Cornwall. The Iron Age coins minted by tribes not normally represented this far west, such as the Belgae and the Atrebates, probably travelled

westwards with the Roman coins as a result of Roman military activity in the 1st century AD. This suggests that although the Roman invasion of these areas did lead to a speedy replacement of the existing Iron Age coinages with the new Roman coinage, there was a limited amount of intermingling of these coinages in the earliest years of the Roman occupation of southern Britain. This incredibly important find shows the transition from an independent Iron Age Cornwall, to one which is having to cope with Roman ingress while continuing to trade with its continental as well as its British neighbours.

The hoard will be on display on the Balcony at the Royal Cornwall Museum with a donations box beside it from May

Regini quarter stater. Photograph A Tyacke © RIC

Winged Terret Ring. Photograph A Tyacke © RIC

Bridle bit and mount. Photograph A Tyacke © RIC

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and I invite members to come and see the quality of the coins and to donate and support the RIC’s contribution towards the total cost of acquisition.

Anna Tyacke

Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officer for Cornwall

Summary of a talk on Researching Tintagel, Dumnonia and post Roman Britain by Jacky Nowakowski.Many CAS members were involved in the 2016 and 2017 excavations at Tintagel. In late 2016, I had just joined the Meneage Archaeological Group and the memories of the 2016 reconnaissance dig was to the forefront in every conversation. The extended period of site work in 2017 enabled a large area to be investigated and many of us spent a considerable part of the summer there. It is in the nature of volunteers on site that you are heavily involved with the digging, but that once you leave site, you hear little more while the professional archaeologist continue their everyday involvement as they complete the post ex work over the next one or two years.

It was therefore with great delight that I saw in the programme for this last winter that Jacky Nowakowski was completing a veritable roadshow of presentations in Rome, San Francisco, Truro, Liskeard and Manaccan! The Cornish venues meant that most of us volunteers could easily get to one of these presentations and receive a personal update from Jacky.

The timeline for Tintagel is:-

3rd to 4th Century Late Roman settlement5th to 7th Century Major trading site with possible

royal connections8th to 11th Century pre Mediaeval castle - what is

happening?12th to 14th Century Mediaeval castle - was it a folly?

Built by Earl Richard in 1230s15th to 16h Century Prison? Largely abandoned and

ruinous. Harbour for slate quarries.17th to 19th Century Romantic abandoned site.20th to 21st Century Evolving tourist attraction.

It is probably true that the majority of visitors are drawn to Tintagel as a result of the King Arthur myth. When I was doing outreach during the dig, most of the listeners were astounded with the Mediterranean connections that we were investigating, were uncertain as to how this fitted in with the obvious Mediaeval castle surrounding them, and probably didn’t like to ask about Arthur!

The work English Nature are funding is to find out more about the two periods in red in an effort to correctly attribute the features of the site.

The first systematic excavations at Tintagel were conducted in 1935 by Ralegh Radford. Most of the buildings which are now obviously excavated were dug and then conserved at this time. There is a suspicion that some of the “conservation” was was more “construction” than “conservation”. The Great Ditch was first investigated in 1950. However, information from that and a subsequent dig has all been lost! Radford was probably the first investigator to note the presence of exotic or imported pottery at Tintagel.

Charles Thomas looked at Tintagel and produced the English Heritage book on Tintagel which is still probably the most complete description of the archaeology of Tintagel.

The Royal Commission survey in 1985 and later in 2016

recorded the presence of numerous buildings on Tintagel by looking at the surface earthwork associated with each. This is still the drawing that was used to explain to visitors during the 2017 excavation what we were trying to do.

Looking across Site D of the Radford excavations in its “conserved” form. Photograph SW Fletcher

The cliff above the terrace. Note the top of the cliff face is rounded from weathering whereas the bottom is angular from quarrying for the buildings. Photograph SW Fletcher

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Building NumbersA Slate floor found in 2016B Annexe with slabbed floorC Large boulderD Position of the inscribed stoneE PassagwayF MiddensH Bedrock I Doorway (now unblocked)J Position of the Bar Lug pottery

Key to the above photographs

Key to the above photographs.

The 2017 excavation. The eastern end of the site . Photograph SW Fletcher

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Jackie moved on to the 2016-2017 excavations in which many of the audience participated. These were funded by English Heritage and were part of a 5 year research project.

This involved:-

New excavations on untouched post-Roman buildingsImproved interpretationOutreach informing a wider audienceVolunteer engagement

After the reconnaissance work in 2016, the 2017 excavation concentrated on a set of buildings on the southern Terrace. When you are at the site it is not immediately obvious that these buildings are on a flattened terrace and are just the top most of a number of buildings on the Southern Terrace. There are other buildings below and to either side of those excavated. The site is immediately below a cliff some of which

has been worked historically for stone probably to build the settlement.

Building 093 was a large building aligned E-W. It was 15m by 6.5 m with an off-centre door and steps leading up to it. It was unmortared, built half on bedrock and half on built-up terrace which had proved unstable. There was an impressive slate floor.

On the west end was a small annexe which had been blocked off at some stage and which had a number of different floor levels within it. Just down from building 093, there was a passageway and trackway between the lower buildings leading off presumably to the buildings lower down the terrace.

To the west, building 092 was somewhat less complete than 094 with a large boulder in its northern end that looked to us

The 2017 excavation. The western end of the site. Photograph SW Fletcher

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“lay people” as if it could have fallen there from the cliff above. In the bottom of the building was found a piece of bar lug pottery which was C14 dated as 7-8 C

To the east of the passageway was Building 094 complete with a hearth stone and middens which were C14 dated to mid 5th Century. Of great interest was the finding of a section of an earlier building dated to the mid 5C AD which was probably only in use for 1-15 years. This was the earliest stone building.

The middens produced finds with an exceptional state of preservation. In total, the 2016-17 excavation produced over 2000 finds dating from post Roman to 11th-12th C.

The team have put together a complex sequence of events for the buildings investigated but this is not yet complete.

The list of finds is impressive:-The middens produced animal and fish bones, grains and wood dating to the mid 5CFine tableware and amphorae with graffiti.Part of a Spanish Amphora of a type containing fish paste. coming from Vigo, Gallicia. Late 5C-7C.Evidence of metal working.Imported glassware artefacts.

In 1998, the discovery of the Artognou Slate was the catalyst for wild speculation about the connections between the names “Artognou” and “Arthur”. Towards the end of the 2017 excavation, an inscribed stone was found seemingly reused as a window sill in Building 094.

Bearing in mind previous speculation (and the fact that at the moment of discovery, there was a TV crew on site), we were all sworn to secrecy and this find remained unremarked allowing investigation of the writing to go on undisturbed by by the likely press interest. No photographs were allowed.

Jacky finished by thanking all those involved with the investigation, EH staff, the experts, the specialists and all the volunteers.

I’m sure that all those who volunteered at Tintagel found Jacky’s talk interesting and a really welcome update on a site close to many of our hearts.

Steve Fletcher

Archaeology in Cornwall 10th November 2018 - Summaries of selected talks.Sean Taylor. “Fire in the hole” Iron Age to medieval charcoal buring in the Truro Area.

Sean concentrated on the Tregurra Valley site, east of Truro, another Duchy development of green field land . There was an Iron Age field system with many features outside it dating to the Iron Age, Roman, Post Roman and medieval periods along with many undated pits. 434 pits were excavated over 2 seasons, which varied in form, contents and date. The characteristic charcoal burning pit was concave in profile and circular in plan with charcoal as its primary fill and the upper fill made up from redeposited burnt material. There were few finds. The circular shape was better for stacking poles rather than a square shape. The central post would be supported by struts which could be removed to stack clay to seal the pit. The heat inside needed to reach 500 degrees C to create charcoal. The assemblage of species of wood used became much less varied over time. The majority of Iron Age and later furnaces used predominantly oak.

Some pits were associated with S.W. decorated ware pottery and the carbon gave dates from early (780-420cal BC) to late Iron Age (390-200cal BC). Medieval and post medieval pits were dated by the pottery. The pits remained the same in shape. It is thought the charcoal was used to smelt iron as there was surface iron ore in the valley. Charcoal was also needed to smelt tin and copper. A problem with the dating was that oak heartwood could be already 200 years old when the tree is felled. Coppiced poles would give a better date.

Sean widened his discussion to describe early medieval and medieval charcoal burning clamps in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, Norfolk and Berkshire, which were all like the Tregurra pits. There are references to Athenian charcoal burning in mounds or pits and Sean had found a medieval illustration of a mound built over a pit. He recommended a website about experimental archaeology in Ireland: SMELT 2010.

Paul Rainbird. (AC Archaeology) Nansledan, Newquay: Middle Bronze Age houses and Early Iron Age ceremonies.

Nansledan is a new housing development on Duchy Land east of Newquay. Site 1 is within the phase south of St Columb Minor and Site 2 is near the primary school.

The 3 Middle Bronze Age houses were built over hollows terraced into the hillslope. House 1 had 38 post holes and 37 stake holes, but no obviously discernible pattern; probably there had been two or more phases of rebuilding of the roundhouse. There was no obvious hearth. It had been dated

The discovery of the bar lug pottery. Photograph SW Fletcher

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by the pottery finds. There was also a muller and some clay. It sat on a platform cut into the hillside; there had been some truncation by ploughing but the diameter was 9m. The second phase showed up a well built stone wall, within which was a possibly significant triangular stone. Paul reminded us of the work of Bender, Hamilton and Tilley on Leskernick where “significant” stones were set up in the roundhouse walls opposite the entrance. Ploughing had probably destroyed the entrance of this house.

The second structure was upslope of the first, sitting in a hollow with lots of stake holes around its perimeter and a line of stake-holes at the N interior. It measured 6.5m x 3m and contained 38 MBA sherds. The third structure, also cut into the hillslope, was 6m across but may have lost 3m to the plough. There were many stake holes and pits. Its hearth contained grains of wheat/barley and charcoal from oak.

Upslope to the NW from these structures was another roundhouse with an annexe off it with a door. The post ring measured 7m but probably another 3m had been ploughed away, so the diameter was 10m. The annexe was 4.5m x 2m, divided from the main house by a stone wall. A revetment wall held back the soil of the slope. There are not many such structures form lowland sites; those on higher land often have a separate entrance. The whole structure was further uphill than the others and could have been a shaman’s house or a special space reserved for ritual purposes. It is only 14km from the village at Trethellan dated 1500 to 1100cal BC, which contained a ritual structure. There was Trevisker ware but only 14 pieces of worked flint.

Matt Knight. (National Museums of Scotland) Bronze Age bits and pieces: the deliberate destruction of Late Bronze Age metalwork in Cornwall.

For his PhD study Matt had asked some very simple questions about the hoards and single finds from the period 1,000 to 800BC which had doubled in number over the last 20 years in Cornwall. The assumption had been that they were “founders’ hoards”, hidden until they could be melted down and recycled but lost or forgotten. But Matt challenged this assumption and set out to discover how they were broken to answer the question why? What was the best way to break a bronze tool or weapon? Whether it should be heated or kept cold depended on the type of tool. The impacts on different objects depended on the metallurgical composition of that object. It had been assumed that axes had been broken in use but swords were deliberately broken because they were so special.

Matt commissioned several replica weapons from Neil Burridge based on Cornish hoards, spears, swords, axes. They became more brittle if heated in a fire. He encountered an Italian craftsman who recycled weapons by breaking them each evening to remake them in an Archaeological Park each morning. This made him ask if the breaking was part of being intrinsically engaged with the weapon and not for a ritual purpose.

His examination of hoards led him to discover that the sharp edges of axes are hard to shatter, so they remained intact. He studied 32 of the 55 socketed axes found in Cornwall to find evidence of deliberate damage and the nature of the patterns of breaking. At least 23 (71%) had been probably or

deliberately destroyed by hammering. Such destruction was not easy to do. He located a man who had been using a Bronze Age replica axe for 30 years and it had not broken.

14 of the 16 single finds examined came from West Cornwall, where most tin was available. They had been discovered in similar locations on hilltops or by the coast. He concluded that these were not casual losses, but had been deliberately deposited.

The hoards, such as St Erth, Breage and St Michael’s Mount, which included ingots, axe pieces and sword pieces, showed a range of destructive actions. There were also complete objects in all those hoards. The individual objects came from different origins; the Breage hoard contained a carp’s tongue sword from Northern France, as does the St Erth hoard. The St Michael’s Mount hoard has a decorated belt buckle with no match in Great Britain and a sword case chain and axe from France. There are carp’s tongue fragmented hoards in N. France, S.E. England as well as here in the S.W. Did our examples come across the Channel through S.E. England or up the Atlantic to Cornwall and Welsh sites such as Manorbier? Why should it matter?

Matt introduced more questions to think about. Should we think of single finds and hoards in the same way? In what way is a single deposition different than hiding a hoard? Does a hoard always signify a metalworker? How much might movement of fragments suggest the movement of people? He also challenged the idea that the bronze artefacts were broken up because iron was becoming more available. This period had other changes in society, such as new burial practices and advances in agriculture. There is a more holistic picture to be explored.

Ann Preston-Jones (CAU) The Worthyvale inscribed stone: a very worthy stone.

The recumbent granite inscribed stone, which has long been known as “Arthur’s Stone”, lies on an eroding bank of the River Camel close to Slaughterbridge. It is a scheduled monument (SAM – 1018701) and was placed on the Heritage at Risk List in 2016 because of its vulnerability to damage from flood. Dated to the 6th century it has a Latin inscription and one in the Irish form of Ogham. Only 6 memorial stones in S.W. England bear dual inscriptions. It may be visited through the Arthurian Centre near Camelford, where a special viewing platform has been set up because it lies at the foot of a cliff. It is 2.9m long, 0.67m wide and 0.36m thick. There is some damage to the lettering but the agreed reading is LATINI IC IACITFILIUS MA(?)(?)RI accepted as “Of Latinus here lies the son of Macarus/Magarus.” The ogham, being cut into the edge of the stone, is more difficult to see but does repeat the name Latinus.

The Arthurian connections are recorded by John Leland (1534-43), Richard Carew (1602) and Camden (1603). It was popularly believed that the stone was erected to commemorate the Battle of Camlann between Arthur and Mordred, hence the name Slaughterbridge. However, this is quite a modern name. The first published description of the stone and its inscription was in 1745. Ten years later William Borlase described it in detail and said it was standing upright, but was “formally a footbridge…called Slaughterbridge” which

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Important Information and Actions for MembersIf you wish to attend the Cornwall & Devon Archaeological Societies Joint Symposium 2019, THE SOUTH WEST LANDSCAPE FROM THE LATE IRON AGE UNTIL THE 5TH CENTURY AD on 16th November 2019 at Eliot House Hotel Liskeard 10.00am – 5.30 pm, please return the booking form enclosed with this edition.

If you are interested in participating in the forthcoming excavation at Trethevy Quoit, please apply by filling in the enclosed flyer. First come, first served!

is 160m downstream of its present position. Borlase believed that it had been moved to form part of a new garden for the “Lady Dowager Falmouth” who lived at Worthyvale Manor. She was Charlotte Boscawen, widow of Hugh Boscawen of Tregothnan (1680-1734). Polwhele and Lysons reported that by 1803 it had been used again as part of a bridge, its writing face down, which is possibly when the two letters were damaged. However by 1848 Tennyson was shown it lying in a situation which could have been its current one.

While the Boscawens lived at Worthyvale the fashion in garden design changed from strict formality of the 17 th century to the landscaped parklands of the 18th. There might be follies erected to imitate classical temples and area of groves or wilderness with serpentine walks. Such a park is shown in the Tithe Map for Minster 1838. In the mid 18th century grottos faced and paved with pebbles or shells became popular. In 2005 a grotto of this kind was uncovered in a small quarry on the cliff above the inscribed stone. It had a cobbled pavement with the letters C F (Charlotte Falmouth) depicted in coloured stones. This may well be the site where the inscribed stone was set up before being returned to be used as part of a second footbridge, the foundations of which lie some metres up stream. It remains a mystery who dragged it to its present position on the eroding bank, but it certainly deserves to have a safer resting place.

Adrian Rodda

From the Editor. Cathy Parkes has arranged an excellent series of walks for us this summer. Having put them in my diary, I find I can attend fewer than half because I am not at home! I would be very grateful if anyone who attends these walks could write an account and take plenty of photographs so that I can include them in future newsletters.

I try to make the articles more interesting by including photographs. I have been encouraged to attribute all photographs so please tell me who has taken them so I can do this properly. Whilst I am happy to put in photographs of buildings etc, I think they are much more interesting if they include some of the members who were actually on the walk.

Steve Fletcher

Cornwall Heritage Trust are planning to undertake some clearance work at Treffry Viaduct to reveal the small crib hut which is adjacent to the viaduct but currently lost in the undergrowth. The granite-built hut is in a state of disrepair however it is planned to clear the building and the area around it in preparation for sympathetic conservation works to be undertaken to preserve the structure. If you are interested in getting involved with this project or any other plans that they may have for the future please register your interest by completing the online form which can be accessed here.

http://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org

The Worthyvale Stone. Photograph A Rodda

CAS walk to the Treffry Viaduct in 2017. Photograph SW Fletcher.

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Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology GroupSite Clearance Meetings February - December

Date Location

Sunday 9 June North Hill entrance graves and cists, Samson

Saturday 27 July Saturday 27 July Chapel, church and hut, St Helen’s

Sunday 11 August Kittern Hill A and Carn Valla entrance graves, Gugh

Sunday 15 September

Nornour settlement and shrine, Great Ganilly entrance graves, Eastern Isles

Saturday 19 October

Works Carn entrance grave and Works Point gun battery, Bryher

Saturday 16 November

Normandy Down entrance graves, St Mary’s

Sunday 8 December

Old Town Churchyard graves, St Mary’s

Any enquiries should be directed to Katharine Sawyer on 01720 423326 or katharine@scillywalks.co.uk or to Charlie Johns at bradpeverill@aol.com. Further details of each meeting will be posted about a week in advance on the Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology Group Facebook page.

CASPN Clear-ups – 2019

June 16 Mulfra Vean courtyard house settlement

o/s 4539 3496 meet at Mulfra farmhouse 2pm

July 14 Boscawen – ûn circle

o/s 4122 2736 Meet by A30 2pm

August 18 Bosiliack settlement and grave

o/s 4281 3437 2pm Parking info to come.

September 15

Bosullow Tryhyllys

o/s 409 342 Meet at Trehyllis Farm o/s 409 337 2pm

October 13 Portheras common barrow

o/s 3914 3327 Meet at North Road car park 2pm

November 17

Lesingey Round

o/s 453 304 Meet in Lesingey lane 2pm

NB Schedule may change depending on weather, availability of CASPN personnel and the Penwith Landscape Partnership schedule. Please see our Facebook page for up to date information.

Cornwall & Devon Archaeological Societies Joint Symposium 2019

THE SOUTH WEST LANDSCAPE FROM THE LATE IRON AGE UNTIL THE 5TH CENTURY AD

16th November 2019 Eliot House Hotel Liskeard 10.00am – 5.30 pmNearly two decades on since the publication of Trethurgy, there has been an exponential increase in our knowledge of the Late Iron Age and Roman periods in Cornwall and Devon and in those that precede and follow these. The Symposium will attempt to present an up-to-date overview which reflects this increase and assesses the impact which the presence of Rome had on the landscape of the peninsula. Speakers include Bill Horner, Andy Jones, Alexis Jordan, Oliver Padel, Stephen Rippon, Henrietta Quinnell, and John Salvatore. See booking form accompanying this newsletter, and on both Societies’ websites, for further details on the programme and the venue. The cost to include tea, coffee and lunch will be £25 per person. The booking form, together with cheques made payable to ‘Cornwall Archaeological Society’, should be sent, by November 10th, to: Konstanze Rahn, 13 Beach Road, Porthtowan, Truro, Cornwall TR4 8AA. Telephone 01209 891463. membership@cornisharchaeology.org.uk

Fieldwork opportunity July 2019

The Cornwall Archaeological Society with the Cornwall Heritage Trust and Cornwall Archaeological Unit is in the process of organizing a fieldwork project at Trethevy Quoit. The project will involve the investigation of the field in which the quoit stands through targeted test pit excavation. It is intended that the fieldwork will take place between the 9th to the 13th of July.

The project will provide opportunities for training for volunteers, and we anticipate that there will be ten places for CAS volunteers. No previous archaeological experience is required. The booking form should be sent to the Membership Secretary, Cornwall Archaeological Society, C/O 13 Royal Cornwall Museum, River St, Truro TR1 2SJ.

Trethevy Quoit Photograph A Jones

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Next submission date

The final date for submissions to the October Newsletter will be Friday 6th September 2019.

If you are thinking of submitting an article, please include photographs and tell me who took them so that I can attribute them properly.

Contacts

Secretary secretary@cornisharchaeology.org.ukMembership Secretary Konstanze Rahn membership@cornisharchaeology.org.ukNewsletter Editor Steve Fletcher publications@cornisharchaeology.org.uk Journal Editors Graeme Kirkham/ journaleditor@cornisharchaeology.org.uk

Peter Rose

Postal address :- Cornwall Archaeological Society℅ Royal Cornwall MuseumRiver St.TruroCornwall TR1 2SJ

Websitewww.cornisharchaeology.org.ukFacebook Cornish Archaeology

Forthcoming Events

For all walks Please wear clothing suitable for any weather, and footwear suitable for rough ground

Date Time Event Meet

May Sunday 19/06/201.

11.00 -Afternoon

First CAS walk for 2019. Week St Mary and Penhallam moated mansion with Nicholas Johnson and Cathy Parkes Starting in Week St Mary we will look at this ‘town that never grew but endured’, its street plan, church and castle earthworks, then walk to the valley below with the Cardinhams’ hunting ‘palace’ in its moat in the woods, for picnic lunch. Returning by footpath we will climb high up to Ashbury hillfort by kind permission of the farmer. This part of the walk is steep (the views from the fort are fantastic!). The walk is also on private land, so please do not bring dogs.

11.00 at Week St Mary Village Hall car park NGR SX 23590 97505 (postcode EX22 6XQ)

June Sunday02/06/2019

14.00 – 16-30

Exploration of dramatic industrial archaeology in the Tregargus Valley, St Stephen, kindly guided by Marie Allen of the Tregargus Trust. Walk around the fine assemblage of China Stone mills and quarries in Tregargus Valley, on the edge of the china clay winning and working area. Abandoned in the 1960s to the trees and bluebells, the mill complex is now cared for by the Trust (no charge for the tour; donations to the ongoing work are always welcome). Limited parking at the meeting place, the top valley entrance; please arrive here early and if full use St Stephen Social Club car park and car share back to this point to start the walk.

14.00 at top entrance to valley in layby near blockworks on St Stephen to Nanpean road NGR SW 94780 54685

July Sunday14/07/2019

11.00 – around16.00

Tamar Valley walk around Calstock with Stephen Docksey looking at the once busy and now beautifully quiet lanes and riversides. Downstream to Lower Kelly quays and Danescombe, and back through woods to Calstock for picnic lunch. Okel Tor mine, Calstock Church and Roman fort in the afternoon. DAS members are welcome to join CAS on the walk. Car parking at Calstock Quay or at the railway station, quarter of a mile up the hill.

11am at Calstock Quay NGR SX 43493 68603

September Sunday 08/09/2019

10.00 - around 15.00

Lanhydrock historic landscape surveyed by Nigel Thomas with diverse ornamental parkland and woods, and the sculpturing of medieval fields the park captured and preserved within it. Walk around the estate, looking at features including the deer park pale, tinworks, a probable long house and at some of its early mapping in the ‘atlas’ preserved at Lanhydrock House, and picnic by the River Fowey. National Trust membership needed to visit the House; access to Park is free (non-NT members pay £3 to park for the day).

10am Lanhydrock outside café at main, top NT car park NGR SX 08700 64277

October Sunday20/10/2019

11.00 - around 16.00

Walk around Sancreed and Grumbla with Peter Herring. Follow ancient paths to see the church and holy well, hamlets, and Caer Bran hillfort; and visit Grumbla Quoit, once a tiny cottage, by kind invitation of the owners. There is a small car park west of Sancreed Church.

11am at Sancreed Church NGR SW 42018 29345 (TR20 8QS)

November Saturday16/11/19

10.00 – 17.30

Cornwall & Devon Archaeological Societies Joint Symposium 2019THE SOUTH WEST LANDSCAPE FROM THE LATE IRON AGE UNTIL THE 5TH CENTURY ADFurther details and the programme/booking form are with this newsletter.

Eliot House Hotel, Liskeard