Irish colonists in south‐west Britain

Abstract

Abstract By assessing the results of excavations, inscriptions, personal and place names, settlement and land use patterns, two phases of Irish colonization into south‐west Britain can be recognized. The first affected north‐east Cornwall and west Devon from the late fifth century A.D. and the second, west Cornwall a century later. Though less visible than the Irish colonization of northwest Britain, these immigrants had a lasting effect on subsequent cultural patterns in the south‐west.