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Temple and Nero's statue in central Londinium © Victor Ambrus
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'...converting advanced rural areas into urban communities was calculated to achieve two fundamental aims: to develop an empire-wide base of privileged supporters of the regime, and to spread the burdens of administrative and tax collection among the numerous self-governing municipalities.' Aelius Aristides.

The purpose of towns
Large settlements existed prior to the invasion, tribal centres and trading places, often situated in or around the large earthwork hillforts common to the Iron Age. The majority of the population, however, lived in rural farmsteads and scattered dwellings close to their agricultural livelihoods and most lived in relative isolation, subject to the laws and demands of their local chieftains. For a Roman administration, keen to quantify and control their domain, this unconstrained condition was quite unacceptable.

The Romanisation of native settlements and the growth of new towns was a development strongly encouraged by Rome. Towns enabled control, set examples of civilised living, and brought order to uneducated rural communities. As military advances took legions to the frontiers, some abandoned bases and their settlements became coloniae, regional centres of administration inhabited by ex-soldier Roman citizens. They were developed to classical design. Further civitas capitals (native Romanised towns such as Caerwent) followed suit and over the length of the occupation many people took to the Roman way of urban living. The civitas capitals also acted as administrative centres for tribal regions. A third category of settlement existed as the municipium. This was a successful town, such as Verulamium, which was given special rights by the emperor as reward for its pro-Roman stance.

Public buildings
Apart from the location of towns and their interconnecting roads, the lasting legacy of towns revolves around the variety of standard public buildings familiar to most as important symbols of culture and economic status.

Most Roman towns follow a grid system of streets which divide the settlement into insulae, or blocks of buildings. Regular town houses and other buildings around small enclosed courtyards, shops, temples, baths and areas for entertainment are all common features of Roman towns. The central focus point was the forum basilica. This two-part building consisted of the forum, a large open area for gatherings and markets, often surrounded on three sides by a colonnaded pavement and exclusive shops and eateries, and the basilica; essentially the town hall and law court.

The engineering of towns
As economic centres sustained by trade, taxation and outlying resources, many towns became lucrative and prestigious settlements. Some of the greatest Roman technological advances were incorporated into towns and later as troubled times affected parts of the empire, many towns became defended settlements to protect their citizens and property.

The creation of a reliable and robust road system provided towns with economic lifelines. Settlements consume resources in vast amounts and many Roman towns were therefore constructed with constant piped water supplies, such as Dorchester in Dorset, which was fed by an aqueduct nearly six miles long. Private and public buildings were often equipped with hypocaust under-floor heating systems topped with status-confirming, high-quality mosaics, while extravagant public bath houses acted as focal points of relaxation and social interaction. As popular places of Roman living, towns represent the successful Romanisation of large areas of Britain. However, a large number of people continued to live in the countryside, and of those many continued with their old way of life because Roman 'civilised' living was either not desired or simply not easily attainable with limited wealth.

Roman civilisation, though expansive over the whole occupation with many outposts, was still only truly established south of a line drawn roughly from the River Severn in the south-west to York in the north.

Click here for recommended books and websites about Roman Towns.