Anglesey

[hvered]

The copper mines of Anglesey were huge by anyone's standards, not surprising if the Romans wanted to take the operation over. Hard to say whether getting rid of the Druids was a by-product or the real underlying reason for invading Anglesey.

I'd have thought displacing the ruling caste quite high on their shopping list. The Romans weren't very successful further south in Cornwall though, tin being rarer it's arguably of far greater interest; officially they didn't get further than Exeter or thereabouts.

[Boreades]

They did get further than Exeter. Silver mines at Bere Ferrers and the Roman Fort at Calstock for example.

[hvered]

Calstock is according to the reference "on the border between Devon and Cornwall". Bere Ferrers is in Devon. It looks like the Romans didn't penetrate into the heartland of Cornwall even though this is the beating heart of the very lucrative tin mining industry.

[Boreades]

There were several forts in Cornwall.

Nanstallon, near Bodmin - dated to between AD54 to 80. It's also in the middle of the land bridge between the Fowey and Camel estuaries.

Restormel near the Norman castle at Lostwithiel has now been accepted as a complex multi period Roman site occupied from about AD54 into the third or fourth century.

A new but still secret location near St.Austell has been dated from AD60 up to about AD250.

The position of all of them would allow for administration if not control of the local mining and trade routes, across land or out by sea.

[Boreades]

Oops, nearly forgot to mention Ictis Insvla (St.Michael's mount) and Carn Brae hillfort (Durocornavium)

[hvered]

There were several forts in Cornwall.

Nanstallon, near Bodmin - dated to between AD54 to 80. It's also in the middle of the land bridge between the Fowey and Camel estuaries.

Restormel near the Norman castle at Lostwithiel has now been accepted as a complex multi period Roman site occupied from about AD54 into the third or fourth century.

The names don't sound very Roman to me. But place-names are a minefield (no pun intended at the time of writing). At any rate it's quite reasonable to surmise that Roman mining concerns took up abode in Bodmin (abode of miners). Presumably they were already in full operation. Are there any records of Romans actually prospecting for minerals in Cornwall?

Oops, nearly forgot to mention Ictis Insvla (St.Michael's mount) and Carn Brae hillfort (Durocornavium)
A Roman-sounding name just means the site was known to the Romans. Carn Brea is said to be a "Neolithic hill fort".

There appear to be no Roman names in Anglesey (Roman 'Mona') either.

[Boreades]

Nanstallon = Statio Deventiasteno
The Guard-Post at the Deventian Narrows

I've no idea what they called Restormel.

Here's a useful map
http://www.roman-britain.org/cgi-bin/uk ... pl?Class=M

Getting back to Anglesey, this page mentions "the discovery locally of copper ingots bearing Roman inscriptions"

[spiral]

A little bit of thread drift, but Anglesey was also a huge source of copper. Big enough for the Romans to want to invade and control, after they got rid of the remaining druids?

Thread drift? That could explain the name......

[Penny]

I certainly find all of this discussion about the mining of copper and tin fascinating BUT, in the context of the Romans in Britain we are squarely in the IRON age when bronze weapons and tools were obsolete. So, if the Romans were intent on controlling Anglesey, was it because of the copper mines or because it was a Druid stronghold?

[Martin]

I don't think anybody has suggested Anglesey was a Druid stronghold because of the mines. I don't know whether the archaeology is sufficiently certain but I am pretty certain both Parys Mountain and Orme's Head were long disused by the time of the Romans. Though this doesn't rule out the notion that Anglesey was originally important because of the mines and was consequently a Druidic centre.

However since you raise the question it would be as well to point out that bronze would presumably still be useful even when everybody's walking round saying, "Thank Ke-rist we're in the Iron Age at last." And it has never been satisfactorily explained to me why, since bronze is tougher than iron, the Romans were not equipped with bronze weapons. Even if iron is cheaper, surely the nobs could afford bronze.