Roman365 Directory

Lasting from 43 to 410 AD, Roman rule left a lasting physical mark on Britain - Hadrian's Wall, Fosse Way, Burgh Castle and villas at Chedworth, Fishbourne and Keynsham are the names of just a few key sites. Less visible, but perhaps more enduring, traces of Roman rule can be found in our language, our culture and even the way we think.

Birdoswald Roman Fort has one of the most impressive locations for a Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall. Set on a high spur overlooking the River Irthing the views are spectacular and it becomes very clear why the Romans built a fort on the site.

Birdoswald is one of the best preserved and finest situated of the Roman Forts on Hadrian's Wall. It stands on a high spur of land overlooking the Irthing Gorge. Birdoswald has had a colourful history. It began nearly 2000 years ago as a Roman Fort, since then Birdoswald has been the home of Dark Age Chieftains, Border Reivers and Victorian farmers.

Brigantium is an archaeological reconstruction centre situated in Redesdale, Northumberland, adjacent to the Roman fort of Bremenium (High Rochester). It tells the story of the Roman occupation of the north from the native point of view.

Caerleon was the site of one of Britain's three Roman Legionary Fortresses and many believe it to be the location of King Arthur's Camelot. In 830 AD Nennius listed Cair Lion as one of Britain's 33 cities. Nowadays it's a thriving village where past and present combine to delight both visitors and residents.

Unlike many other Roman towns which continued in use after the withdrawal of Roman troops early in the fifth century AD (such as Winchester), Silchester was completely abandoned at the end of the Roman occupation of Britain. Consequently it has never been built on and the layout survives intact. In England only two other Roman towns, Caistor in Norfolk and Wroxeter in Shropshire have survived to a similar extent.

Chislehurst Caves are a labyrinth of dark mysterious passageways which have been hewn by hand from the chalk, deep beneath Chislehurst. There are over 20 miles of caverns and passageways, dug over a period of 8000 years. The vast complex of caves are a maze of ancient mines originally carved out in the search for flint and chalk. They are divided into three main sections, Saxon, Druid and Roman.

Fishbourne Roman Palace was discovered by accident during the digging of a water main trench in 1960. The discovery led to nine seasons of excavations that showed the site had developed from a military base at the time of the Roman invasion in AD43 to a sumptuous Palace by the end of the first century.

Northumberland has been a border territory for almost 2,000 years. The Romans occupied Britain from the middle of the 1st century to the beginning of the 5th century and for much of this time Northumberland was the very edge of their mighty empire. It was in AD 122 that the Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a wall across the country from the Tyne to the Solway to separate the land of the Britons from the land of the Picts.

Hadrians Wall - This site is under construction and will eventually cover all forts along the Wall. So far, Segedunum and Arbeia are covered and this is extensive for the former. I intend to cover all forts similarly. Keep checking.

In 58 BC, Julius Caesar became governor and military commander of the Roman province of Gaul, which included modern France, Belgium, and portions of Switzerland, Holland, and Germany west of the Rhine. For the next eight years, Caesar led military campaigns involving both the Roman legions and tribes in Gaul who were often competing among themselves. The story has been preserved in Caesar's account, Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, originally published in 50 BC.

Welcome to Roman Britain, four centuries when Britain was Britannia, a province of the Roman Empire.

, John Senhouse started to collect interesting things that I found around the fort and in the Roman town - the vicus- outside the gates of the fort. Over the centuries other members of my family kept adding to the collection. The things in the collection - the artefacts- are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which give us a picture of the lives and ideas of people who lived in Alauna (now Maryport) nearly 2,000 years ago.

The Roman Baths and Pump Room site at Bath is one of Britain%u2019s best known, most spectacular and most frequently visited ancient monuments. The state of preservation of the ancient monument is exceptional. This is partly due to simple good fortune in the way that successive developments over the past two millennia have left much of the site unscathed.

One of the most important sources for Roman Britain is the series of inscribed stones which record buildings, events, people and places. There aren't very many (less than 3000) and most are brief and/or damaged. They're scattered all over the museums of Britain but some are long lost and known only from drawings made hundreds of years ago.

In 1994 the author began a study of the British section of a manuscript known as The Ravenna Cosmography. That section records place-names of Britain during the Roman occupation. It was determined that the original source map was marked with measured lines of latitude and longitude. Apparently quadrants (most often two degrees by one degree) were specially delineated, suggesting the existence of detailed sectional maps.

Some information and thoughts on the Romans and South West Britain with illustrations of Roman military equipment

The RBO website now provides information about almost every Roman settlement, fort, camp and quarry in the entire British Isles. From the initial forays of Julius Caesar into Cantium (Kent) in 55/54BC, to the beginning of the fifth century AD, when Emperor Honorius informed Britannia that she must defend herself. RBO thus covers a chronological time-span of around half a millenium.

A virtual tour of Housesteads Fort on Hadrian's Wall