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This timeline summarizes significant events in the History of Cornwall

Pre-Roman occupation 4000 BC

Examples of Cornish Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age structures are Chûn Quoit, Boscawen-Un and Chysauster Ancient Village. First Cornish hedges.

2000 BC Mining in Cornwall has existed from the early Bronze Age around 2150 BC and it is thought that Cornwall was visited by metal traders from the eastern Mediterranean. It has been suggested that the Cassiterides or "Tin Islands" as recorded by Herodotus in 445 BC may have referred to the Scilly Islands and Cornwall as when first discovered they were both thought to have been islands.

1600 BC Cornwall experiences a trade boom driven by the export of tin across Europe.

750 BC The Iron Age reaches Cornwall, permitting greater scope of agriculture through the use of new iron ploughs and axes.

330 BC Pytheas of Massilia (now Marseille), a Greek merchant and explorer, circumnavigated the British Isles between about 330 and 320 BC and produced the first written record of the islands. He described the Cornish as civilised, skilled farmers, usually peaceable, but formidable in war.

100 BC 60 BC: Greek historian Diodorus Siculus named Cornwall "Belerion" – "The Shining Land", one of the first recorded place names in the British Isles. 55 BC: First attempted invasion of British mainland by Julius Caesar. Over the next century, the Romans come to rule Cornwall, then part of Dumnonia.

1st millennium Roman invasion and occupation

19 AD: Total eclipse in Cornwall. 43 AD: Claudian invasion of Britain begins. Roman control of Cornwall comes much later, but at an uncertain date. 55–60 AD: Construction of Nanstallon Roman fort near Bodmin, one of an increasing number of Roman sites in Cornwall. Originally, it was widely considered that there had been little Roman involvement in Cornwall, this is, in more recent years, with new discoveries proving to not have been the case. Roman villa at Magor Farm near Camborne occupied.O'Neill, B. St. J. (1933) The Roman Villa at Magor Farm, near Camborne, Cornwall 360 and after: various Germanic peoples came to Roman Britain: raiders, Roman armies recruited from among German tribes, authorized settlers: ref. Ælle of Sussex

5th century

Cornwall's native name (Kernow) appeared on record as early as 400. The Ravenna Cosmography, compiled c. 700 from Roman material 300 years older, lists a route running westward into Cornwall and on this route is a place then called Durocornovio (Latinised from British Celtic duno-Cornouio-n – "fortress of the Cornish people"). In Latin, 'V' represented and was pronounced as a 'W' and the fortress name refers to Tintagel.Payton, Philip (1996). Cornwall. Fowey: Alexander Associates 410: Emperor Honorius recalls the last legions from Britain. There is some uncertainty: some say that this "rescript" refers not to Britannia (= Britain) but to Bruttium in Italy. Mid-5th century: first waves of settlers from Cornwall, and Devon, go to Brittany 433: The Britons call the Angles to come and help them (as mercenaries) against the Picts.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle about 446: The "Groans of the Britons" last appeal (possibly to the Consul Aetius) for the Roman army to come back to Britain. King Mark, of Tristan and Iseult fame, probably ruled in the late 5th century. According to Cornish folklore, he held court at Tintagel. King Salomon, father of Saint Cybi, ruled after Mark.

6th century

500: The Kingdom of Cornwall emerged around the 6th century which included the tribes of the Dumnonii and the Cornish Cornovii.Ellis, P. B. (1993) Celt and Saxon. London: Constable The origins of the neighbouring Kingdom of Wessex are also in this period. 490 to 510: likely range of dates for the Battle of Mons Badonicus, in which Romano-British Celts defeated an invading Anglo-Saxon army. 535/536: Volcanic winter of 536 cause European famine. After 540s: Plague of Justinian, which would affect all of Europe. 577: Battle of Deorham Down near Bristol results in the separation of the West Welsh (the Cornish) from the Welsh by the advance of the Saxons. The earliest Cornish saints systematically convert Cornwall to Christianity, a considerable period before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon peoples of England (the territory east of the River Tamar). According to tradition these early monastic foundations were made by Christian preachers or Christian Druids from other Celtic lands, mainly Ireland (as in the cases of Saint Piran and Saint Gwinear), Wales (as in the case of Saint Petroc and the Children of Brychan), and Brittany (as in the case of Saint Mylor).

7th century 658: Battle of Peonnum drives the Britons from the area around Glastonbury abbey down to the River Parrett. 664: The Synod of Whitby determines that England is again an ecclesiastical province of Rome, with its formal structure of dioceses and parishes. The Celtic Church in Dumnonia is not party to the decision and the Cornish Church remains monastic in nature. 682: Centwine, King of Wessex drove the Britons of the West at the sword's point as far as the sea. (ASC) Difficult to place due to the nature of the South-West as a Peninsula but likely to be the North Coast around Bridgewater in Somerset as the border had been set at the River Parrett by the Battle of Peonnum.

8th century 710: Battle of Llongborth (probably Langport in Somerset) fought to try to prevent further English expansion into Devon.King Geraint of Cornwall's led the fighting and his death is recorded in the Elegy for Geraint in the Black Book of Carmarthen. Tensions possibly exacerbated by Geraint's refusal to allow the Celtic church to follow the call of the English church (which was perhaps 300 years younger) to conform to the standards of Rome. The battle was fought against the West Saxon King Ine and his kinsman, Nonna.Weatherhill, Craig, Cornovia; p. 10 722: Battle of Hehil – The Cornish Britons together with their friends and allies, push back a West-Saxon offensive at "Hehil", unlocated, but probably somewhere in modern Devon. 753: Cuthred of Wessex fights 'Against the Welsh (Cornish)' according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 755: Cynewulf fights 'Hard battles against the Welsh (Cornish).

9th century 807: Unsuccessful Cornish alliance with Danes. 815: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states "& þy geare gehergade Ecgbryht cyning on West Walas from easteweardum oþ westewearde."...and in this year king Ecgbehrt harried the Cornish from east to west.

825: Battle of Gafulforda, at an uncertain location, thought to be Galford, near Lewdown in West Devon. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle only states: "The Wealas (Cornish) and the Defnas (men of Devon) fought at Gafalforda".Pearce, Susan M. (1978) The Kingdom of Dumnonia: studies in history and tradition in south western Britain, AD 350 – 1150. Padstow: Lodenek Press 838: Battle of Hingston Down: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that the Cornish in alliance with the Danes were defeated by Egbert of Wessex at "Hengestesdun", generally considered to be Hingston Down in eastern Cornwall. 850: Settlement at Mawgan Porth occupied. Archaeological excavations revealed a settlement comprising three groups of buildings ('courtyard houses') and a burial ground dating from around 850–1050. Finds included pottery and stone artefacts.Bruce-Mitford, R. Mawgan Porth; a settlement of the Late Saxon Period on the North Cornish Coast: Excavations 1949–52, 1954 and 1974. London: English Heritage 875: King Dungarth (Donyarth) of Cerniu ("id est Cornubiae") drowns in what is thought to be the River Fowey. 880s: the Church in Cornwall is having more Saxon priests appointed to it and they control some church estates like Polltun, Caellwic and Landwithan (Pawton, in St Breock; perhaps Celliwig (Kellywick in Callington); and Lawhitton). Eventually they passed these over to Wessex kings. However, according to Alfred the Great's will the amount of land he owned in Cornwall was very small.Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael (tr.) (1983), Alfred the Great – Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources. London: Penguin, p. 175; cf. ibid, p. 89. late 9th century: The earliest known example of written Cornish is a gloss in a late 9th century Latin manuscript of De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius, which used the words ud rocashaas. The phrase means "it (the mind) hated the gloomy places". Sims-Williams, P. (2005) "A New Brittonic Gloss on Boethius: ud rocashaas, in: Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies; 50 (Winter 2005), pp. 77–86

10th century

926: The entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads....'This year fiery lights appeared in the north part of the heavens. And Sihtric perished: and king Aethelstan obtained the kingdom of the North-humbrians. And he ruled all the kings who were in this island: first, Huwal king of the West-Welsh (Cornish or Deheubarth); and Constantine king of the Scots; and Uwen king of the people of Guent; and Ealdred, son of Ealdulf, of Bambrough: and they confirmed the peace by pledge, and by oaths, at the place which is called Eamot, on the 4th of the ides of July [12 July]; and they renounced all idolatry, and after that submitted to him in peace. 927: William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120, says that Athelstan evicted the Cornish from Exeter and perhaps the rest of Devon: "Exeter was cleansed of its defilement by wiping out that filthy race".Payton, Philip (1996). Cornwall: a history. Fowey: Alexander Associates The area inside the city walls still known today as 'Little Britain' is the quarter where most of the Cornish Romano-British aristocracy had their town houses, from which they were expelled, sent to those lands west of the Tamar. It is not recorded whether the ordinary citizens (ie non aristocracy) were required to leave. 928: It is thought that the King Huwal, "King of the West Welsh" (Cornwall or Hywel Dda of Deheubarth) was one of several kings who signed a treaty with Aethelstan of Wessex at Egmont Bridge. 930: Armes Prydein, (the Prophecy of Britain), this early Welsh poem mentions 'Cornyw', the Celtic name for Cornwall. It foretells that the Welsh together with Cornwall, Brittany, Ireland and Cumbria would expel the English from Britain. This poem also demonstrates an early allegiance between the Celtic people of Britain. 936: Athelstan fixed Cornwall's eastern boundary as the east bank of the Tamar. There is no record of Athelstan taking his campaigns into Cornwall and it seems probable that Huwal, King of the Cornish, agreed to pay tribute thus avoiding further attacks and maintaining a high degree of autonomy. Prior to this the West Saxons had pushed their frontier across the Tamar as far west as the River Lynher, but this was only temporary. It was long enough, however, for Saxon settlement and land charters to influence our modern day inheritance of placenames: between Lynher and Tamar there are today many more English than Cornish place names, as is also the case in that other debatable land between Ottery and Tamar in north Cornwall. 944: Athelstan's successor, Edmund I of England, styled himself "King of the English and ruler of this province of the Britons" Todd, Malcolm (1987); p. 289 981: The Vikings lay waste "Petroces stow" (probably Padstow) according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.Orme, Nicholas (2007) Cornwall and the Cross. Chichester: Phillimore; p. 10 "[either Padstow or Bodmin] ... presumably by a Viking attack" 986: Olaf Tryggvason allegedly visits the Isles of Scilly 997: The Dartmoor town of Lydford, near the Cornish/Wessex border just east of the Tamar is completely destroyed by an angry mob of Danish Vikings. The surprise attack on Lydford is ordered by the King of Denmark and Viking leader Sweyn Forkbeard (previously, Lydford was believed to be impregnable against Viking attack). However, Cornwall is left alone as Sweyn Forkbeard has no intention of crushing Cornwall—unlike Wessex.

2nd millennium 11th century