Roman conquest of Wales | Cardiff - Capital of Wales Articles

By: John Grant

The Roman Conquest of Britain began in A.D 43, and with remarkable rapidity all the more fertile portion of the island south-east of a line from the Wash to the Severn passed directly or indirectly under the Roman sway. In this process, the second “Augusta” ever trended westward until the vicinity of the Severn was reached.

Perhaps the Romans did not contemplate further advances, but the Wash to the Severn line was by no means a scientific frontier, beyond it was wastes and hills of the North Midlands and of Wales were held by warlike tribes, safe from attack and ever prone to harassing incursions into the province.

By force of circumstances, the Romans had to extend their conquests. Under Ostorius, a definite forward movement began. Much of the North Wales succumbed to the Romans arms, but in the south, the resistance of the Silures remained unbroken, and in A.D 54, Ustorius died, worn out by anxieties. Of what happened under mediate successors, little is known, but there seems to have been nothing in the way of expansion. Perhaps the policy of the government was the consolidation and development of what was gained.

Under Frontinus (A.D. 75-78) the subjugation of the Silures was effected, and under his successor, Agricola, the conquest of Wales was complete.

Although subjugated, mountainous Wales was tardy in submitting to Roman rule. We find remains of forts and roads, but nothing to indicate that the hill men ever became as Romanised as the dwellers of the lowlands elsewhere. Hence the protracted presence of a legion of the Dee, and another at Caerleon on the Usk, the latter because Monmouthshire is the gate of South Wales.