The Romans and their connection with the area

Plymouth didn't exist when the Romans created Exeter though there is evidence that they occupied the area. Roman Way leading downwards from Kings Tamerton is said to be the route that the Romans took on their way to Cornwall. A Roman signalling station is thought to have existed at the top of the hill. Roman Way was previously called, 'Old Wall's Lane' ,in the 1800s, which would suggest an earlier settlement. The area was excavated in 1934 by a Mr E N Masson Phillips who discovered an early fortification. Soapwort has been found growing nearby and this was a herb used by the Romans and is usually only found on the site of an old settlement. Roman Way lies on the second oldest route traceable in Plymouth which travels east to west from Saltash to Plympton. There seems to be no record of Roman coins being found at Roman Way though a hoard of Roman coins was found at Compton Giffard in 1894 and this lies on the same route. There were a thousand coins and none were later than AD 280. It was suggested by the British Museum that the coins could have been used to pay the Romans that were stationed in the area. A similar hoard was found at Marazion near Penzance. Roman coins have also been found at Whitleigh and by the Plym. Many people believe that Stonehouse got its name from an ancient stone house, now long gone, that once stood in the area. It was named by the Saxons who must have been referring to the ruin of a previous civilisation. If that was the case, then only the Romans would have had the ability to build it. The Romans left in 410AD. In the early 1980s, the Evening Herald reported the find of a Roman coin on the shores of the River Plym. The article read: 'Eighteen hundred years ago this coin must have been lost on the shores of the River Plym. It has been identified as a bronze 'as' and depicts on one side Antoninus Pius, who was Emperor of Rome from 138 to 161 AD, and on the other, Annona, the goddess of the corn-harvest. This valuable clue to Plymouth's past was found recently, in the mud of the River Plym near Marsh Mills by Peter Jones, 15, of Efford who was digging not for Romans but for worms.'