In other words, Winchester, Lancaster, Leicester and Chester all show traces of Roman occupation of what is now England. Place names with an element like – chester, for instance, ultimately derive from Roman army camps, denoted by the Latin word castra (though via Old English ceaster). In the first century AD, Britain was conquered by the Romans and their influence too can be found in English place names. In addition, about two-thirds of English rivers today have English names, these include the rivers Avon, Trent, Tyne and the Thames – most of these river names excitingly mean ‘river’. The place name Dover, for instance, derives from a Celtic word for ‘waters’ and the first part of Carlisle stems from a Celtic word for ‘fort’ (cf. These Celtic speakers have left their traces in the toponyms (place names, river names) of present-day England. If we were to go back some 2500 years in time, Britain was inhabited by people who spoke Celtic languages (present-day Welsh and Cornish are among the linguistic descendants of these languages). The Celtic helmet is based on the Waterloo Helmet *map altered slightly on due to misplacement of Carlisle* Traces of Celts and Romans Map with some Celtic and Roman place names. What do the English place names Everton, Oxford, Winchester and Whitby have in common? They have all been around for more than a thousand years and their origins and original meanings can shed a unique light on the fascinating early history of England!
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