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The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Cornwall and Devon (and some areas of present-day Dorset and Somerset) in the further parts of the West Country peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxons period. They were bordered to the east by the Durotriges tribe.
Camden had learnt some Welsh language during the course of his studies and it would appear that he is the origin of the interpretation of Dumnonii as "deep valley dwellers" from his understanding of the Welsh of his time. The modern Welsh term is Dyfnaint. John Rhŷs later theorized that the tribal name was derived from the name of a goddess, Domnu, probably meaning "the goddess of the deep".Rhys, John (1892) Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by Celtic heathendom. London: Williams and Norgate; p. 597 The proto-Celtic root *dubno- or *dumno- meaning "the deep" or "the earth" (or alternatively meaning "dark" or "gloomy"Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Errance, Paris, 2003) appears in personal names such as Dumnorix and Dubnovellaunus. Another group with a similar name but with no known links were the Fir Domnann of Connacht.
The Roman name of the town of Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Isca of the Dumnonii"), contains the root *iska- "water" for "Water of the Dumnonii". The Latin name suggests that the city was already an oppidum, or walled town, on the banks on the River Exe before the foundation of the Roman city, in about AD 50. The Dumnonii gave their name to the English county of Devon, and their name is represented in Britain's two extant Brythonic languages as Dewnens in Cornish language and Dyfnaint in Welsh language. Amédée Thierry ( Histoire des Gaulois, 1828), one of the inventors of the historic race of Gauls, could confidently equate them with the Cornish people ("les Cornouailles").
Victorian historians often referred to the tribe as the Damnonii, which is also the name of another people from lowland Scotland, although there are no known links between the two populations.
Gaius Iulius Solinus, probably in the 3rd century, remarks: "This turbid strait also divides the island Silura from the shore which is held by the Dumnonii, a British tribe. The men of this island even now preserve an old custom: they do not use coins. They give and accept, obtaining the necessities of life by exchange rather than by money. They reverence gods, and the men and women equally declare knowledge of the future."
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In the sub-Roman period a Brythonic kingdom called Dumnonia emerged, covering the entire peninsula, although it is believed by some to have effectively been a collection of sub-kingdoms.
A kingdom of Domnonée (and of Cornouaille alongside) was established in the province of Armorica directly across the English Channel, and has apparent links with the British population, suggesting an ancient connection of peoples along the western Atlantic seaboard which is also borne out by the modern genetics of Devonian and Cornish populations.
Isca Dumnoniorum originated with a settlement that developed around the Roman Empire fortress of the Legio II Augusta and is one of the four poleis (cities) attributed to the tribe by Ptolemy. It is also listed in two routes of the late 2nd century Antonine Itinerary.
A legionary bath-house was built inside the fortress sometime between 55 and 60 and underwent renovation shortly afterwards (c. 60-65) but by c. 68 (perhaps even 66) the legion had transferred to a newer fortress at Gloucester. This saw the dismantling of the Isca fortress, and the site was then abandoned. Around AD 75, work on the civitas forum and basilica had commenced on the site of the former principia and by the late 2nd century the civitas walls had been completed. They were 3 metres thick and 6 metres high and enclosed exactly the same area as the earlier fortress. However, by the late 4th century the civitas was in decline.
The Ravenna Cosmography includes the last two names (in slightly different forms, as "Tamaris" and "Uxelis"), and adds several more names which may be settlements in the territory. These include:
Other Romano-British sites in Dumnonia include:
New settlements continued to be built throughout the Roman period, including sites at Chysauster and Trevelgue Head. The style is native in form with no Romanised features. Near Padstow, a site of some importance that was inhabited from the late Bronze/early Iron Age to the mid 6th century now lies buried under the sands on the opposite side of the Camel estuary near St. Enodoc's Church, and may have been a western coastal equivalent of a Saxon Shore Fort. Byzantine and African pottery has been discovered at the site. At Magor Farm in Illogan, near Camborne, an archaeological site has been identified as being a villa.
Dumnonia is noteworthy for its many settlements that have survived from the Romano-British period, but also for its lack of a Roman villa. Local archaeology has revealed instead the isolated enclosed farmsteads known locally as rounds. These seem to have survived the Roman Empire abandonment of Britain, but were subsequently replaced, in the 6th and 7th centuries, by the unenclosed farms taking the Brythonic tre-.Pearce, Susan M. (1978) The Kingdom of Dumnonia. Padstow: Lodenek PressKain, Roger; Ravenhill, William (eds.) (1999) Historical Atlas of South-West England. Exeter / provides detailed information
As in most other Brythonic areas, Iron Age hillfort, such as Hembury, were refortified for the use of chieftains or kings. Other high-status settlements such as Tintagel Castle seem to have been reconstructed during this period. Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region, and the apparent surge in late 5th century Mediterranean and/or Byzantine imports is yet to be explained satisfactorily.Thomas, Charles (1981) reviewing Pearce (1978) in Britannia 12; p. 417
During the first millennium BC trade became more organised, first with the Phoenicians, who settled Gades (Cadiz) around 1100 BC, and later with the Greeks, who had settled Massilia (Marseille) and Narbo (Narbonne) around 600 BC. Smelted Cornish tin was collected at Ictis whence it was conveyed across the Bay of Biscay to the mouth of the Loire and then to Gades via the Loire and Rhone valleys. It went then through the Mediterranean Sea in ships to Gades.
During the period c. 500-450 BC, the tin deposits seem to have become more important, and fortified settlements appear such as at Chun Castle and Kenidjack Castle, to protect both the tin smelters and mines. Cornish History. Trevithick Society.
The earliest account of Cornish tin mining was written by Pytheas of Massilia late in the 4th century BC after his circumnavigation of the British Isles. Underground mining was described in this account, although it cannot be determined when it had started. Pytheas's account was noted later by other writers including Pliny the Elder and Diodorus Siculus.
It is likely that tin trade with the Mediterranean was later on under the control of the Veneti.Champion, Timothy "The Appropriation of the Phoenicians in British Imperial Ideology" in: Nations and Nationalism, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 451-65, October 2001 Britain was one of the places proposed for the Cassiterides, that is Tin Islands. Tin working continued throughout Roman Empire occupation although it appears that output declined because of new supplies brought in from the deposits discovered in Iberia (Spain and Portugal). However, when these supplies diminished, production in Dumnonia increased and appears to have reached a peak during the 3rd century AD.
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