Subject · AD 43 to about 410

Six lessons on the 360 years when most of Britain was part of the Roman empire, told from the stones, letters and burnt layers it left behind.

It began with an invasion of about 40,000 men in AD 43, and ended early in the 400s, when the emperor refused to defend Britain any more.12

Start with lesson IThe whole story, year by yearThe people

The lessons in time

50 BCAD 1AD 100AD 200AD 300AD 400AD 500I The invasionII Boudica’s revoltIII Hadrian’s WallIV Life on the frontierV Towns and the new lifeVI How it ended
A campaign, then a province: each lesson drawn over the years it covers. The lessons overlap because the frontier, the towns and the end were all happening at once. Year by year · The people

The map

Move the year to see which places were Roman at the time.

  • Main road, line documented
  • Other road, line documented
  • Road on weaker evidence
  • Hadrian’s Wall, from AD 122
  • Antonine Wall, about 142 to 160
  • A place we cover
Hadrian’s Wall forts:see the close-upRichboroughLondonWroxeterBathYorkPortchester
Roman Britain, with every Roman road known to the Itiner-e atlas. Thick line: main roads. Thin: other roads. Dotted: roads thought to have existed on weaker evidence. No road in Britain is yet graded certain in Itiner-e; even the solid lines are placed with some uncertainty. The roads are not dated, so they stay on whatever the year. Places fade when they were not yet Roman, or no longer were. Coast: Natural Earth. Roads: Itiner-e, CC BY 4.0.
VindolandaCorbridgeChestersHousesteadsBirdoswaldClose-up: the middle of Hadrian’s Wall, about 55 km from end to end of this view
The forts in the middle of Hadrian’s Wall. Red and black line: the Wall, simplified. Roads as on the main map. The Stanegate, the older road just south of the Wall, links Corbridge and Vindolanda.

About the roads. Most Roman roads survive only as lines in fields, hedges and later roads. The Itiner-e atlas grades each one by how sure its line is; even the best-known British roads are graded “conjectured”: documented, but placed with some uncertainty.4

The six lessons

In order, like milestones on a road.

Reading for

Every lesson is written for anyone. Choose a course and the lessons that match it are marked.

  1. 55 BC to AD 47

    The invasion

    Why did Rome invade Britain in AD 43, and how did it win?

    Caesar came and went. Claudius needed a victory, and sent about 40,000 men.

    Fits: Primary (KS2) · GCSE · A level

    Photo: Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  2. AD 60 to 61

    Boudica’s revolt

    Why did Boudica rebel, and how much can we trust the story?

    A queen whipped, three towns burnt, and two Roman accounts that do not agree.

    Fits: Primary (KS2) · GCSE · A level

    Photo: Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  3. AD 122 to 410

    Hadrian’s Wall

    What was the Wall for, and how was it built?

    An emperor’s order, a plan that changed while it was being built, and one Roman mile drawn to scale.

    Fits: Primary (KS2) · A level

    Photo: Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  4. About AD 85 to 400

    Life on the frontier

    Who actually lived on the northern frontier?

    A birthday invitation on wood, a Syrian and his British wife, and soldiers from Belgium and Romania.

    Fits: Primary (KS2) · A level

    Photo: Jeremy Bolwell, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  5. AD 47 to about 300

    Towns and the new life

    How did Roman rule change the way people lived?

    New towns on new roads, a sacred hot spring, and the people who moved in.

    Fits: Primary (KS2) · GCSE · A level

    Photo: David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  6. About AD 250 to 500

    How it ended

    Did Roman Britain fall, or fade away?

    Raiders from the sea, an emperor of Britain, and an army that was never paid again.

    Fits: Primary (KS2)

    Photo: David Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Places: along Hadrian’s Wall

The frontier: forts, a supply town, and the people who manned them for three centuries.

  1. Fort · Vindolanda

    Vindolanda

    About AD 85 to after 400

    A fort rebuilt again and again south of Hadrian’s Wall, where letters on wood survived.

    Photo: Eirian Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  2. Town · Coria

    Corbridge

    Forts from about AD 86; a town until the early 400s

    Forts at a river crossing, then a legionary supply base, then a town that fed the Wall.

    Photo: David P Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  3. Fort · Cilurnum

    Chesters

    Built about AD 124; held into the 400s

    A fort for 500 horsemen built straight across the Wall where it crossed the North Tyne.

    Photo: Andrew Curtis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  4. Fort · Vercovicium

    Housesteads

    Begun within a decade of AD 122; held to about 400, perhaps later

    The most complete Roman fort in Britain, on a ridge in the middle of Hadrian’s Wall.

    Photo: Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  5. Fort · Banna

    Birdoswald

    Built soon after AD 122; lived in until about 500

    Home of a Dacian cohort for two centuries, and lived in for about a hundred years after Roman rule ended.

    Photo: David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Places: the gateway and the shore

Where the Romans came in, and where they later built walls against raiders from the sea.

  1. Port and fort · Rutupiae

    Richborough

    AD 43 to the early 400s

    Where the invasion army probably came ashore, then the official gateway to Britain under a marble arch.

    Photo: Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  2. Saxon Shore fort · Portus Adurni (probably)

    Portchester

    Probably built AD 285 to 290

    The best-preserved Roman fort north of the Alps, built to guard a harbour against raiders from the sea.

    Photo: David Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Places: towns and a fortress

New towns on new roads, a sacred spring, and the legion’s base in the north.

  1. Town · Londinium

    London

    Founded AD 47 to 50; empty by about 450

    A new town on the Thames that became the biggest in the province, was burnt, rebuilt, walled and left.

    Photo: Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  2. Town · Viroconium

    Wroxeter

    Fort about AD 47; city from the 90s; centre empty by the mid 400s

    A legionary fortress that became one of the largest cities in Roman Britain, with most of it still unexcavated.

    Photo: David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  3. Town · Aquae Sulis

    Bath

    Founded in the later first century AD

    A hot spring, a goddess and a great bath, where people threw curses written on lead into the water.

    Photo: David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

  4. Legionary fortress · Eboracum

    York

    Founded in or around AD 71

    Fortress of the Ninth Legion, later capital of the north. One emperor was acclaimed here and two died here. Founded in or around AD 71 by the 5,000 men of the Ninth Legion, where the Ouse and the Foss meet.3 Its own page is still being researched.

Where experts disagree: how did Boudica die?

By poison, says Tacitus.Writing about fifty years after the revolt, Tacitus says Boudica ended her life with poison after the defeat.5

Of illness, says Dio.Cassius Dio, writing in Greek about a century after Tacitus, says she fell sick and died. Both were elite Romans, and neither was there. Read the whole story.6

Sources for this page

Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.

Last reviewed 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

  1. The Roman invasion of Britain, AD 43. English Heritage, Story of England: Romans. www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/romans/invasion/Used for: Why Claudius invaded, the size of the army, and the debate over where it landed. Checked 12 November 2026.
  2. London Museum. A timeline of Roman London: Londinium from start to end. www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/timeline-roman-london-londinium/Used for: Londinium: founding, population, the fires, the wall, the provinces and the end. Checked 12 November 2026.
  3. York Archaeological Trust and partners. History of York: Roman York (Eboracum). www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/romanUsed for: York: its founding by the Ninth Legion around AD 71, and the emperors acclaimed and died there. Checked 12 November 2026.
  4. Brughmans, T., de Soto, P., Pažout, A. and Bjerregaard Vahlstrup, P. (2024). Itiner-e: the digital atlas of ancient roads. CC BY 4.0. British roads as extracted in Hotham, T. (2026), How Roman is your road? Data and code, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.23673516. itiner-e.orgUsed for: Every Roman road on the map, with how certain its line is. Checked 12 November 2026.
  5. Tacitus, Annals, book 14, chapters 29 to 39 (written in the early 2nd century AD). Translated by J. Jackson, Loeb Classical Library, 1937, public domain; online at LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer). penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/14B*.htmlUsed for: Boudica’s revolt as a Roman senator told it, about fifty years later. Checked 12 November 2026.
  6. Cassius Dio, Roman History, epitome of book 62 (written around AD 200). Translated by E. Cary, Loeb Classical Library, 1925, public domain; online at LacusCurtius. penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.htmlUsed for: Boudica as Dio described her, and his figures for the revolt. Checked 12 November 2026.
  7. Natural Earth, 1:110m and 1:50m land, public domain, via the world-atlas package by Mike Bostock (ISC licence). www.naturalearthdata.com/Used for: Every coastline drawn on this site. Checked 11 November 2026.