Programme 1
Romans
- Caerleon's Amphitheatre
- Sian and John Ellis Jones at Holyhead
The Romans were famous warriors, but in their attempt to conquer Britain their military were also reliant on having a powerful navy. Clearly, the generals needed to have an efficient and dependable navy in order to transport the invasion force of 20,000 men across the Channel, as the Emperor Claudius invaded Southern England in 43AD.
The Romans also needed a strong navy as they sought to consolidate their power in Britain. Many of the Roman forts in Wales were supplied via the sea – for example Caerleon, Carmarthen and Caernarfon. But to see the best surviving example of a Roman fort on the Welsh coast, Sian travelled to Holyhead, where she met the Classical expert John Ellis Jones. When this fort was at its peak, the defences reached out far into the water, in order to secure the port against any aggressors. And on the hill that rises above the town, Mynydd y Tŵr, the archaeologists have found the remains of a Roman watchtower, that would have warned the soldiers in the fort below of any unfriendly ships that were on the horizon.
9:00PM Tuesday
Repeated on S4C Digidol 9:00PM Saturday
with English Subtitles