Editing Roman Britain (section)

=== Town and country ===
{{Further|Roman sites in Great Britain|Roman cities in Britain|List of Roman villas in England|List of Roman place names in Britain}}

[[File:Part of Tabula Peutingeriana showing Britannia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Britannia as shown on the ''{{Lang|la|[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]}}'' (modern copy from 1897)]]
During their occupation of Britain, the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private use. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.<ref name="Loseby326">{{Harvp|Loseby|2000|page=326f}}</ref>

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. ''{{Lang|la|Civitates}}'', "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings.<ref>{{Harvp|Millet|1992|page=102f}}, lists 22 "public towns"; {{Citation |author=[[Gildas]] |title=[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]] |trans-title=On the ruin and conquest of Britain |at=[[:s:The Ruin of Britain#3|3.2]] |language=la}} lists 28; discussion is mooted whether Gildas possessed a written or conventional list ({{Cite journal |first=Nicholas |last=Higham |author-link=N. J. Higham |year=1991 |title=Old light on the Dark Age landscape: the description of Britain in the ''de Excidio Britanniae'' of Gildas |language=la|journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=363–372 |doi=10.1016/0305-7488(91)90022-N }}).</ref> The much more numerous category of ''{{Lang|la|[[vicus|vici]]}}'', "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.<ref>{{Harvp|Burnham|Wacher|1990}}.</ref>

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; ''{{Lang|la|civitates}}'' are marked '''C'''
<!--public towns in Millet 1990 should be checked against this listing's Cs-->
{{Columns-list|colwidth=20em|* [[Alcester]] (''[[Alcester|Alauna]]'')
* [[Alchester]]
* [[Aldborough, North Yorkshire]] (''[[Isurium Brigantum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] (''[[Aquae Sulis]]'') '''C'''
* [[Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire|Brough]] (''[[Petuaria]]'') '''C'''
* [[Buxton]] (''[[Aquae Arnemetiae]]'')
* [[Caerleon]] (''[[Isca Augusta]]'') '''C'''
* [[Caernarfon]] (''[[Segontium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Caerwent]] (''[[Venta Silurum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Caister Roman Site|Caister-on-Sea]] '''C'''
* [[Canterbury]] (''[[Durovernum Cantiacorum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]] (''[[Luguvalium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Carmarthen]] (''[[Moridunum (Carmarthen)|Moridunum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Chelmsford]] (''[[Chelmsford|Caesaromagus]]'')
* [[Chester]] (''[[Deva Victrix]]'') '''C'''
* [[Chester-le-Street]] (''[[Concangis]]'')
* [[Chichester]] (''[[Noviomagus Reginorum]]'')<ref>''{{Lang|la|Noviomagus Reginorum}}'': meaning "new field" or "new clearing" of the Regni ({{Harvp|Wacher|1995|page=262}}).</ref> '''C'''
* [[Cirencester]] (''[[Corinium Dobunnorum|Corinium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Colchester]] (''[[Camulodunum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Corbridge]] (''[[Coria (Corbridge)|Coria]]'') '''C'''
* [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] (''[[Durnovaria]]'') '''C'''
* [[Dover]] (''[[Dubris|Portus Dubris]]'')
* [[Exeter]] (''[[Isca Dumnoniorum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Gloucester]] (''[[Glevum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Great Chesterford]] (the name of this ''{{Lang|la|vicus}}'' is unknown)
* [[Ilchester]] (''[[Lindinis]]'') '''C'''
* [[Leicester]] (''[[Ratae Corieltauvorum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]] (''[[Lindum Colonia]]'') '''C'''
* [[London]] (''[[Londinium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Manchester]] (''[[Mamucium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] (''[[Pons Aelius]]'')
* [[Northwich]] (''[[Northwich|Condate]]'')
* [[St Albans]] (''[[Verulamium]]'') '''C'''
* [[Silchester]] (''[[Calleva Atrebatum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Towcester]] (''[[Lactodurum]]'')
* [[Whitchurch, Shropshire|Whitchurch]] (''[[Mediolanum (Whitchurch)|Mediolanum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Winchester]] (''[[Venta Belgarum]]'') '''C'''
* [[Wroxeter]] (''[[Viroconium Cornoviorum]]'') '''C'''
* [[York]] (''[[Eboracum]]'') '''C'''}}