Britain Becomes Roman

The Romans did not stay in Scotland or invade Ireland. Their British province included only England and Wales. There, many Britons soon took up Roman ways and in turn, the Romans grew used to Britain’s customers and climate. With them they brought Roman fashions, building styles, law, religion and home-life.

In the countryside the invasion wars had damaged farms and villages. The Romans had destroyed many British hill-forts and turned others into their army bases. Like all conquerors the Roman rulers of Britain took large estates for themselves. Often the men, women and children who lived on these lands were taken as slaves.

However, the Romans wanted British farming to recover quickly. Their army needed food and so did the growing numbers of people in the towns. British warriors were sent back to their farms to plough and plant fields.

The Romans took over old British settlements and turned them into towns. One of the biggest and richest was Cirenchester. But even a small town such as Caerwent in Wales had elegant houses like those found in Rome.

As Britain was Romanized people in the towns took to wearing Roman - style clothing and furnished their homes in the Roman way. Whether they lived in towns or the countryside, Romans in Britain wanted the same comforts as in other parts of the empire. Traders brought fine pottery, beautiful silks and silver wear from the continent.

Merchants travelled to Britain from all over Europe and beyond. Some of these foreign traders settled in British towns. Soon their were groups of newcomers, including  Italians and Greeks, living in the larger British towns such as Bath, York and London.

One clear sign that Britain had become Romanized was the building of bath houses in every town. The Celts were a clean people, but to the Romans a bath house wasn’t just a place to wash. They went there to relax, to talk business or politics, or simply gossip. The town of Bath, known to the Romans as Aquae Sulis, was a health resort. People visited the Baths (which can still be seen) as they believed the waters from local hot springs could cure all kinds of diseases.