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Summary

A small Roman fort, occupied between the 1st and 4th centuries AD.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO936: Roman fort, annexes and temporary camp, 290m south-west of Restormel Farm

Other References/Statuses

• Cornwall SURVEY NAME (temporary): ROM
• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 2041.32.1
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SX16SW 33
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 6693
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SX16SW 47

Monument Type(s):

• FORT (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

A small Roman fort, which was occupied between the C1 and C3, was confirmed by geophysical survey in April 2007. The OS 1st edition 1-inch map depicts an earthwork enclosure which it names 'Uzella of Ptolemy'. It does not appear on subsequent maps, and the field is simply named 'Green Park' in the Tithe Award of 1840. The site occupies the tip of a spur overlooking the Fowey River, approx 350m SSW of Restormel Castle, and, like the castle, is presumably sited to exploit the strategic situation above a river crossing.
The site was ‘rediscovered’ from ECLP air photos in 1972 (p1 - and CA14, Pl. XIII). It consists of three elements: a roughly square inner enclosure approx 100m x 100m in size; a roughly parallel outer enclosure approx 20 metres distant, which is visible on all but the steep eastern side; and an outwork a further 40 metres to the west, which runs roughly north-south and provides an additional barrier to approaches from the level ground. The inner enclosure survives as a scarp 0.6m high on the east and west and 1.6m high on the north and south. The outer enclosure survives up to 1.7m high, with an inturned entrance on the south. The outwork is a very slight feature. There are no traces of ditches. Irwin suggested that the site should be placed within the wide-spaced rampart group of south-western hillforts, which can be dated, by association with similar sites, to the late Iron Age, though occupation may well have continued into the Roman period (b1).
The site shows up well in low-light conditions in a series of CAU air photos taken in 1989 (p2).
A magnetometer survey undertaken in April 2007 as part of an HER enhancement project confirmed that the inner square enclosure was a small Roman fort, which is almost exactly the same size and form as the fort at Nanstallon, approx, four miles to the north. Finds from recent episodes of fieldwalking, analysed as part of this project in 2007, are diagnostic of Roman occupation covering a period from the C1 to the C3 (JRS).
Fieldwalking in the interior by CAS has retrieved a collection of Romano-British material including Samian Ware, and the upper stone of a rotary quern which came from a pile of stones by the field gate in the western hedge (b1).
Further fieldwalking (see Info File) has produced a Roman coin of the pre-conquest period and other Roman coins ranging in date from the first to the fourth centuries AD. A large amount of Roman pottery has also been collected from this site including Samian Ware fine cups and bowls spanning the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD imported from Northern, Southern and Central Gaul and the Mediterranean, several large mortarium fragments including imports from Spain, Northern Gaul and the Rhone valley, and other N Gaulish ‘coarsewares. Imports from Southern England include Black-Burnished, New Forest and Nene Valley products, and there are also ‘local’ Cornish wares dating to the Roman periods. Among the other rare or unusual finds from the site are a Roman bronze finger ring with a glass intaglio ‘bird’ motif, glass fragments including a small gaming piece or counter, and significant quantities of tap-slag (identified as the by-product of iron smelting).
This is one of the most remarkable assemblages from the Roman period to have come from Cornwall. The presence of a large quantity of high status imported table wares should indicate the residence of a person of some importance with a range of contacts throughout the Empire. The coin and pottery evidence confirms a lengthy period of occupation spanning the whole of the period of Roman occupation of Britain (1st to 4th Centuries), but the pre-conquest coin hints at contact and trade in the period before this. The presence of iron slag indicates that extraction and processing of iron were carried out in the vicinity. A major iron lode outcrops along the ridge 400m above the site and it is possible that this was worked during the Roman period, and that the location of the fort may have been influenced by the proximity of the iron outcrop. The site is also located near to the tidal limit of the River Fowey during the Roman period and this supports the idea that, at this time, communications would have been by sea rather than overland. This site has the potential to provide information on several aspects of the nature of the Roman presence in Cornwall.

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Site history:
1: 1973. NVA/OS
2: 1986. SHEPPARD, P, FMW/DOE
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Cornwall Council, 1975-present, Historic Environment Record Information File, SX16SW SM Consent Restormel Fort Geophysical Survey (Unpublished document). SCO24104.

Cambridge University Centre for Aerial Photography, 26/7/73, CUC 7OH-F 38 (Aerial Photograph). SCO22546.

Cambridge University Centre for Aerial Photography, 26/7/73, CUC BON 62 (Aerial Photograph). SCO22545.

ECC, 1968, 1/4088 (Photographic Record). SCO14869.

<1> Irwin, M Et Al, 1975, Earthwork at Restormel, VOL 14, 85-86 (Article in Journal). SCO3623.

CAU, 1989, F19/64-69 & 104-111 (Photographic Record). SCO17851.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds

• FCO7082 - (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FCO7083 - COIN (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FCO7084 - RING (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FCO3759 - ROTARY QUERN (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FCO2874 - SHERD (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FCO7085 - SLAG (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Events

• ECO4186 - A Second Roman Fort is Confirmed in Cornwall

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