ABSTRACT
The long-term effects of Roman military occupation on the South West were remarkably limited. None of the auxiliary forts in the region appear to have attracted to its vicinity that motley crew which is so commonly attested at the forts of the pre-Flavian period in much of southern Britain, and subsequently no vici or road-stations developed over their sites as happened frequently elsewhere. North Tawton, Okehampton, Nanstallon and the rest faded into the landscape and were no more. Only at Bury Barton is there any hint of later occupation and its nature is still uncertain (Todd 1985). The most substantial legacy of the Roman army to the civitas Dumnoniorum was the site of Exeter, which was to remain the focus of Imperial administration until the end of Roman Britain and a centre of authority for long after that.
