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Last modified:
November 13, 2004
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Roman
Britain and After
The Romans invaded
Britain in 43 AD on the Kent Coast at Richbrough bringing with them the first
keystones of civilisation, by turning villages into town which acted as rural
and industrial centres and a road network stretching across Britain to support
the garrisons on the Roman Wall built by Emperor Hadrian from Wallsend upon Tyne
on the East coast to Carlisle on the Solway firth. The wall was started in 122
AD and took eight years to complete
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They came in search
of minerals for the home land and left nearly four hundred years later largely
disappointed except for large quantities of lead sent back to Rome and other
centres of their Empire, leaving behind them an organized prosperous country
with law and order established.
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After over 300
years of peace in the early fifth century they had withdrawn back to Rome
the Empires Capital which was under threat from other foes intent on
building their own Empire. This left Britain unprotected from the Scots to
the North beyond the Wall and the Angles and Saxons across the channel to
the South.
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The Anglo Saxons
came as the Romans were leaving followed by many migrant farming settlers
during the following two centuries, while the Scot’s to the North plundered
Northern England across the then border. As the farming communities slowly
demolished the old boundary line, Hadrian’s Wall for the pre cut stone to
build homes and mark off territorial boundaries with dry stone walls.
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Then the Danes
plundered the East Coast for a while in the Ninth Century eventually settling in
the coastal regions around York and the southern dales. While the Vikings after
years of raiding the Northumbrian Coast eventually stayed and settled in the
Northern Dales and the Cumbrian Lake District.
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Then last but not
least the Normans invaded in 1066 and stayed after William the Conquer won the
Battle of Hastings. William was the first to bring organized Taxation to Britain
by ordering the compilation of the Doomsday Book in 1086.
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The
Doomsday Book formed the first census of the counties, shires, towns and family
names throughout southern England. The Counties north of York and over the
border were not part of his Empire and
remained uncounted until the first official census at the start of the
nineteenth century some seven hundred years later.
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Marauding
Invaders
The Romans invaded
Britain bringing with them the corner stones of civilisation turning
villages into towns many of which remain today as our rural and industrial
centres connected by a road network across Britain originating in Rome to
support the Garrisons on Emperor Hadrian’s Wall.
They left nearly four
hundred years leaving behind them an organized prosperous country with law and
order established, following over 300 years of peace. This left Britain
unprotected from the Scots to the North beyond the Wall and the Angles and
Saxons across the channel to the South.
The Anglo Saxons came
as the Romans were leaving followed by many migrant farming settlers during the
following two centuries, while the Scot’s plundered Northern England across
the Wall, as the farming communities slowly demolished it for the pre cut stone
to build homes and dry stone walls.
Then the Danes
plundered the East Coast for a while in the Ninth Century eventually settling in
the coastal regions around York and the southern dales.
While the Vikings
after years of raiding the Northumbrian Coast eventually stayed and settled in
the Northern Dales and the Cumbrian Lake District.
The influence of
these Scandinavian Invaders heard in the local derelicts spoken on Tyneside and
in the Northumbrian Border Hills and visibly noticed in the place names such as
dale, thwaite, fell, beck and force being Norse for valley, clearing, hill,
steam and waterfall.
Then
last but not least the Normans invaded in 1066 and stayed after William the
Conquer won at the Battle of Hastings. William ordering the compilation of the
Doomsday Book in 1086, which formed the first census of the counties, shires,
towns and family names throughout southern England.
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