Introduction

To most people, Roman Britain is a distant memory of the early school years, as the teaching of the history of Britain before the Norman Conquest has been always considered suitable only for eight to ten year olds. Text books in the junior schools are expected to last and are so rarely kept up-to-date that youngsters are taught from knowledge and ideas current 20 or 30 years earlier. But these are the formative years and we tend to remember things learnt at this age throughout our life. It is then not surprising to find how difficult it is for adults to absorb and appreciate the results of discoveries and new ideas.