ABSTRACT
This chapter charts the end of Roman rule in Britain and gives an overall impression of the beginning of the so-called 'Dark Ages' of British history, the transitional period which saw the Saxon settlement and breakdown of Roman administration. Many Roman sites were occupied throughout the Roman period, so it is by no means always easy to pick those for a visit which are specifically 'late Roman'. In looking at Roman towns and villas in particular, it not always be easy to wear 'late Roman blinkers', but the author here attempts to single out some of the major museums and monuments. The remains of the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain consist in the main of museum collections of finds and pottery from excavated Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Very few sites of early settlement retain anything visible from the period. The most important is the West Stow Archaeological Centre, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, where the site of the village now bears reconstructed huts.
