Before the Roman conquest most Britons lived in the countryside and worked on the land. Native farms consisted of small fields ploughed with oxen. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were raised for milk, meat, hides and wool. Small horses, about the size of today’s ponies, were bred in some areas, but were more likely to be used for chariots than ploughs. Most of the native farms continued through the Roman period and benefited from Roman innovations. One of these was the iron plough coulter (the vertical blade that cuts the furrow), which was particularly useful in the heavy southern clay soils. The Romans also brought carrots, cabbages, turnips, parsnips, celery, cherries, walnuts, apples, pears, and bread wheat.

The spread of towns depended on more food from the countryside, and forts full of Roman soldiers had to be supplied with meat, grain and leather. These things encouraged the development of larger farms managed by landowners who lived in adjacent villas. Excavations at Stanwick (Northamptonshire), for example, have shown how a pre-Roman native farm, or perhaps small village, of round, wooden houses was destroyed in the 2nd century AD, and replaced by a stone villa with many outbuildings. Among the remains is what may be a donkey-driven mill.