The Roman Invasion

It is not known precisely when the Celts first enter Britain in their steady expansion outwards from central Europe.

But Caesar states, in his own account of his campaigns, that they have been migrating across the Channel since at least the 2nd century BC.

Caesar makes his first tentative excursion to Britain in August of 55 BC.

The Celtic kings of southern Britain make good use of the years following Caesar's incursions.

His failure to do more than come and see, without conquering, convinces them that the Channel is a safe defence.

The natural extremity of the Roman empire is the coast of Gaul.

The Celts of Britain benefit, through trade, from the proximity of Roman Gaul.

Across the Channel from Britain go gold, silver, iron, grain, wool, hides and cattle .

Back from Rome come glass, jewellery and other luxuries.

The rulers of the Celtic tribes of Britain become, during this period, more prosperous and more powerful but, in most cases, no more friendly to Rome.

The tendency is personified in a chieftain regarded by the Romans, during the reign of Augustus, as the king of Britain.


Before the Romans invaded, the Celts ruled Britain.
The Celts were divided up into different tribes ruled by kings or chiefs who lived in hill forts.
In Celtic Britain there were no towns.
Most people were farmers who lived in round thatched houses made from wood.
There were no roads either, people would travel on dusty tracks or muddy paths instead.


In 55 B.C. the Roman general Julius Caesar conquered France (At the time the country was called Gaul, and the Romans called it Gallia).

The Gauls fought hard against the Romans and had been helped by their friends in Britain.
Caesar was upset by their assistance and decided to teach the Britons a lesson.
Julius Caesar made two attempts to invade Britain, first in 55 B.C. and then again in 54 B.C.
Both times the British warriors and the rotten British weather made his army give up and return to Gallia.

Nearly a hundred years later in 43 A.D. , Emperor Claudius sent another army to invade Britain.
This time the Romans were successful, Roman Britain had begun.

Some Celts decided to make peace with the Romans in return for keeping their kingdoms.

These people were called client kings, and they had to agree that once they died the Romans could take over their lands.

In some parts of Britain there were still fierce battles against the Romans.

For example at Maiden Castle , archaeologists found evidence of a battle which the Romans had won.

Buried on the site were the skeletons of young men, some of which even had cut marks of Roman swords on their bones.

Hadrian's Wall was a Roman frontier built in the years AD 122-30 by order of the Emperor Hadrian.

It took the Roman legionaries, who built the Wall, about 6 years to complete the job.
In Britain there was no convenient river, like the Danube, that could be used as a boundary, so Hadrian’s Wall was built across one of the narrowest parts of the country linking two rivers.
When it was finished the Wall was 80 Roman miles long (117km or 73 modern miles) and stretched from Wallsend on the river Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.
In the third century A.D. the wall was broken and the Emperor Septimius Severus had to come to Britain to fight against tribes invading from Scotland.

Today's name	Latin name
Bath	Aquae Sulis
Canterbury	Durovernum
Colchester	Camulodonum
Chester	Deva
Cirencester	Corinium
Dover	Portus Dubris
Dorchester	Durnovaria
Exeter	Isca Dumnoniorum
Gloucester	Glevum
Leicester	Ratae Coritanorum
London	Londinium
Lincoln	Lindum
Manchester	Mamucium
Northwich	Condate
Towcester	Lactodorum
Winchester	Venta Belgarum
York	Eboracum