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
Christianity in Roman Britain place, a place of group worship, and a place for solitary prayer. Unlike later medieval Britain, Roman Britain lacked a dense network of parish churches. Instead, a range of different types of church structure were present across the region. One term for a church that was likely used in Roman Britain was "altare", a term which appears in an inscription from the Christian Water Newton hoard and which was not commonly used for pagan cult sites. Church buildings would have required an altar at which the Eucharist could be celebrated, a place from where readings could be made, space for