ABSTRACT
Britain has always been substantially beholden, and still is, to people and forces outside its borders. The very early settlers travelled from northern and eastern Europe, often in search of good agricultural land or in retreat from hostile invasion. Several Celtic tribes occupied the islands when the Romans arrived with intent to conquer, unsuccessfully, in 55 BC, and then more permanently in 43 AD. They stayed for four centuries and established several towns plus cities as well as building a network of roads, viaducts, aqueducts and the 80-mile Hadrian’s Wall as a northern bulwark of their empire. When this empire began to implode and its power fade, other tribes began to make the journey from elsewhere in Europe with a view to settling in this damp, cool, but unusually fertile set of islands.
