Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Romans
When Julius Caesar arrived in Britain in 55 BC with 10,000 Roman legionnaires, the Celtic
tribes who had occupied the island for over half a millennia put up a staunch resistance. In
AD 43 the Romans returned with 40,000 men and proceeded to advance through Britain.
Mona (Anglesey) was the centre of Druidic power and resistance to Rome. After the
druids' last stand on Anglesey in AD 60, the Romans eventually took control of present-
day Wales and England. They cemented their rule by building a series of military forts, the
remains of which can still be seen in Cardiff Castle, Caernarfon and, most impressively, at
the 'city of the legion', Caerleon. In true Imperial fashion they gradually Romanised the
local population, while allowing them to maintain their own language, customs and gods -
at least until Christianity became the official state religion in 391.
A present-day reminder of the tensions between the Anglo-Saxons (in the form of the Kingdom of Mercia,
under King Ofa) and the Welsh is Ofa's Dyke, the 8th-century fortiication marking the boundary between
the two. The Ofa's Dyke Path National Trail traces this border, which still largely aligns with the border of
Wales today.
