Roman Lincolnshire (AD 43–410)

The fortress and the hill (AD 43–71)

The Roman invasion of Britain began in AD 43 in the south. Over the next few years the Roman army advanced north, reaching the territory of the Corieltauvi by around AD 47–48.

The Corieltauvi were the Iron Age people living across much of what is now Lincolnshire. How Corieltauvian communities responded to the Roman advance remains uncertain. ¹

The Corieltauvi occupied a large territory, so a single response across the whole tribe should not be assumed. Some communities may have offered local resistance, while others may have accepted Roman control without fighting.

As the Roman advance reached the Lincoln Edge, the army established a military base on the limestone hill above the River Witham around AD 47–48. The hill overlooked the gap where the river cuts through the limestone ridge, giving the army a strategically important position. ^{2 3}

Around AD 50, soldiers built a large timber legionary fortress on the hilltop. The fortress eventually covered about 41.5 acres. ⁴ The Ninth Legion, Legio IX Hispana, was almost certainly stationed in the fortress while the Roman army continued its advance into northern Britain. ⁵

By AD 71, the Ninth Legion left the fortress on the hill and moved to York to carry the Roman conquest farther north. ⁶

Lindum Colonia and the Corieltauvi (AD 71–120)

When the Ninth Legion left Lincoln, Roman power did not leave with it. Around AD 86, under Emperor Domitian, the former fortress on the hill at Lincoln was elevated to the rank of Colonia, becoming Lindum Colonia. ⁷

A colonia was the highest rank of Roman city and was commonly founded for retired legionaries. ⁸ Roman administration also incorporated the Corieltauvi.

These tribal people had occupied much of the region before the conquest and were not simply swept aside. Instead, much of their former territory was organised as a civitas, a Roman administrative district governed through local councils under Roman supervision. ⁹

The district became known as the Civitas Corieltauvorum, the Roman administrative territory of the Corieltauvi. Its administrative centre was at Leicester rather than Lincoln. ¹⁰ Local aristocracies could serve on councils and as magistrates, drawing the Corieltauvi into Roman civic life. ¹¹

Engineering the landscape (AD 120–300)

The Romans re-engineered the Lincolnshire landscape to serve an empire that operated like an imperial machine. The construction of Ermine Street and the Fosse Way connected the county to wider Roman Britain. ¹² Grain and troops could move with unprecedented speed.

To the south, Roman engineers cut the Foss Dyke around AD 120, creating a navigable waterway for transport. ¹³ Together, these roads and waterways helped turn Lincolnshire into a major grain-producing area supplying the northern legions.

Continuity, ritual and blended beliefs (AD 43–AD 410)

In Roman Lincolnshire, assimilation extended into religion, allowing older beliefs and practices to continue. These blended with Roman forms of worship to create a Romano-British religious identity.

Along the River Witham, places used for ritual offerings before the conquest could retain or regain religious significance under Roman rule. ¹⁴ Roman temples at Nettleton and Kirmington brought other forms of worship into communities beyond Lincoln. ¹⁵

At Ancaster, an inscription dedicated to Viridius, a local deity with Iron Age roots, shows the blending more clearly. An older local god was still being worshipped within Roman-period religious life. ¹⁶

By the fourth century, Christianity had become part of Lincolnshire’s religious identity. ¹⁷ In AD 314, Adelfius, possibly bishop of Lincoln, attended the Council of Arles in Gaul.

Later in the century, more than 300 adults were buried at Ancaster in a cemetery where many graves were aligned east to west and contained few grave goods. ¹⁸ The cemetery has been interpreted as Christian, although that cannot be established for every burial. ¹⁹

Late Roman burials at Lincoln were also aligned east to west. ²⁰ By the fourth century, the conquest was a distant memory. The blending visible in religion reflected a much broader development. A Romano-British way of life had been widely adopted across Lincolnshire.

The Roman landscape imprinted on Lincolnshire (c. AD 150–360)

By the later Roman period, centuries of Roman rule had imprinted a recognisably Roman landscape across Lincolnshire. In Lincoln, monumental stone buildings had replaced much of the earlier timber city.

Around AD 200, the northern gate was rebuilt in stone to create Newport Arch, giving Lindum one of its most enduring Roman landmarks. ²¹ The Roman imprint extended well beyond the city.

At Norton Disney, a rural settlement grew into a substantial villa with stone buildings, mosaics and a bath house. ²² Norton Disney was also the location of one of Roman Lincolnshire’s most distinctive finds, a copper-alloy Roman dodecahedron. Its purpose remains unknown. ²³

Closer to Lincoln, near North Hykeham, a large Roman country house stood among workshops, bath houses, kilns, a bakery and workers’ accommodation. These formed part of a substantial rural and industrial estate just south of the city. ²⁴

Across the county, workshops and trade added another layer to the Roman landscape. At Market Rasen, potters dug clay and fired kilns on a substantial scale, leaving behind large quantities of pottery waste. ²⁵

At Sutterton on the fen edge, imported pottery included amphorae used to carry goods over long distances, tying Lincolnshire into wider Roman trading networks. ²⁶ The conquest had begun with armies and forts. Centuries later, Roman rule had become embedded in the physical fabric of Lincolnshire.

Roman twilight (late fourth century–AD 410)

By the late fourth century, Roman Lincolnshire was entering its twilight. For generations, Roman administration had supported a settled Romano-British way of life in which towns, trade and agriculture had prospered through long periods of relative peace.

Now the imperial system that sustained that stability was beginning to fail, and centuries of Roman administration were drawing to a close. Wars and political crises across the Roman Empire repeatedly drew soldiers away from Britain. ²⁷

Roman military support in Britain weakened further in AD 407, when troops proclaimed Constantine III emperor. He crossed to Gaul with part of the British army, taking still more military strength away from Britain. ²⁸

Roman administration remained, but the support behind it was fading. By around AD 410, Roman imperial administration in Britain had effectively ceased to operate as imperial authority withdrew from the lands Rome had conquered nearly four centuries earlier. ²⁹

For Lincolnshire, almost four centuries within the Roman Empire were over. The loss was greater than a change of government. The imperial structure that had underpinned generations of stability, trade and prosperity had gone.

Romano-British life did not end at the same moment. Communities remained, and Romano-British life continued beyond the end of imperial administration.

As the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain, the same shores it left behind would soon receive a new wave of migrants from across the North Sea who became known as the Anglo-Saxons.