Wales from the Air (2): Origins and Conquest

BBC Documentary from the 1960s

This episode deals with the invaders and occupations of Wales, which had been a center of religious authority for thousands of years, with the Druids and Merlin and the fact that the mysterious builders of Stonehenge felt compelled to use stones brought all the way from Wales.

1900 years ago the Romans sent their army into Wales, building roads and forts across the region as the Druids were stirring up trouble in the Empire. For the next 400 years of their occupation, they always kept two armies available in case there was any further trouble from the Welsh.

The Roman occupation was one which the Welsh settled into very comfortably, speaking Latin, wearing togas and virtually becoming Romans, but there were many invaders to follow who were far less welcome.

It covers the barbarian Angle and Saxon invaders, the building of Offas Dyke, with the isolation of Wales, and the Norman conquest of Wales with their prodigious building of castles, which left South Wales with more castles per square mile than anywhere else in Britain, some of which are visited here.

.