Early Britain and the Romans

The first hunter-gatherers

The first people to live in Britain were hunter-gatherers, in what we call the Stone Age. For much of the Stone Age, Britain was connected to the continent by a land bridge, and people came and went, following the herds of deer and horses which they hunted. Britain only became permanently separated from the continent by the Channel about 10,000 years ago.

The arrival of farming

The first farmers arrived in Britain about 6,000 years ago, and their ancestors probably came from south-east Europe. These early farmers built houses, tombs and monuments, marking a shift from a wandering hunter-gatherer life to a more settled existence on the land.

Stone Age Britain

One of the most famous Stone Age monuments is Stonehenge, which still stands in the English county of Wiltshire. It was probably a special gathering place for seasonal ceremonies, though its exact purpose is not certain.

Other Stone Age sites have also survived. Skara Brae, on Orkney off the north coast of Scotland, is the best preserved prehistoric village in northern Europe, and has helped archaeologists understand more about how people lived near the end of the Stone Age.

The Bronze Age: metal, monuments and the dead

Around 4,000 years ago, people in Britain learned to make bronze, giving this period its name. Bronze Age people lived in roundhouses and buried their dead in tombs called round barrows. They were accomplished metalworkers, producing many beautiful objects in bronze and gold, including tools, ornaments and weapons.

The Iron Age: forts, coins and Celtic Britain

The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, when people learned to make weapons and tools from iron. People continued to live in roundhouses, now grouped into larger settlements, and some communities built and defended hill forts. A particularly impressive example survives at Maiden Castle in Dorset.

Most people worked as farmers, craft workers or warriors. They spoke a language belonging to the Celtic family, related to languages spoken elsewhere in Iron Age Europe and still surviving today in parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Iron Age society had a sophisticated culture and economy, and its people minted the first coins made in Britain, some stamped with the names of Iron Age kings. This step, producing named coinage, marks the point historians take as the true beginning of British history.

Tribal Britain before the Romans

By the Iron Age, Britain was organised into tribal kingdoms rather than a single nation. These tribes were led by their own kings and queens, and their identities are known partly through the coins they issued and partly through Roman accounts written once contact with Rome began.

The best-remembered of these tribal leaders is Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, whose people lived in what is now eastern England. She led resistance against the Roman occupation after it began in AD 43, and she is remembered today with a statue on Westminster Bridge in London, close to the Houses of Parliament. Tribal Britain, with its scattered kingdoms and hill forts, was the political landscape the Romans encountered and eventually brought under a single administration.

Hill forts and the Iron Age

The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, when people learned to make weapons and tools from iron rather than bronze. People still lived in roundhouses, but these were now grouped into larger settlements, and some communities defended their sites by building hill forts, fortified hill-top enclosures surrounded by banks and ditches. Most people at this time worked as farmers, craft workers or warriors, and they spoke a Celtic language, part of a family of languages spoken across Europe in the Iron Age and still heard today in parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

One striking hill fort survives at Maiden Castle in Dorset. Its ramparts and ditches can still be seen today, and it ranks among the largest hill forts in Britain.

The Iron Age also saw the first coins minted in Britain, some stamped with the names of Iron Age kings, a development often taken to mark the beginning of British history proper.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge, in the English county of Wiltshire, is one of the best known monuments left by Britain's first farmers, who began arriving from around 6,000 years ago, probably from south-east Europe. These early farming communities built houses, tombs and monuments across the landscape, and Stonehenge was probably a special gathering place used for ceremonies linked to the changing seasons.

Archaeologists have shown that Stonehenge developed over a very long period. English Heritage, which manages the site, explains that work on the monument began roughly 5,000 years ago as an early henge, and that the famous stone circle itself was raised in the late Neolithic period, around 2500 BC.

Julius Caesar's attempted invasions

Julius Caesar led a Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC. It failed, and Britain remained outside the Roman Empire for nearly a century afterwards. A lasting Roman conquest did not come until AD 43, when the Emperor Claudius sent a new invasion force that met resistance from some British tribes but succeeded in taking control of almost all of Britain.

Emperor Claudius and the conquest of Britain

Julius Caesar had tried to bring Britain under Roman control in 55 BC, but this attempt failed and Britain stayed outside the Roman Empire for almost a century afterwards. It was the Emperor Claudius who finally succeeded. In AD 43 he sent the Roman army to invade Britain again, and this time the campaign held.

Some British tribes fought back, but the Romans overcame the resistance and took control of almost the whole of Britain. This conquest brought Britain firmly into the Roman world for the first time and set the stage for nearly 400 years of Roman rule, during which the Romans built roads, towns and a system of law across the country.

Boudicca and the revolt against Rome

Boudicca was queen of the Iceni, a British tribe based in what is now eastern England. She led one of the most serious rebellions against Roman rule, fighting the occupying forces after they seized her people's land and treated her and her family with great cruelty.

Boudicca is remembered today as a symbol of British resistance to invasion. A statue of her, shown riding a chariot with her daughters, stands on Westminster Bridge in London, close to the Houses of Parliament. It was designed by the sculptor Thomas Thornycroft and put up in 1902, commissioned with the support of Prince Albert.

Roman roads and Roman rule

The Romans stayed in Britain for around 400 years. During that time they built roads and public buildings, created a system of law, and introduced new plants and animals to the country. Their road network connected towns and forts across the province and made it far easier to move troops, goods and information, laying foundations that shaped travel routes for centuries afterwards.

Roman rule also brought Britain into wider contact with the ancient world. Hadrian's Wall was built in the north of England to mark the edge of Roman control and keep out the Picts, and forts such as Housesteads and Vindolanda still survive along its length today as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was during the third and fourth centuries AD that the first Christian communities appeared in Britain, while Roman administration and infrastructure continued until the army finally withdrew in AD 410.

Roman towns and city life

Once the Romans had conquered most of Britain, they built towns across the country to help govern the people they had defeated and to spread Roman ways of life. Many of these towns grew up around army forts, and some place names still reveal this Roman origin today. The word chester comes from the Latin castrum, meaning a fort, so towns such as Gloucester, Doncaster and Manchester mark the sites of former Roman military bases.

Roman towns brought a new kind of urban living to Britain, with paved streets, public buildings and organised trade. London, known to the Romans as Londinium, became an important centre for commerce and administration. Roads connected these towns to each other and to the rest of the empire, and several routes first laid out by Roman engineers are still followed by roads in use today.

Not everyone welcomed Roman rule. Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribe in what is now eastern England, led a rebellion against the Romans and destroyed a number of settlements before being defeated. She is still remembered today, and a statue of her stands on Westminster Bridge in London, near the Houses of Parliament.

Roman law and administration

The Romans occupied almost all of Britain and remained for around 400 years. During that time they built roads and public buildings, created a structure of law, and introduced new plants and animals to the country. This period left a lasting mark on how Britain was governed and organised.

Roman administration relied on towns as centres of local government, from where officials oversaw the surrounding countryside and collected taxes. This system of ordered governance and law was new to Britain and helped to bind the different regions together under a single authority for the first time.

Christianity also began to take root during the Roman period. The first Christian communities appeared in Britain during the third and fourth centuries AD, laying foundations that would shape the religious life of the country long after Roman rule ended.

Hadrian's Wall

Roman control never extended into what is now Scotland. To defend the northern frontier of their territory, the Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a great wall across the north of England to keep out the Picts, the ancestors of the Scottish people. The wall included a number of forts along its length.

Parts of Hadrian's Wall survive today, including the forts of Housesteads and Vindolanda, and the wall remains a popular destination for walkers. It is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reflecting its importance as one of the best-preserved frontiers of the Roman Empire.

Christianity arrives under Roman rule

The Romans occupied Britain for around 400 years, during which they built roads and public buildings, created a structure of law, and introduced new plants and animals to the country. It was against this backdrop that a new religion took hold. The first Christian communities began to appear in Britain during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, as the faith spread gradually across the Roman Empire following centuries in which it had been a minor and sometimes persecuted belief.

Rome leaves Britain

The Roman army left Britain in AD 410, called away to defend other parts of a Roman Empire that was under pressure elsewhere. They never returned. This ended nearly four centuries of Roman rule, during which the Romans had built roads and public buildings, created a structure of law and introduced new plants and animals to Britain.

With the legions gone, Britain faced fresh invasions by tribes from northern Europe: the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons. Battles were fought against these newcomers, but by about AD 600 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had become established across much of the land, mainly in what is now England. The languages these invaders spoke form the basis of modern English. Parts of the west, including much of what is now Wales, and Scotland, remained free of Anglo-Saxon rule.