Winchester more urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum, although the archaeology of this phase remains obscure. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE. It seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, derived from the Brittonic for "town" or "meeting place", or the word for "white" (Welsh "gwyn"), due to Winchester's situation upon chalk. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital () of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, "Venta of the Belgae". Although in the early years of
Ancaster Roman Town Ancaster Roman Town Ancaster Roman Town was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. It is sited on the Roman road known as the Ermine Street and is situated in the county of Lincolnshire. Its name in Latin is unknown, although it has traditionally been identified with "Causennis" or Causennæ, a name which occurs as a town on the route of "Iter V" recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. Rivet and Smith questioned this identification in 1979 and suggested that a more likely identification would be either the Roman settlement at Salters ford, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, or at