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Watch: What did the Romans do for us?

When the Romans arrived in AD43, they introduced new ideas and new ways of living to Britain.

From stinging nettles to sewers - find out how the Romans changed Britain

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The end of Roman Britain

By AD410 the city of Rome was under attack and the empire was falling apart. So the Romans had to leave Britain to help back home.

The Roman Emperor Honorius sent a goodbye letter to the people of Britain.

He wrote: 鈥渇ight bravely and defend your lives鈥ou are on your own now鈥.

A roman soldier looks on.

After they left many of the Roman towns in Britain crumbled away as people went back to living in the countryside.

But even after they were gone, the Romans left their mark all over the country.

They gave us: new towns, plants, animals, a new religion and new ways of reading and counting.Even the word Britain comes from the Romans.

This wasn't all the Romans gave Britain though鈥

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Roman Roads

A cobbled Roman road extending into the horizon.
Image caption,
An original section of the Roman road between Manchester and Yorkshire.
  • The Romans built 10,000 miles of road across Britain.

  • Many of these are used today as modern roads, such as the Fosse Way which went from the Roman towns of Lincoln to Exeter.

  • Today this is the A46 to Leicester and the B4114 and B4455 to Cirencester, crossing Watling Street (the A5).

  • Why not see if you can locate them on a map?

A cobbled Roman road extending into the horizon.
Image caption,
An original section of the Roman road between Manchester and Yorkshire.
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How did the Romans change towns?

A Roman archway in Colchester.
Image caption,
The Romans built walls around many of their towns. Some are even standing today, like this one in Colchester.
  • London (Londinium) was Britain鈥檚 greatest city and is today the capital of the UK.
  • When the Romans invaded, they built a fort beside the River Thames.
  • This was where traders came from all over the empire to bring their goods to Britain.
  • Londinium grew and grew, until it was the most important city in Roman Britain.

What's in a name?

  • If a place-name has chester, caster or cester in it, it's almost certainly Roman.
  • Gloucester, Worcester, Colchester, Doncaster and Manchester are good examples.
  • The word chester comes from the Latin word castrum which means a fort.
  • Other important Roman towns included Lincoln, Exeter, York, and Bath.

Clever town layouts

  • The Romans often built upon existing Celtic tribal-settlements such as Winchester and Canterbury.
  • Towns are designed in a鈥痝rid. Streets criss-crossed the town to form blocks called insulae.
  • In the middle was the forum. A big market square where people came to trade.
  • The main buildings were in stone. Centuries later, these Roman towns survived to become the dominant towns of Medieval England.
A Roman archway in Colchester.
Image caption,
The Romans built walls around many of their towns. Some are even standing today, like this one in Colchester.
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What Roman ruins are there?

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 4, Hadrian's wall travelling into the horizon., Of all the Roman remains in Britain, Hadrian's Wall is probably the most famous. In AD122 the Emperor Hadrian ordered his soldiers to build a wall between Roman Britain and Scotland. It ran for 73 miles from Wallsend-on-Tyne to Bowness.
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Language, writing and numbers

Before the Romans came, very few Britons could read or write. Instead, information was usually passed by word of mouth.

  • The Romans wrote down their history, their literature and their laws.
  • They spoke Latin, and it wasn鈥檛 long before some Britons started to use it too.
  • The area south of the Fosse Way (Lincoln to Exeter) was the wealthiest and most Romanised part of Britain where Latin was spoken.
  • Latin was also the language of Christianity and remained the universal language of learning, law and literature for 1000 years after the end of the Roman Empire.
Roman Briton's reading Latin
A grand clock showing Roman numerals.
Image caption,
Some clocks today still use Roman numbers. Can you tell what the time is?
  • We've still got lots of words and phrases today that come from Latin. Words like exit, which means they go out, and pedestrian, which means going on foot.

  • Our coins are based on a Roman design. Written around the edge of some 拢1 coins is the Latin phrase 'decus et tutamen' which means glory and protection.

A grand clock showing Roman numerals.
Image caption,
Some clocks today still use Roman numbers. Can you tell what the time is?
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Quiz - How did the Romans change Britain?

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Teaching resources

Looking for ways to introduce students to how the Romans changed Britain? This collection of animated videos explores the Roman Empire, with a focus on the Roman invasion and settlement of Britain.

大象传媒 Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.

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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
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