Recreated Roman legionary of the 1st century AD stands next to a recreated late Roman soldier of the 4th century AD, showing the transformation in arms and armour. Germanic influences predominated and mail took over from segmented plate armour. They stand before a Roman wall at Richborough Castle in Kent. [Dan Shadrake/English Heritage]
From Maiden Castle in Dorset to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, the Celts and Romans have left their mark on Britain. Bitter battles for control of the island were followed by a long period of peace in which the two warrior peoples learned to live together.
Warfare has moulded the political and social history of Britain, and has shaped the very landscape itself, creating lines of defence, establishing historic towns astride communications routes, excavating vast amounts of earth to create hillforts and castles, leaving emblems of dominance that can be seen from the air. Some of the most enduring of these military marks on the landscape are also the most ancient.
The earliest recorded invaders of this country were the Celts, who arrived from France during the 7th century BC. Armed with iron weapons, some mounted on horseback, others using horses to pull light chariots, by the 1st century BC, Celtic invaders had secured their dominance over most of the land. Julius Caesar records one of the very first written accounts of life in Britain, describing a complex jigsaw of Celtic tribes in southern England, frequently fighting amongst themselves. One of the greatest untold stories is how the Celts dealt with the native Bronze Age people in Britain, and how they defeated them in battle. The clues to this very first battle for Britain are in the landscape.
Across southern England some of the most potent signs of Celtic dominion can still be seen today. In the Vale of the White Horse in Berkshire, there is a giant white horse carved out of the chalk hillside beneath Uffington Castle, one of several such images credited to the Iron Age Celts. What did it signify? Power. As when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico equipped with horses and gunpowder, the appearence of the Celts in southern England was equally dramatic; they too possessed a technological advantage over the native population.
Reconstruction of the Roman fortress of Portchester, near Portsmouth. Built around 290 BC, it was designed to defend the southern coast of Britain against Germanic pirates. [Painting by Peter Dunn/English Heritage]
In France and central Europe, the Celts had perfected a fast-moving form of warfare based on mastery of the horse.
Massive coastal walls of Portchester Castle defend what was known as the Saxon Shore in the 3rd century. [English Heritage]