« Reply #25 on: Sunday 13 August 17 22:24 BST (UK) »
I would have expected most Romans to have left Britannia when the Legions were withdrawn. The Birley family bought Vinderlanda in the 1930's. It has been a treasure trove of artifacts ever since. The Batavian (Dutch) auxiliary infantry cohort (battalion) may have been from c410 when it left, but I don't know.
England is largely Anglo Saxon, Danes and Norse. For instance from mid England Northwards are place names ending in by or a secondary name Thorpe. These are Danish. Remember England could have ended up called Daneland, if it wasn't for Alfred the Great. He was the man who envisaged Englaland...England. It took a long time and his children and beyond to Athelstan. The Danes and Norse were not exterminated, but their leaders were or forced out. Cumbria is inhabited by Norse who had been driven out of Ireland by the Irish. Melvyn Bragg is proud to be a Viking.
My family lived in the Forest of Dean in the 19th Century. There were lots of Welsh and Irish in the Forest. Originally, Dean was Welsh.
In the last 150 years, much migration everywhich way. Modern DNA testing says next to nothing of who lived where previously.
Of the millions of people trying to trace their roots, a minority have had their DNA tested and have been querying where a small percentage of their genepool originated, which is different from where they lived in recorded history.
I don't study ancient history but have picked up a smidgen from watching such programmes as "Time Team" where I've heard scholars explaining that important Romans did in fact marry daughters of rich local tribal leaders. And since reading about rich slaves I'm all the more intrigued!
As for the era when North of Watford was governed by Dane Law, I still use words of Danish origin, such as "gelt" for cash (Have you got any gelt on you?) which derives from Danegelt currency.
The only thing I know about the Welsh is that they're extremely difficult to trace, even the 19th century ancestors lol.
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie: Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke