Julius Caesar's Invasion of Britain: Solving a 2,000-Year-Old Mystery

by Roger Stephen Nolan

Two thousand years ago Julius Caesar came, saw and conquered southern Britain, but just where he landed and the precise routes his army marched through the south of the country have never been firmly established. Numerous sites have been suggested for the Roman landings of 55BC and 54BC, yet, remarkably, the exact locations of the first major events in recorded British history remain undiscovered – until now.

After years of careful analysis, Roger Nolan has painstakingly traced not only the places where the Romans landed, but he has also discovered four temporary marching camps Caesar’s army built as it drove up from the south coast in pursuit of the British tribal leader, Cassivellaunus.

This advance took Caesar across the Thames to Cassivellaunus’ stronghold at Wheathampstead in present-day Hertfordshire. These marching camps are placed almost equidistant from each other and, most importantly, are in a straight line between the coast and Wheathampstead.

Roger Nolan’s research has also enabled him to identify the place mentioned in Caesar’s Commentaries, where the Roman legions were ambushed by the British whilst foraging and where a large battle then ensued – the first known land battle in Britain.

Without doubt, this groundbreaking study is certain to prompt much discussion and reappraisal of this fascinating subject.

176 pages, Hardcover

Published June 27, 2019

Reviews

[Christopher McGinley]

An impressive new consideration of an important historic event.

For an event which had such historical significance, Caesar's invasion of Britain is often reduced to a footnote of the later Claudian invasion. This is partly down to the lack of archaeological evidence for this initial foray, even the landing sites are speculative.

Nolan, whilst not being a 'professional' historian, at least makes a valiant attempt where some of the better known names have avoided the challenge. He works on the basis that the Romans would undoubtedly have made temporary marching camps and that there should potentially be some evidence of those which can still be found. This is the foundation of his book although there are also several chapters devoted to setting the background which are useful.

The reasoning with which he argues the case and the locations he claims for the sites of each of the marching camps seems reasonable and it should now fall to those authors and academics who specialise in Roman Britain to review this evidence (which is largely based on what little remains of the camps the author is claiming to have identified and this requires a bit of archaeological investigation) and either add it to the officially recognized picture of the invasion or dismiss it as unfounded (but only if it can be shown to be the case).

Either way it represents an important step forward on the subject which has been long overdue. Compared with most accounts I have read it presents a far more complete story although I'm uncertain about some of the 'facts' which are often reiterated despite not actually being stated by Caesar in his own account.

I gave it 4 stars for content, it is a good read and provokes further research, a good sign in any book. Where it could be improved is with more maps which show the proposed locations of the marching camps in more detail. There are photos (at the very end of the kindle version) but they don't really do justice, most of the evidence being now buried under 2000 years of accumulated dirt (or a substation in one case).

I would absolutely recommend this, even for 'serious' historians who should at least consider the case presented here. It is a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

[Henry Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice little book based on Caesar's commentaries and physical research.