South-east England had always been open to foreign contacts due to its proximity to mainland Europe. The arrival of the Romans reinforced these links and boosted trade. Roman rule also brought stability and prosperity, a network of roads and towns and an army of about 40,000 that needed supplies. Londinium (London) was Britannia’s most important port, full of native traders and foreign merchants, who unloaded their cargoes at wharves on the river front. These cargoes included wine, olives, oil, and pottery from abroad, but also slates from Wales and jet from Whitby.

Markets and shops also developed in smaller towns such as Verulamium (St Albans). Soon after the conquest, small single-storey timber shops and workshops were open for business on Watling Street, one of the earliest roads the Romans built out of London. Although the shops were burnt during the revolt of Boudica they were rebuilt many times. Modern excavations in the City of London have revealed similar streets containing evidence of some of the people who lived and worked in them. At one site, broken querns (stones for grinding corn) revealed that there was a baker’s shop as well as a carpenter’s workshop and the shop of a merchant who traded in pottery bowls.