In AD 43, Rome invaded Britain, and seized huge swathes of present-day England and Wales over the following 45 years. Across the country, state-of-the-art settlements displaying the latest in Roman technology and design sprang up. Some were purpose-built towns for military veterans, called 'colonia', while others were superimposed over existing Celtic settlements. Here, our team has ranked the biggest and best examples of historic Roman outposts in Britain that are still towns and cities today.

Click through this gallery for our pick of Britain's best Roman towns and cities...

Around AD 50, the Romans built a military fort west of the River Derwent. By AD 80, they had constructed another fort on the river's east bank, which they called Derventio. This fort probably also supported a civilian population of traders and artisans. This was the start of present-day Derby, with excavations in the Little Chester suburb revealing the fort’s foundations, as well as bronze military equipment, pottery and coins.

The city’s ancient history is preserved further at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, which houses a collection of artefacts from the period, including a Roman altar stone.

With all its dramatic Gothic architecture, you might be surprised to learn that the site of the city of Cambridge was once a small but strategically important Roman fort and town. Duroliponte, as it was then called, is thought to have grown from the bones of an abandoned Celtic settlement. It reached its peak in the 4th century AD, gaining stone fortifications.

In modern Cambridge, Magdalene Bridge marks the spot of a crucial Roman crossing over the River Cam – the northernmost navigable transport link between the Midlands and East Anglia. Other relics of the city's Roman legacy can be seen at the university's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (pictured).

Known as Lactodurum in Roman times, Towcester (pronounced 'toaster') was an important settlement and garrison town along Watling Street (pictured), a vital Roman road connecting Dover, London, St Albans and Wroxeter (now a village outside Shrewsbury).

In 1999, sections of thick wall from the 2nd century were uncovered here, with excavations also revealing the earthworks of grand public buildings and pottery used by Roman soldiers. At the small yet comprehensive Towcester Museum, the town's Roman heritage is brought to life through found artefacts, displays and scale models.

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Manchester claims to be the world’s first industrial city, booming with its cotton industry in the early 19th century. But its origins reach back much further – to the age of Roman occupation. The settlers called it Mamucium and built a timber fort here around AD 78, in order to protect important roads leading to the Roman cities of Chester and York, plus the present-day village of Ribchester.

The fort ultimately spawned a 'vicus' (small civilian settlement), the seed of modern Manchester. While few authentic Roman ruins survive in the city today, visitors will find a partial reconstruction of the historic fort in the Castlefield area (pictured).

The modern city of Leicester is a multicultural melting pot – and it was no different back in Roman times. Then called Ratae Corieltauvorum, it was the capital of the local Corieltauvi tribe and a prosperous Roman settlement, which was transformed from a modest Iron Age town to a sophisticated city served by gravel roads and grid-like street systems.

Located on the Fosse Way, a major Roman road linking Exeter to Lincoln, Leicester is now one of the most excavated urban centres in Britain thanks to its patchwork history. The remarkable Jewry Wall (pictured) is one of the tallest surviving pieces of Roman masonry in the country, and a striking monument to Leicester’s ancient past.

Today, the historic market town of Alcester looks more Tudor than Roman, but it was once a Roman fort and settlement. Several major Roman roads used for the army and trade pass through the town, including the Saltway and Ryknild Street. It also sits near the confluence of the Alne and Arrow rivers.

Established around AD 47 to help safeguard these ancient thoroughfares, the settlement soon emerged as a wealthy civilian town. Today, the Roman Alcester Museum provides a dedicated space to delve deeper into this chapter of Alcester’s colourful history.

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Founded on natural thermal springs in what is now the Peak District National Park, Buxton – or Aquae Arnemetiae – was the most northerly spa town in the Roman Empire. The Celts, who inhabited the area before the Romans, revered the mineral-rich springs and deemed them a sacred shrine to the goddess Arnemetia, hence Buxton's Latin title. Stop by St Ann's Well to draw from the ancient waters for yourself.

Roman pottery, glass and valuable coins unearthed in the town suggest that it was an important and prosperous settlement. Its heritage is chronicled in greater depth at the Buxton Museum and Art Gallery (temporarily closed).

Durnovaria, better recognised nowadays as Dorchester, was an important regional centre in southwestern Britannia. It grew from a humble garrison into a lively civilian town, with a forum (marketplace), bathing complexes and an amphitheatre.

If you're keen to journey back to Durnovaria, you should start at the Roman Town House, just a five-minute walk from the town centre. It's the only fully exposed building of its kind in the country. At the Dorset Museum and Art Gallery, the Victorian Hall is a real highlight. There, visitors can walk over genuine mosaic floors – literally following in the footsteps of ancient Romans.

Founded by the Romans at the northern frontier of their extensive empire, Carlisle (or Luguvalium in those days) is near Hadrian’s Wall, the UK’s most significant Roman monument. The largest fort along the famous wall was erected in what is now Stanwix, a suburb of Carlisle, where archaeologists uncovered the remains of a military bathhouse used by the Roman cavalry garrisoned there.

A turf and timber fort was also established on the site that Carlisle Castle now occupies in AD 72, which acted as a staging post for troops invading Scotland. Nearby Tullie House Museum has several artefacts in its collection relating to the city's Roman era.

Evidence of Lancaster’s past life as the large Roman fort and garrison of Calunium are still being unearthed today. In 2023, a team from Lancaster University discovered the remnants of an incredibly rare Romano-Celtic temple near the site of Lancaster Castle (pictured), only the second known building of its kind in northern Britain.

Strategically positioned between Chester and Hadrian’s Wall, Calunium provided a base for naval operations and supply while also supporting a civilian population. It would have contained shops, inns, houses and baths frequented by soldiers and settlers. The bathhouse ruins can be found behind Lancaster Priory.

The Romans gave Winchester the name of Venta Belgarum, derived from its status as a 'civitas' (provincial centre) for the Celtic Belgae tribe. Though the marauding Roman army stomped across much of southern Britain, imposing its rule over by force, evidence suggests that it may have been comparatively well-received by the Belgae. The tribe benefitted from Roman urban planning, wellness practices and exotic cuisine.

By the 3rd century, Roman Winchester was the fifth largest town in Britannia. The present-day city’s only remaining visible piece of Roman wall can be found along the Weirs, while the ruins of a Roman fort can be seen in Winchester Castle's grounds (pictured).

Shortly after Emperor Claudius ordered his AD 43 invasion, a military base was established in what is now known as Canterbury. Called Durovernum Cantiacorum in Latin, since it was previously settled by the Cantiaci peoples, Roman Canterbury expanded into an urban centre with grid-like streets and imposing public buildings.

Though much of the city's Roman identity has been buried and overshadowed by subsequent eras, there's one place in particular where visitors can connect with Canterbury's Roman past. Canterbury Roman Museum houses the remains of an original Roman townhouse, including one of the only surviving in-situ Roman pavement mosaics in the UK.

Within a year of arriving in Britain, the Romans had constructed a military supply base on the site of modern-day Chichester, making use of its river and harbour. The army left within a few years, but the client king Cogidubnus of the Regni tribe oversaw the settlement’s emergence as the walled town of Noviomagus Reginorum.

The original cross-shaped layout of the city’s main streets survives today, while Chichester’s Roman roots can be retraced further at the Novium Museum, which houses the remains of a Roman bathhouse and the 4th-century Chilgrove Mosaic. The UK’s largest Roman residence, Fishbourne Roman Palace, is also located just outside Chichester.

From AD 55, what is now Exeter was known as Isca Dumnoniorum, a significant town, administrative hub and fortress used by the Legio II Augusta, one of Rome’s conquering forces. Boasting a forum, shops and public baths to rival those found in the Italian settlements of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the town was protected by a massive defensive wall, parts of which remain today.

Wandering through the cathedral city, you’ll likely spy the Roman West Gate, once one of four entrances into Isca. Beneath the modern streets, underground passages constructed for later medieval use follow the path of old Roman aqueducts.

At the westernmost reaches of Roman colonisation, Carmarthen claims to be one of the oldest towns in Wales. Christened Moridunum by Roman settlers, it started life as a fortress in AD 75 before being named the administrative centre of the Romanised Demetae tribe, which kickstarted its growth into a notable town.

It's home to one of seven surviving Roman amphitheatres in Britain today (pictured), which also happens to be the most westerly in the entire empire. At the town’s Carmarthenshire Museum visitors can admire archaeological finds dating back to the days of Moridunum, though some of these objects have been removed from display while the museum undergoes renovations.

Seeing the area’s strategic potential, since it lies at the first safe crossing place on the River Severn, the Roman army built its earliest fort in Gloucester at Kingsholm before moving to what is now the city centre around AD 61. The site later became a town known as Glevum, which grew into an important administrative capital by the end of the 1st century AD, replete with villas, colonnades and temples.

Today’s visitors will find remains of Gloucester's ancient defensive walls in the underground Eastgate Viewing Chamber (pictured), while the Museum of Gloucester tells the detailed story of the city's origins.

Counted among the UK’s oldest cities, Lincoln was known as Lindum under the Romans, who transformed the site from a nondescript Iron Age hamlet into one of the country's most important settlements. Thanks to its useful location, at the junction of two crucial roads (the Fosse Way and Ermine Street) and on the banks of the River Witham, Lindum thrived and was fortified for its protection.

It later became a colonia for retired soldiers, alongside York, Gloucester and Colchester. One of the most prominent Roman ruins in the city today is Newport Arch (pictured), the only Roman archway in Britain still passed under by traffic.

Long before the Vikings founded Jorvik, the modern city of York was known by another name. Eboracum was born around AD 71, when 5,000 legionaries marched up from Lindum to stake Rome’s claim. The main reason to create a stronghold here was to provide a base for the Roman campaign against the Brigantes, a powerful and volatile group of Celtic tribes.

After burgeoning into a prestigious military and administrative centre, Eboracum was awarded the highest honour of becoming a 'colonia', and even hosted Constantine the Great's proclamation as emperor in AD 306. The Yorkshire Museum and nearby Multangular Tower offer further insight into York’s Roman heritage.

After the Roman conquest, Verlamion – an Iron Age settlement of the Catuvellauni tribe – was rechristened Verulamium, and became one of Roman Britain's largest towns. Today it is known as St Albans, renamed for the Christian martyr executed by the Romans around AD 300.

In the 1930s, hidden traces of the old Roman town were revealed, including a hypocaust, mosaic flooring and defensive walls. Modern visitors can follow the walls for most of their two-mile (3km) circuit, while the Verulamium Museum paints a picture of everyday life in Roman Britain. The Roman Theatre of St Albans (pictured), built in AD 140, still puts on shows today.

In 2nd-century Britain, Cirencester – then named Corinium – was second only to London for size and significance. It flourished as a hub for trade and entertainment thanks to its location at the intersection of major roads. Established around AD 75, it remains a bustling market town today, with several sites where visitors can venture deeper into Roman history.

See the earthworks of the second-largest Roman amphitheatre in the country, where brutal blood sports and gladiatorial battles would have played out, as well as remnants of the town’s original walls and ancient artefacts at the Corinium Museum.

Dover has been Britain's entryway to Europe for millennia, and in Roman times it was the port closest to the rest of the Roman Empire in Europe. Derived from the local word 'dubras' ('waters'), the settlement was named Dubris and is believed to have covered at least 12 acres.

The Romans fashioned a large harbour here, bookended by two lighthouses and presided over by three successive forts. More than 60 individual sites dating back to Roman times have been discovered in the area, including the Roman Painted House, one of the finest ruins of its kind in former Britannia.

Britain’s first Roman city and its earliest recorded capital, Colchester – under its Roman name Camulodunum – was given the status of colonia in AD 49, and was for a while afterwards set the standard for Roman culture, power and values across Britannia. The grand Temple of Claudius, now absorbed into the foundations of 11th-century Colchester Castle, emphasised the city’s status within the empire.

Though it was ravaged by the Celtic queen Boudicca’s revolt in AD 60, Camulodunum’s glory days are remembered in monuments like the Roman circus ruins and Balkerne Gate (pictured), Britain’s largest surviving Roman gateway.

Chester’s city walls are the oldest, longest and most complete from Roman Britain. At almost 2,000 years old, the red sandstone structures predate Chester’s city era and are a remnant of its tenure as the Roman fortress of Deva. Built around AD 75, it was one of a number of legionary fortresses stationed around Britain to control Rome’s territory.

Local whispers say that the section between Newgate (pictured) and the well-preserved amphitheatre is haunted by the lost soul of a legionary. Running parallel to the walls are the Chester Roman Gardens, containing recovered fragments of Deva’s military buildings.

Founded as the city of Londinium around AD 47, Roman London is thought to have served as a major commercial port. Strategically set on the River Thames, it developed rapidly thanks to its large merchant population, and eventually replaced Colchester as provincial capital.

Most of the original Roman settlement aligns with today's City of London, and there are sections of wall from the period near the Tower of London, where a statue of the emperor Trajan (pictured) stands guard. Visit the London Mithraeum for an immersive trip back in time, where Roman temple ruins lie preserved 23 feet (7m) below street level.

Topping our ranking of Britain's best Roman towns, charming Bath rose from the ancient settlement of Aquae Sulis, founded by the Romans in AD 44. When the Romans conquered Britain, the thermal springs beneath what is now Bath were already known to the local Celts, who believed the goddess Sulis presided over their therapeutic waters.

The Romans equated Sulis with their own deity Minerva, and these blended beliefs formed the basis of a vast religious spa complex built around AD 70, which became famous throughout the empire. Today, the Roman Baths (pictured) are a renowned tourist attraction, though unfortunately you're not allowed to take a dip.

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