Colchester, Essex The area around what is now London was at the intersection of different tribal territories and some way off from major tribal centres. Colchester, then called 'Camulodunum', was the first centre of Roman power. It quickly became the capital.
The first reference that England has to a capital city is Colchester. It is recorded by the Romans as a centre of power and the home of Catus Decianus, the governor of Britannia. As such, Colchester was named the first capital of Roman Britain.
Colchester is a historic former town [now city] located in Essex, England. It served as the first capital of the United Kingdom and is the oldest recorded town in Britain. It was raided by the Vikings during the 9th and 10th centuries. It also served as an essential location for the medieval cloth trade.
Have you been there? Malmesbury, Tamworth, Oxford, York, Northampton, Winchester, Colchester, and, of course, Londinium, the City of London, City of Westminster (arguable), and London - but this list is incomplete as it ignores that England wasn't always England and each minor Kingdom had its own capital city.
In the summer of 1298 Edward I moved the two departments at the heart of government, the Chancery and Exchequer, to the city. They only returned to London in 1304. For those years, York was effectively the capital of England. The city was also the base for Edward's army.
The countries of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The four capital cities: London (England), Edinburgh (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). The United Kingdom is part of the continent of Europe.
As York was a town in Roman times, its Celtic name is recorded in Roman sources (as Eboracum and Eburacum); after 400, Angles took over the area and adapted the name by folk etymology to Old English Eoforwīc or Eoforīc, which means "wild-boar town" or "rich in wild-boar".
After looking into the continental origins of the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, he notes that the land earlier called Britannia had taken its present name Anglia from one of the victorious invaders, the Angli : «Britannia is now called Anglia, taking the name of the victors ».
Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927. Æthelstan is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England. The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928.
Colchester is said to be the oldest recorded town in Britain on the grounds that it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder, who died in AD 79, although the Celtic name of the town, Camulodunon appears on coins minted by tribal chieftain Tasciovanus in the period 20–10 BC.
Was Lincoln the capital of England? Technically no… In the Roman era, Lincoln was known as Lindum Colonia. The city was considered to have been the capital of Flavia Caesariensis, one of the provinces created during the Diocletian Reforms at the end of the 3rd century.
In addition, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own capitals (the capital city of England is also London). The capital city of England is London. The capital city of Scotland is Edinburgh. The capital city of Northern Ireland is Belfast.
Camulodunum was the original Roman capital of Britannia but it was inconveniently situated. By contrast, Londinium was strategically sited: a network of roads spread out in all directions from either end of its bridge over the Thames, and ships brought goods to its port.
These kingdoms were: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex. England was eventually unified by Æthelstan, the first King of the united England, in 929 AD.
When the Vikings settled in York, they clearly had trouble saying the Saxon name for the city: Eoforwic (which is thought to mean wild boar settlement), so decided to call it Jorvik (thought to mean wild boar creek).
Northumbria (/nɔːrˈθʌmbriə/) was an early medieval kingdom in what is now Northern England and South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English Norþanhymbre meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the people south of the Humber Estuary.
See Viking trade and Viking travel. What we call the Viking Age, and their relationship with England, lasted from approximately 800 to 1150 AD – though Scandinavian adventurers, merchants and mercenaries were of course active before and after this period.
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 9,841,000 in 2025. Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 15.1 million.
Rutland. Rutland, unitary authority and historic county in the East Midlands of England. Rutland, wedged between Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, is the smallest historic county in England.
Vicars' Close, Wells. Vicars' Close is a dead end street in Wells, Somerset. It is reportedly Europe's oldest residential street with the original buildings still intact. John Julius Norwich called it "that rarest of survivals, a planned street of the mid-14th century".
Meopham is the longest village in England and is a large rural Parish with a population of approximately 7000 residing in an area of eight and a half square miles. The centre is just five miles south of Gravesend and the River Thames.
