The Romans only buy metals (iron, tin, lead, gold) and food from Britain, to support their army,

who fight against the Gauls (including Asterix and Obelix!) in France.

55BC

• Emporer Claudius sends a strong army and the Romans invade Britannia in 43AD. Rome wants to colonize all of Britain and there is little resistance, because the Roman army is strong and experienced and the Celtic tribes are not united.

• I will tell you about Queen Boudica and her fight next week.

43AD

Rome colonizes half of Britannia in the south and builds towns, roads and army camps.

They occupy the North of England, but do not colonize it.

The Romans cannot defeat the Celts and Picts in Caledonia (Scotland) and Hibernia (Ireland).

Londinium, Caerleon, Roads

The Romans spend over 100 years trying to take Scotland, but they never succeed. In the end they build a wall to keep the aggressive Celts and Picts out of the Empire.

Hadrian’s Wall is 117km long, with forts every 500m. You can visit the Roman Wall today. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hadrian’s Wall today.

The Romans build many towns in Britain. At first they have no walls, but after 300AD they all have strong, stone walls.

There are about 20 towns with more than 5000 people and the capital city Londinium has about 20,000 people. It is the biggest city in north Europe.

Planned towns

The Roman Baths at Bath are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These Roman towns have stone buildings, planned streets, markets, shops and a forum.

You can visit the amphitheatre and a Roman Museum at Verulamium, to the north of London.

The Romans also build a network of straight and fast roads to connect all parts of Britannia. Many of the modern main roads follow the same routes as the Roman ones.

Some Romano-Britons (Celts) live in the towns and speak Latin, but most live in the country and only speak Celtic.

150AD

In the country the Romans and rich Britons build large farms, called villas. These farms have many workers and grow food to sell in the towns, and for export (vyvoz) to Europe. Archaeologists found

the remains of 2 villas near my home town Shefford.

Villa plans

Mosaic floors and hot air

heating

Britain has many minerals (tin, iron, lead). The Romans continued to mine gold in West Wales. The Dolaucothi gold mine is still open today, mostly as a tourist attraction.

When a member of the Royal family gets married, the wedding ring is always made of Welsh gold

In the 4th century Rome has many political problems at home, military problems in Europe eg, the Angles and Saxons from Germany attack the Romans in Gaul (France).

There are problems in Britain too. The Celts from Caledonia attack the North of England in 367AD.

The last Roman soldiers leave Britannia in 409AD. The Romano-British must fight against the Scots, Irish and Saxons alone. They have no chance!

In 410AD Rome falls to the Barbarians. This is the end of Roman Britain and of the Roman Empire.

Visigoths attack Rome