The Roman conquest of Britannia has seen many changes to the names of towns and places.
During his second invasion of Britannia (July, 54BC) Julius Caesar forded a major river as his troops headed north. The local people called it Tam, which means spreading or quiet. Julius Caesar decided to call it Thamesis.
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The Romans dominated Britain for nearly 500 years. They had a great influence on British life.
As the Romans conquered Britain, they gave new names to towns and settlements that were already there and started new towns themselves. They often named places after the tribes living in the area, or after a feature of the landscape.
Place names have changed gradually over this time. But many place names are still great ways of understanding how powerful the Roman influence on Britain was.
Modern place names, like Chesterfield, that include "chester" or Leicester, that include "cester" mean that a castra (Roman camp) was nearby.
The name of a country, town, river or other geographical feature helps us to learn a lot about its history and who lived there in the past. It is easy to see the Roman influence in these names: Britain (Britannia), London, (Londinium), Mamucium (Manchester), Lindum (Lincoln), Thamesis (river Thames)
As time went by British people combined Latin words into place names. After the Romans left ,their straight roads gradually fell into disrepair. But place names that include strat, street, strad, streat and stret tell us that there would have been a Roman road in the area.
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