(At Richborough Castle in Kent)

GUY DE LA BÉDOYÈRE
This is Portus Ritupiae - and once it was the gateway to Roman Britain. A fort here is a really powerful, in-your-face symbol of just how big an impact the Romans made on this island. These walls were actually built 200 years after the invasion.

And all in all Britain was a Roman province for four hundred years. That's the same length of time that separates us from William Shakespeare, and just think how much has changed over that time.

This is where it all began. Back in the year 43A.D. when the Roman soldiers invaded they were rather apprehensive - in fact terrified of what they might find in this cloudy, rainy, windy island full of savages. In fact, the Roman government had had real difficulty in persuading them to invade at all. So the first thing they did was build a base camp, a kind of bridgehead, and these ditches are all that’s left of it. Here they could protect themselves and their supplies while they got ready to conquer Britain.

(Travelling to Maiden Castle in Dorset)

The key to understanding Britain at the time of the Roman invasion is to realise that it was made up of a whole collection of different tribal groups. Infighting between the tribes was commonplace, and things weren’t always peaceful in the British countryside. Tribal leaders built huge earthworks and defences to protect themselves - none more impressive than these at Maiden Castle in Dorset. But even these formidable ramparts failed to stop the advancing Roman Army.

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