My intent is to advance some new suggestions (or rather, to revive some long unfashionable
ones) concerning the origins and early development of the Roman town. Two
under-reported discoveries of military-style ditches allow it to be suggested that London
originated as a fort where the armies of Plautius awaited the emperor Claudius before
marching on Colchester in the summer of A.D. 43. The alternative and prevailing view, that
the city was a civilian foundation of c.A.D. 50, must be questioned. This in turn suggests
a re-assessment of the rôle of London in the political infrastructure of the newly-created
Roman province. It seems likely that London remained firmly under the control of the provincial
government, and a major centre of operations for both army and administration.
This finds confirmation in the recently-discovered evidence of fortifications and engineering
works associated with extensive reconstruction in the aftermath of the Boudican revolt
of A.D. 60/61
