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Cornish timeline |
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Kéighlán
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Posted: 13.04.2008, 01:04
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registered: Apr. 2008
Posts: 425
Status: offline
last visit: 29.09.08
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BC
400,000 - 200,000 BC PALAEOLITHIC (EARLY STONE AGE)
From 400,000 BC to 200,000 BC, the archaeological record (ie. flint axes and blades) shows us that people, that were probably settled in Devon, were beginning to make periodic visits into Cornwall. By 40,000 BC (The Upper Palaeolithic) these modern humans (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) have spread throughout the South West, but there is still no evidence of settlements in Cornwall at this time (as yet).
10,000 MESOLITHIC (MIDDLE STONE AGE)
This period begins at the end of the last glacial period, when water levels began to rise, and hunter-gatherer bands begin to settle around the coastlines of Cornwall, around the Lizard, for example, and have working sites on upland areas, such as Bodmin Moor.
4,000 - 2,400 NEOLITHIC (NEW STONE AGE)
The Neolithic period is a time of great social and agricultural development. This can be seen through the adoption of farming and increased monument construction, brought about largely by an increasing population. Settlements begin to be fortified such as the one on top of Carn Brea.
The first Cornish hedges enclosed land for cereal crops during the Neolothic Age.
2,400 - 1,500 EARLY BRONZE AGE
This period is defined by the introduction of metalworking, especially in bronze, which uses Cornwall's natural resources of tin and copper.
These sources are found by tin-streaming and open-cast mining for copper.
The period is also characterised by its ceremonial and burial monuments: the stone circles, rows and standing stones or menhirs, and the barrows with their kist graves.
1,500 - 600 BC LATE BRONZE AGE
The climate begins to get wetter during this period which causes settlement movement to lowland sites such as Trethellan, Newquay, and a move to more seasonal and less intensive grazing on the uplands. Population pressure, as a result, creates a more warlike society which often sacrifices weapons to their gods.
Arrival of the first Celtics in Britan by 600BC. Some recent scholarship suggests that it was before 1000BC, and possibly as early as 2000 BC.
600 BC - AD 43 IRON AGE
Iron gradually replaces bronze for weapons and farming tools. People are starting to live in defended settlements called rounds which are bank-and-ditch enclosures protecting a number of round-houses within. There are also economic and social centres, where manufacturing and trading occur, establishing on hill-tops and headlands, such as Trevelgue Head, near Newquay.
AD 19 (June 21st) A total eclipse of the sun is visible in Cornwall (more Eclipse dates)
AD 43 - AD 410 ROMANO-BRITISH PERIOD
(AD 47 for Exeter / AD 55 for Nanstallon)
The late 1st century ostensibly brings Roman military occupation, but no noteworthy civil presence. The Britain annexed by Rome is divided among various tribes. The south west is occupied by the Dumnonii, Iron Age Celts who had held a large area for centuries. The rural society of the previous period continues, largely unchanged by the Roman influence in the rest of Britain. One fort is established, at Nanstallon on the River Camel, but it is occupied for 20 years; and one villa, at Magor, Camborne, which coincides with the increased trade in tin, during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, not only for bronze, but also to alloy with lead for pewter objects.
New trading posts are set up such as the one at Carvossa, Probus, and a new style of housing is introduced in Penwith, the courtyard house, at villages like Chysauster.
238 - 244 The reign of Gordian III. A milestone inscribed with the Roman's name is found at Menheer, Gwennap, in 1942. It is the earliest example in Cornwall.
410 - 1000 Later Roman geography indicates that there are territorial sub-groupings, and what is now Cornwall - distinguished by its Late British name, Cornouia, the land of the Cornovii - may survive as one such subdivision. Welsh sources point to a succession of Dumnonian Kings right through to the 9th century, and a 10th century memorial to King Ricatus stands in the grounds of Penlee House, Penzance. By this time, Cornouia has become Cornubia (Latin), Cernyw (Welsh) and Kernow (Cornish). The British language evolves in Dumnonia into what becomes Cornish.
c500-600 English invasion: period of Arthur, Doniert & other Celtic kings; and 'The age of the Saints'
577 Battle of Deorham Down near Bristol results in the separation of the West Welsh (the Cornish) from the Welsh by the advance of the Saxons
c600 Earliest Christian church opens at St. Piran's Oratory.
By now, the Saxons, have destroyed the remains of Roman civilisation in eastern England, and in the west it is almost forgotten. The Saxons are established as the most important tribe of invaders and they are converting to Roman Christianity.
664 The Synod of Whitby determines that England is again an ecclesiastical province of Rome, with its formal structure of dioceses and parishes. The Celtic Church of Dumnonia is not party to the decision and the Cornish Church remains monastic in nature.
c700 English reach Bristol Channel: Celts of Cornwall cut off from Celts of Wales
705 Saxon westward advance is renewed and by 710 Exeter is occupied.
c710-711 Ina, King of the West Saxons, attempts to destroy the kingdom of Dumnonia. Until 766 several battles took place, with the Saxons mainly victorious, except in 722 when Roderic, King of the Britons in Wales and Cornwall, repels Adelred, King of Wessex.
787 Viking Danes visit the coasts of Wessex, and form an alliance with the Cornish against the Saxons in 807.
814 The Saxon Ecgberht of Wessex conquers Cornwall but is unsuccessful in subjugating the Cornish people despite having "laid waste the land from east to west'.
825 Cornish send army into Wessex (under attack from Mercians) but to no effect
The Cornish rise against Ecgberht only to be defeated at Gafulford (Galford on the River Lew, West Devon)
838 A Cornish-Danish alliance is initially successful in a number of skirmishes with Ecgberht, but is eventually defeated in a pitched battle at Hingston Down, near Callington, the last against the Saxons.
878 Dumgarth, (identified as Doniert in Saxon records), king of the Cornish, is drowned. Doniert's Stone stands in St. Cleer parish.
927 Athelstan, eldest son of Edward the Elder and grandson of Alfred, attacks the south western Celts, forcing their withdrawal from Exeter. There is no record of him taking his campaigns into Cornwall. It seems probable that Hywel, King of the Cornish, agreed to pay tribute to Athelstan, as did Alfred the Great, and thus avoided more attacks and maintained a high degree of autonomy.
931 King Athelstan sets up a bishopric at St. Germans. It lasts until 1042 when the see is united with Credition and is later removed to Exeter, after which Cornwall remains an archdeaconry until 1876. The church of St. Germanus is finally consecrated in 1261 after its reorganisation by Bishop Bartholomew as an Augustinian priory (1161-84). Eight centuries on, St. Germans displays more of Norman planning than any other Cornish church, although two thirds of them have some Norman traces.
936 Athelstan's settlement fixes the east bank of the Tamar as the boundary between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Celtic Cornwall.
1066 Norman Conquest. Robert of Mortain becomes Earl of Cornwall and builds castle at Launceston. Earl Ordulf is in charge of Moresk Castle, Truro
400,000 BC - 1066 AD
I may actually meet some of you lot from the forum now lol, im being forced to move to Cornwall.
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