This is a model of what one modern-day city in Britain looked like in Roman times, and it was the base for a Legion. Meet DEVA (Chester as we now know it!)
The big question historians often fail to ask is, “Why?” I mean, why did Rome even come to Britain in the first place?
If you ever get to read Julius Ceaser’s campaign in Gaul (Modern day France) he says it was because all the time the Romans were fighting in Gaul they (the Gauls) were getting help from their Celtic brothers across the water in ‘Albion’ (that was the Celtic name for Britain) and he had to go over there to stop it. He did, he came twice, fought two battles and left.
So, why did they come back?
The truth there, is a bit murkier. Rome may have left, but she left behind kingdoms that had signed a peace with Rome, and liked trading with the big Empire just across the water, so when Emperor Claudius came to power and needed some way to establish a reputation as a military leader (Emperors without some form of military credibility didn’t last very long, and the Praetorians, the Emperor’s own bodyguard had killed the last Emperor) so Britain was the obvious choice.
By that time, the small kingdoms that were trading with Rome were having a hard time, and one of the leaders of the kingdom, allied to Rome, had been driven into exile. Naturally, the Romans saw a chance not only to help a friend out but to take control of the ancient trade that had already been going on for over a thousand years, and now, with allies willing to help, they had a beachhead to land on and establish a base.
The First Brexit??
Before 47 AD Britain had actually been paying Rome customs duties for the trade that the Romans had worked out was actually more than they could raise if they conquered the Island, so they’d been reasonably happy to leave things alone (though Augustus did apparently threaten invasion twice if they didn’t pay up!) but by 47 AD Britain was fed up with paying the taxes to an Empire that wasn’t there and decided to chase Rome’s allies out, BIG MISTAKE
Claudius’ troops landed on the south coast, within the territory controlled by an ally and started building forts. Moving slowly but deliberately, they built forts as they moved inland and only moved on once control was established. This meant that the conquest didn’t happen at lighting speed but took thirty years in total, with many British cities’ history starting at in this period.
Why? Partly because they could, and partly to protect the trade they were already doing with the British Isles, especially the copper and tin that were coming from Cornwall and Wales.
Lawrence's letters 