The Iron Age
Britain Before English
Course 1 · Chapter 4 · The Iron Age
The Iron Age is the first period of British history where outsiders describe the people. Before it, everything comes from objects and bones. This chapter follows the settlements, the hillforts and the coins, and then the first written accounts, by a Greek voyager and by Julius Caesar, each of which has to be read with care.
How people lived
According to the British Iron Age article, the Iron Age in Great Britain runs from about 800 BC to the Roman conquest beginning in AD 43 (its infobox gives about 800 BC to AD 100). Its sub-periods, after Cunliffe (2005), are Earliest (800 to 600 BC), Early (600 to 400), Middle (400 to 100), Late (100 to 50) and Latest (50 BC to AD 100). The end date is flexible because Romanisation took time.
- Population: it grew, possibly to over a million, mostly in the densely settled south.
- Homes: lowland farmsteads had roundhouses (Little Woodbury and Rispain Camp are named), and Chysauster in Cornwall is a village example. Brochs appear in northern Scotland, with the Broch of Mousa dated about 300 to 100 BC.
- Society: between about 400 and 100 BC regional identities emerged and social hierarchies became more defined.
- The word "Celtic": the article says most inhabitants were "Celtic Britons speaking Brittonic". That phrase is the article's, and Chapter 5 asks whether "Celtic" is the right word.
Hillforts and Maiden Castle
The article says hillforts first appeared in Wessex in the Late Bronze Age but became common about 550 to 400 BC. Evidence shows storage, industry and occupation, but many forts show little occupation, and their use is debated. Against Roman attack they were largely ineffective: it says Suetonius reports Vespasian took more than 20 "towns" in AD 43.
Wikipedia's Maiden Castle, Dorset article gives the best-known example. It describes a Neolithic causewayed enclosure (about 4000 BC), then a first hill fort of 6.4 ha about 600 BC, expanded about 450 BC to 19 ha, "the largest hill fort in Britain" and possibly the largest in Europe depending on the definition. Habitation declined about 100 BC, and the hilltop was abandoned in the 6th century AD.
| Question | What the article says |
|---|---|
| Defence or display? | Defence was part of the purpose, but the elaborate ramparts were likely also statements of power; granaries and sling-stone hoards were found |
| The Wheeler excavation | Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler dug in 1934 to 1937; Wheeler read a cemetery of 14 violent deaths as the "war cemetery" of a Roman legion's sack of the fort |
| The reassessment | Miles Russell (2019) finds little evidence for a siege or massacre; the charcoal layer is tied to iron working; there is no proof the 14 died at Maiden Castle; a 2015 survey found no Roman fort |
| Still uncertain | Whether the Romans occupied it; whether it is Ptolemy's Dunium; the reason for its unusual double entrance; the origin of its name |
So the old story, a legion storming a British stronghold, is the part a reader should not repeat as fact.
Tribes and kings
The British Iron Age article names the Caledonians (north), the Silures (southern Wales), the Durotriges (Dorset), the Corieltavi (Leicestershire) and the Belgae. The Catuvellauni, Iceni and Brigantes do not appear in what I read, and I leave them to the chapters on the Roman conquest, where I will give their sources. It mentions two kings who put their names on coins: Tasciovanus (at Verulamium) and Cunobelinos (at Camulodunum).
- Coins: many Iron Age coins survive. Gold staters were often imported, and the south-eastern cast bronze (potin) coins were influenced by Roman originals. The Hallaton Treasure comprised 5,294 coins from 14 hoards buried over several decades in the early 1st century AD.
- Trade: Hallstatt swords and daggers were imported early on, then copied and improved locally, and later La Tène items were adopted. Late Iron Age Atlantic networks linked Britain to south-west Gaul through Brittany, with Hengistbury Head as the key site. After Caesar's conquest of Gaul, trade with the nearby continent grew, including wine and olive oil in amphorae. Strabo lists British exports as grain, cattle, gold, silver, iron, hides, slaves and hunting dogs.
- The Belgae: Caesar says they arrived in southern Britain from the late 2nd century BC. The article says archaeology may not show a sudden arrival, and it discusses whether this was invasion or diffusion.
Migration and continuity
The article repeats the 2021 study by Patterson et al. met in Chapter 3: gradual migration from Gaul about 1000 to 875 BC, with newcomers making up about half the ancestry of later Iron Age people in southern Britain. The authors describe sustained contact and small-scale movement, not a violent invasion. The article says Cunliffe suggests Celtic was already spoken and the late Bronze Age migration introduced the Brittonic branch. That is one scholar's suggestion, not a settled finding (Chapter 5).
The first outsiders' accounts
Pytheas
The article on Pytheas of Massalia says this Greek geographer made a northern voyage about 325 BC (estimates run from about 330 to the 320s BC), the earliest recorded Greek voyage to Britain. His work, On the Ocean, is lost, and is known only from fragments quoted by later writers, chiefly Strabo, Pliny and Diodorus (one scholar counts at least 39). He described the inhabitants as simple in manner, living in thatched cottages and storing grain underground. He says Cornish miners smelted tin, carried at low tide by wagon to the island of Ictis. Strabo called him a liar, though the article argues Strabo's objections were often flawed, and some of his figures look inflated. The British Iron Age article adds that he named the island Albion and described its inhabitants as Keltoi.
Caesar
According to Wikipedia's Caesar's invasions of Britain article, Caesar invaded in 55 and 54 BC during the Gallic Wars.
| Year | What happened (per the article) |
|---|---|
| 55 BC | Two legions and a small cavalry force landed mostly in Kent; he achieved little beyond the landing; storms damaged his fleet; he withdrew; mainly a propaganda success in Rome |
| 54 BC | About 800 ships, five legions and 2,000 cavalry; he defeated British forces at a river crossing, probably the Stour, and pushed toward the Thames |
| The enemy | Cassivellaunus, a warlord from north of the Thames, avoided pitched battle and used guerrilla tactics, with about 4,000 chariots according to Caesar |
| The outcome | The Trinovantes submitted and their king Mandubracius was restored; Cassivellaunus gave hostages and agreed to annual tribute; Caesar left without a garrison, and whether the tribute was paid is unknown |
The article says Caesar's own account, in the Gallic War, Books 4 and 5, is the main source and the earliest surviving detailed eyewitness description of Britain's people, but that he wrote for a Roman audience with political reasons to promote his achievements. It says his geographic and ethnographic claims were partly hearsay, that he probably never went far inland, and that his statement that tin came from the Midlands is inaccurate. It quotes Tacitus on the campaigns: "he revealed, rather than bequeathed, Britain to Rome." It also says Caesar's arrangement with Mandubracius is seen as the start of client kingdoms. Chapter 6 picks up the story with the invasion of AD 43.
The British Iron Age article reports Caesar describing the Druids as a religious elite, with Britain as the seat of Druidic religion, and Tacitus describing a raid on Anglesey. It says no archaeological evidence of Druidry survives. I did not read more on Druids; Chapter 7 returns to religion.
Words to know
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hillfort | A hilltop settlement enclosed by banks and ditches |
| Roundhouse | A circular house, the usual Iron Age home |
| Broch | A tall stone tower of northern Scotland |
| Stater | A gold coin |
| Potin | A cast bronze coin of south-eastern Britain, here as the article names it |
| Client kingdom | A ruler's kingdom that is allied to and dependent on a greater power |
| Hearsay | Information passed on at second hand, not seen by the writer |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Think of the answer first, then click to check.
1. About when did the British Iron Age begin and end, according to the article?
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From about 800 BC to the Roman conquest beginning in AD 43 (the infobox gives about 800 BC to AD 100).
2. When did hillforts become common?
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About 550 to 400 BC, although the first appeared in Wessex in the Late Bronze Age.
3. What did Wheeler claim at Maiden Castle, and what has changed?
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He read 14 violent deaths as a "war cemetery" from a Roman legion's sack. Miles Russell (2019) finds little evidence for a siege or massacre, and there is no proof the 14 died there.
4. Why are the names of Iron Age tribes not the Britons' own words?
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They come from Roman and Greek writers; the Britons left no writing, though some kings put their names on coins.
5. Who was Pytheas, and why is his account hard to use?
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A Greek geographer who voyaged to Britain about 325 BC. His book is lost and is known only from fragments quoted by later writers, and some of his figures look inflated.
6. When did Caesar invade, and what was the outcome?
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In 55 and 54 BC. He left without conquering territory or leaving a garrison, after hostages and a promised tribute from Cassivellaunus; whether the tribute was paid is unknown.
7. Why should Caesar's account be read with care?
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He wrote for a Roman audience with political reasons to promote his achievements, his claims were partly hearsay, and he probably never went far inland.
8. Name two kings who put their names on coins.
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Tasciovanus (at Verulamium) and Cunobelinos (at Camulodunum).