Archaeology at Heathrow T5

Download an animation A barn from the Romano-British period (requires QuickTime).

From 100 BC the people of southern Britain came into increasing contact with the Roman Empire, culminating in 43AD with the Roman invasion of Britain. For the next 370 years Britain became tied into the political and economic structure of the Roman Empire. At Heathrow parts of the old prehistoric system of waterholes and field boundaries were done away with during this time. New trackways were cut across the ancient landscape to serve the new markets of nearby Staines and the growing city of Londinium. The Iron Age settlement of roundhouses was transformed a rural farming complex of rectangular buildings. What became of the Iron Age community we do not know. Did it continue to occupy the farmstead? Was it reduced in size as members drifted away to the towns of Staines and Brentford or the great city of Londinium or did new owners appropriate the land as part of a larger economic and commercial network?
©BAA 2003
Produced by Marshall Lightfoot plc
Reproduced by kind permission BAA