History of the Isle of Wight inhabitants of southern Britain at this time may indeed have been Germanic, rather than Celtic, which could re-open the possibility of the island's name having Germanic roots. The Romans occupied southern Britain, including the Isle of Wight, for nearly four hundred years. The Romans built no towns on the island, but it became an agricultural centre, and at least seven Roman villas are known. The Roman villas at Newport and Brading have been excavated and are open to the public. When fully developed around 300 AD, Brading was probably the largest on the Island, being a courtyard villa with impressive
Southern Vectis Solent Blue Line were sold to the Go-Ahead Group and became part of Go South Coast. In April 2006, the network was changed with Newport the hub and other routes linking to it. Some routes, for example the "Island Explorer" were lost. However, the changes proved successful. Within 18 months, passenger numbers had increased by 45 percent. This included a 14 percent growth in fare-paying customers. In October 2009, Southern Vectis launched a website promoting a car scrappage scheme. This offered Island residents a season ticket of bus journeys for use in the next twelve months if they agreed to