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
Roman Inscriptions of Britain Roman Inscriptions of Britain Roman Inscriptions of Britain is a 3-volume corpus of inscriptions found in Britain from the Roman period. It is an important reference work for all scholars of Roman Britain. This monumental work was initiated by Francis J. Haverfield – his notebooks were bequeathed to the University of Oxford. The first volume, "Inscriptions on Stone" was then edited by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright with an addendum by R.S.O. Tomlin. It was first published in 1965, with a new edition in 1995. Volume II is broadly the inscriptions found on "instrumentum domesticum" (domestic utensils). Volume III (edited