A small neolithic community builds a village at Skara Brae in the Orkneys, of stone houses with built-in stone furniture

At Stonehenge, constructed and altered over many centuries, the largest stones are put in place

A ring of large standing stones is raised in England at Avebury, now a village in Wiltshire

The Beaker people arrive in Britain, bringing several desirable commodities - including horses, alcohol and bronze

Pytheas, a Greek explorer, sails up the west coast of Britain and finds beyond it a more northerly land which he calls Thule

The Celts move across the Channel into Britain, soon becoming the dominant ethnic group in the island

Julius Caesar makes the first of his two invasions of Celtic Britain

Julius Caesar returns to Britain for a second visit, this time reaching north of the Thames into the kingdom of Cassivellaunus

The death of Cymbeline is a prelude to the renewed Roman invasion of Celtic Britain

The Romans invade Britain and the tribal leader Caractacus fails to hold them in an encounter near the Medway

The emperor Claudius catches up with the Roman army, waiting at the Thames for him to lead the final victory over the English tribes

The Roman emperor Claudius reaches Colchester, where a temple is erected to him as a god

Boudicca launches a devastating attack on Roman soldiers and settlers, destroying their headquarters at Colchester

Agricola, appointed Roman governor of Britain in AD 77, establishes Chester as a stronghold from which to control the Welsh tribes

Agricola defeats the tribes of Scotland at an unidentified place called Mons Graupius, probably almost as far north as Aberdeen

The emperor Hadrian, visiting Britain, orders the construction of a great wall from coast to coast to keep out the Caledonian tribes

The emperor Antoninus Pius gives orders for the construction of a defensive earthwork, to the north of Hadrian's Wall

London develops as a prosperous trading centre, at the hub of the network of Roman roads in Britain

The Picts win a dominant position among tribes in the northern regions of Britain, or Scotland

Constantine's father, recently appoinnted Augustus in the west, dies at York and the young man is proclaimed Augustus in his place by the legions in Britain

Angles, Saxons and other Germanic groups invade southern England and steadily push the Celts westwards

St Columba establishes a monastery on the island of Iona, from which Celtic Christianity is carried to Scotland and northern England

Augustine, arriving with a party of monks from Rome, reaches Canterbury and is well received by the pagan king of Kent

The Scots, a tribal group of northern Ireland, extend their kingdom across the sea into Scotland

The Vikings develop the fast and narrow longships with which they raid across the North Sea