With the Roman invasion of Britain in the first centuries AD, we see a clear transformation in settlement patterns, social practices, artefact forms and economic structures. In Cornwall – Britain’s southwestern-most peninsula – things look a little different. Although the landscape was transformed and major shifts in social organisation appear to have occurred, these speak less to the presence of Romans or Roman ways of life and more to extensive ties between local communities and a shifting but still rich engagement with the pre-Roman Cornish past. In this paper I will consider the evidence of shifting settlement patterns and social practices that give us a little insight into how Cornish communities resisted romanisation and established a meaningful way of life that persisted even after the Romans departed.

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