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
Sub-Roman Britain subject. However, early studies have, so far, tended to produce implausible conclusions from very small numbers of people and using outdated assumptions about linguistics and archaeology". Sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain refers to the transition period between the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century around 235 (and the subsequent collapse and end of Roman Britain) and the start of the Early Medieval period. The term is derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Great Britain in Late Antiquity. The term Post-Roman Britain is also used for the period, mainly in non-archaeological contexts. The term "sub-Roman" was originally