All the Welsh, Scottish, English and the UK capitals in history

Overview
A list of all the known Welsh, Scottish, English, UK's capitals in history to date. Sometimes there were many minor states, so the apparently most significant are listed as an 'economic' or 'de facto' capital.

The Celts
There was no unified nation or declared capital, but 4 minor towns (very big for that time) stood out and could claim a de facto economic capital status.

Unknown Brythons

 * 1) The earliest origins of Lincoln can be traced to the remains of an Iron Age settlement of round wooden dwellings (which were discovered by archaeologists in 1972) that have been dated to the 1st century BC. This settlement was built by a deep pool (the modern Brayford Pool) in the River Witham at the foot of a large hill (on which the Normans later built Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle). The origins of the name Lincoln may come from this period, when the settlement is thought to have been named in the Brythonic language of Iron Age Britain's Celtic inhabitants as Lindon "The Pool", presumably referring to Brayford Pool (compare the etymology of the name Dublin, from the Gaelic dubh linn "black pool"). The extent of this original settlement is unknown as its remains are now buried deep beneath the later Roman and medieval ruins and modern Lincoln. Ratae Corieltauvorum or simply Ratae was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Leicester, located in the English county of Leicestershire. Ratae is a latinate form of the Brittonic word for "ramparts" (cf. Gaelic rath), suggesting the site was an Iron Age oppidum. This generic name was distinguished by ("of the Corieltauvians"), the name of the Celtic tribe whose capital it served as under the Romans. The town was mistakenly known as Ratae Coritanorum in later records. However, an inscription recovered in 1983 showed that it was corrupt and "Corieltauvorum" was the proper form of the name.The native settlement encountered by the Romans at the site seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC.

The Galls

 * 1) There was an Iron Age settlement known as Verulamium, Verlamion, or Verlamio, near the site of the present city, the centre of Tasciovanus' power and a major centre of the Catuvellauni from about 20 BC until shortly after the Roman invasion of AD 43. The name "Verulamium" is Celtic, meaning "settlement over or by the marsh". The town was on Prae Hill, 2 km to the west of modern St Albans, now covered by the village of St Michael's, Verulamium Park and the Gorhambury Estate. Although excavations done in 1996 produced finds which included silver coins from the Roman Republican era dating from 90/80 bc evidence of trade with the republic and that a settlement already existed on the site 50 years before Julius Caesar attempted to invade Britain, yet it is believed that the tribal capital was moved to the site by Tasciovanus (around 25 to 5 BC). Cunobelinus may have constructed Beech Bottom Dyke, a defensive earthwork near the settlement whose significance is uncertain. The location of the previous capital is not certain, but it is possible to speculate on the basis of evidence in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico and archaeological evidence for Iron Age sites in the area. One possible site is a few miles to the north near Wheathampstead, where a feature called the Devil's Dyke has been interpreted as part of the defences of a large oppidum near the River Lea. Tasciovanus was the first king to mint coins at Verlamion, beginning around 10 BC. There is evidence that the oppidum may have had a significant ritual function. The centre grew under Tasciovanus' son, Cunobelinus. Trading contact was made with Rome in 90 BC.

The Belgie, then Galls

 * 1) Colchester was once called Camulodunon. Originally the site of the Brythonic-Celtic oppidum of Camulodunon (meaning "stronghold of Camulos"), capital of the Trinovantes and later the Catuvellauni tribes, it was first mentioned by name on coinage minted by the chieftain Tasciovanus sometime between 20 and 10 BC.

Rome

 * 1) Colchester (Camulodunum) served as the first major British. It was designated as the capital of Roman Britain at around the time of the Roman senator and historian Tacitus. The Roman official Catus Decianus ruled as procurator of Britain from the ancient town in 60 AD.
 * 2) London (Londinium) was founded around 50AD and became the de facto capital in the wake of the rebellion by Boudicca in the 60's AD and the de facto capital in 100AD.

Post-Roman southern, south western and central England
There was no unified nation or declared capital, but several cities could clame a de facto capital status. The dark ages

Romano-British proper

 * 1) Colchester (Camulodunum)- 409-411. Activity in the 5th century continued in Camulodunum at a much reduced level, with evidence of at the Butt Road site showing that it briefly carrying on into the early 5th century. 410-577
 * 2) Cair Lundem was it's direct post-Roman dependent of Londinium and controlled a local petty kingdom. It was a near to uninhibited ruin by the early 500s AD, when the Saxons came to settle it, save for a small survivor community in what would later become Southwark.
 * 3) Winchester (Wintan-ceastre\Cair Guinntguic ("Fort Venta")) Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain in 410, urban life seems to have continued at Venta Belgarum until around 450 AD, and a small administrative centre might have continued after that on the site of the later Anglo-Saxon palace.
 * 4) St Albans, The Roman city of Verulamium, was the second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium. Occupation by the Romans ended between 400 and 450. The Saxon Waeclingas surrounded and Verulamium and it assimilated in the 550s
 * 5) York (Eboracum) declined in the post-Roman era, and was taken and settled by the Angles in the 5th
 * 6) Bath (Aquae Sulis) may have been the site of the Battle of Badon (c.500 A). It was in sharp decline by the 550s-570s.
 * 7) Lincoln (Lindum Colonia ) became a major flourishing settlement, accessible from the sea both through the River Trent and through the River Witham. On the basis of the patently corrupt list of British bishops who attended the 314 Council of Arles, the city is now often considered to have been the capital of the province of Flavia Caesariensis which was formed during the late-3rd century Diocletian Reforms. Subsequently, however, the town and its waterways fell into decline. By the close of the 5th century the city was largely deserted, although some occupation continued under a Praefectus Civitatis, for Saint Paulinus visited a man of this office in Lincoln in AD 629. During this period the Latin name Lindum Colonia was shortened in Old English to become first Lindocolina, then Lincylene. After the first destructive Viking raids, the city once again rose to some importance, with overseas trading connections. In Viking times Lincoln was a trading centre that issued coins from its own mint, by far the most important in Lincolnshire and by the end of the 10th century, comparable in output to the mint at York.
 * 8) Ratae Corieltauvorum or simply Ratae (Leicester). In the late 4th century, Ratae was occupied by a detachment of the Roman army and towers may have been added to the town walls. However, a serious fire spread through the town centre and the forum, basilica and market hall were never rebuilt. The settlement is generally identified as the Cair Lerion mentioned among the 28 cities of Britain by the later History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius.

The Cornovii, later Pengwern

 * 1) Viroconium (Wroxeter) the capital of the Cornovii, later Pengwern. The site was probably abandoned peacefully in the second half of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th.The later minor Magonsæte sub-kingdom of the Angles emerged in the area when Oswiu conquered Pengwern in 656. Eventually the court of the Kingdom of Powys moved to Mathrafal sometime before 717 following famine and plague in its original location. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain around 410, the Cornovii tribe divided into Pengwern (Shropshire) and Powys. Although Viroconium served as the early sub-Roman capital of Powys, variously identified with the ancient Welsh cities of Cair Urnarcor\Cair Guricon\Caer Guricon. Viroconium became the site of the court of a sub-Roman kingdom known as the Wrocensaete, which was the successor territorial unit to Cornovia. Wrocensaete means the ‘inhabitants of Wroxeter’. The Wroxeter Stone or Cunorix Stone (dated to 460-475 AD), was found in 1967, with an inscription in an Insular Celtic language, identified by the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) at UCL as "partly-Latinized Primitive Irish". Town life in Viroconium continued in the fifth century, but many of the buildings fell into disrepair. Between 530 and 570, when most Roman urban sites and villas in Britain were being abandoned, there was a substantial rebuilding programme. The old basilica was carefully demolished and replaced with new timber-framed buildings on rubble platforms. These probably included a very large two-storey building and a number of storage buildings and houses. In all, 33 new buildings were "carefully planned and executed" and "skillfully constructed to Roman measurements using a trained labour force".

The Romano-British, Dumnonii and Cornovii

 * 1) The Ravenna Cosmography, of around 700, makes reference to Purocoronavis (almost certainly a corruption of Durocornovium), 'a fort or walled settlement of the Cornovii': the location is unidentified, but Tintagel and Carn Brea have both been suggested. (If this is correct then it would have been on the site of Tintagel Castle.) It was controlled jointly by Romano-British Dumnonii and Cornovii. Rome had left in 410 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s.

The Dubonni

 * 1) Near Gloucester (Caer Glow) is (Caerloyw) at The name Gloucester thus means roughly "bright fort". There are various appellations of the city's name in history, such as Caer Glow, Gleawecastre, Gleucestre as an early British settlement is not confirmed by direct evidence. However, Gloucester was the Roman municipality of Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or Glevum, built in the reign of Nerva. After the withdrawal on the Roman Empire in the late 4th century the town returned to the control of Celtic Dubonni tribe. It was still a place of note. By the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gloucester is shown as part of Wessex from the Battle of Deorham in 577.

The Dubonni and Romano-British

 * 1) Cirencester (Corinium Dobunnorum) was a mixed Dubonni\Romano-British settlement at- 410-430 and the Saxons crushed it in 577.

The Cumbric "Yr Hen Ogledd"

 * 1) The Votadini transitioned into the Gododdin kingdom in the Early Middle Ages, with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria, and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles.
 * 2) Rheged was run from Carlisle (the Roman Luguvalium). Rheged was annexed by Northumbria, some time before 730AD.
 * 3) Dumbarton rock emerged as a fortified town in 570AD. In 756, the first (and second) losses of Dumbarton Rock were recorded. A joint force of Picts and Northumbrians captured the fortress after a siege, only to lose it again a few days later. By 870, it was home to a tightly packed British settlement, which served as a fortress and as the capital of Alt Clut. In 871, the Irish-based Viking kings Amlaíb and Ímar laid siege to Dumbarton Rock. It's Cumbric Brythons citizens fled to Govan.
 * 4) Govan is believed to have then been part of a kingdom ruled from Dumbarton Rock, known as Alt Clut, the rock on the Clyde. During the Viking Age, perhaps following the sack of Dumbarton Rock in 878, Govan is believed to have been one of the major centres of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, which was conquered Kingdom of Alba in the 11th century.

The Proto-Welsh principalities

 * 1) Caerwent (Venta Silurum) is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about 5 miles west of Chepstow and 11 miles east of Newport. (Venta Silurum) was an important settlement of the Silures tribe. The Unlike in other Welsh territories, inhabitants of Caerwent and Caerleon retained the use of defensible Roman town walls throughout the period-410-745.
 * 2) Chester in AD 79, as a "castrum" Cair Legion ("Fort Legion"). By 410 when the Romans retreated from Britannia, the Romano-British civilian settlement continued (probably with some Roman veterans staying behind with their wives and children) and its occupants probably continued to use the fortress and its defences as protection from raiders from the Irish Sea. The Angels conquered it in 616. The Anglo-Saxons under Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, laid waste to Chester around 616. Æthelfrith withdrew, leaving the area west and south of the Mersey to become part of Mercia, and Anglo-Saxon settlers took over Wirral except the northern tip. Many of Wirral's villages, such as Willaston, Eastham and Sutton, were established and named at this time.
 * 3) 2.2 mi (3.5 km) south-west of Lichfield, near the point where Icknield Street crosses Watling Street, was the site of Letocetum (the Brittonic- Letocaiton, "Greywood"). Established in AD 50 as a Roman military fortress, it had become a civilian settlement (vicus) with a bathhouse and a mansio by the 2nd century Letocetum fell into decline by the 4th century and the Romans had Cair Luit Coyd ("Fort Greywood") left by the 5th century. There have been scattered Romano-British finds in Lichfield and it is possible that a burial discovered beneath the cathedral in 1751 was Romano-British. There is no evidence of what happened to Letocetum after the Romans left; however, Lichfield may have emerged as the inhabitants of Letocetum relocated during its decline. Cair Luit Coyd ("Fort Greywood") This passed into Old English as Lyccid, cf. Old Welsh: Luitcoyt, to which was appended Old English: feld "open country". This word Lyccidfeld is the origin of the word "Lichfield". Bede's history, where it is called Licidfelth. Letocetum lost all importance with the development of nearby Lichfield in the 7th century as the seat of a Bishop. When the place again emerged historically it was under a new name, "Wall".
 * 4) Gwynedd's capital was Deganwy (6th century), Llanfaes (9th century), Aberffraw and Rhuddlan (11th century), and Abergwyngregyn until 1216.
 * 5) Caerleon and Cardiffwas the headquarters for Legio II Augusta from about 75 to 300 AD, and on the hill above was the site of an Iron Age hillfort. The Romans called the site Isca after the River Usk (Welsh Wysg). Rome had left by 388 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s. The name Caerleon may derive from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion"; around 800 AD it was referred to as Cair Legeion guar Uisc. A 3.2-hectare (8-acre) fort established by the Romans near the mouth of the River Taff in AD 75, in what would become the north western boundary of the centre of Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement that had been established by the Romans in the 50s AD. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta (Caerleon) that acted as border defences. Little is known about the fort and civilian settlement in the period between the Roman departure from Britain and the Norman Conquest. The settlement probably shrank in size and may even have been abandoned. In the absence of Roman rule, Wales was divided into small kingdoms; early on, Meurig ap Tewdrig emerged as the local king in Glywysing (which later became Glamorgan). The area passed through his family until the advent of the Normans in the 11th century. Rome had left by 388 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s.
 * 6) The Wirral was once an independent nation and Wallasey was a major fortified location on it, along with a few other places. The name of Wallasey originates from the Germanic word Walha, meaning stranger or foreigner, which is also the origin of the name Wales. The suffix “-ey” denotes an island or area of dry land. Originally the higher ground now occupied by Wallasey was separated from the rest of Wirral by the creek known as Wallasey Pool (which later became the docks), the marshy areas of Bidston Moss and Leasowe, and sand dunes along the coast. Around 70 AD, the Romans founded Chester. Evidence of their occupation on Wirral has been found, including the remains of a road near Mollington, Ledsham and Willaston. This road may have continued to the port at Meols, which may have been used as a base for attacking the north Wales coast. Storeton Quarry may also have been used by Romans for materials for sculpture. Remains of possible Roman roads have also been found at Greasby and at Bidston. By the end of the Roman period, pirates were a menace to traders in the Irish Sea, and soldiers may have been garrisoned at Meols to combat this threat. Although Roman rule ended with the departure of the last Roman troops in 410, later coins and other material found at Meols show that it continued to operate as a trading port. Evidence of Celtic Christianity from the 5th or 6th centuries is shown in the originally circular shape of churchyards at Bromborough, Woodchurch and elsewhere, and also in the dedication of the parish church at Wallasey to a 4th-century bishop, Hilary of Poitiers. The Celtic names of Liscard and Landican (from llan-T/Decwyn) both suggest an ancient British origin. The name of Wallasey, meaning "Welsh (or foreigners') island", is evidence of British settlement. The Welsh name, both ancient and modern, for Wirral is Cilgwri. In Welsh mythology, the ouzel (or blackbird) of Cilgwri was one of the most ancient creatures in the world. Rome had left by 410 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s. The Anglo-Saxons under Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, laid waste to Chester around 616. Æthelfrith withdrew, leaving the area west and south of the Mersey to become part of Mercia, and Anglo-Saxon settlers took over Wirral except the northern tip. Many of Wirral's villages, such as Willaston, Eastham and Sutton, were established and named at this time.

Scotland

 * 1) King Malcolm IV described Scone Abbey, which once housed the famous ‘Stone of Scone’, as Scotland’s “principal seat”. With this, ancient village of Scone became the closest thing to a capital for the Kingdom of Scotland from around 1163.
 * 2) Edinburgh had became the Scottish capital after c. 1452.

Pre-unified Wales
There was no unified nation or declared capital, but several cities could clame a de facto capital status.


 * 1) Caerleon was the headquarters for Legio II Augusta from about 75 to 300 AD, and on the hill above was the site of an Iron Age hillfort. The Romans called the site Isca after the River Usk (Welsh Wysg). Rome had left by 388 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s. The name Caerleon may derive from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion"; around 800 AD it was referred to as Cair Legeion guar Uisc. A 3.2-hectare (8-acre) fort established by the Romans near the mouth of the River Taff in AD 75, in what would become the north western boundary of the centre of Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement that had been established by the Romans in the 50s AD. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta (Caerleon) that acted as border defences. Little is known about the fort and civilian settlement in the period between the Roman departure from Britain and the Norman Conquest. The settlement probably shrank in size and may even have been abandoned. In the absence of Roman rule, Wales was divided into small kingdoms; early on, Meurig ap Tewdrig emerged as the local king in Glywysing (which later became Glamorgan). The area passed through his family until the advent of the Normans in the 11th century. Rome had left by 388 AD, but trade contact continued until about the 550s.
 * 2) Gwynedd's capital was Deganwy (6th century), Llanfaes (9th century), Aberffraw and Rhuddlan (11th century), and Abergwyngregyn until 1216.
 * 3) Principality of Powys Wenwynwyn was run from Welshpool 1160–1283
 * 4) Principality of Wales was run from Abergwyngregyn until 1216–1542.
 * 5) In addition to serving an important political role in the governance of the fertile south Glamorgan coastal plain, Cardiff was a busy port in the Middle Ages and was declared a staple port in 1327. It was important at the time and gave the local Marcher Lord a good power base. In 1081 William I, King of England, began work on the castle keep within the walls of the old Roman fort.[32] Cardiff Castle has been at the heart of the city ever since.

Owain Glyndwr's Welsh Parliament

 * 1) The small town of Machynlleth had Owain Glyndwr's Welsh Parliament there in 1404. It’s known as the ancient capital of Wales – though this was never officially recognised in England and still is not.

Wales

 * 1) Cardiff was slated as capital in 1924 poll, became it in 1950.

The Saxons, Angels, Jutes and Frisians
There was no unified nation or declared capital, but several cities could clam a de facto capital status.
 * 1) Saxon settlement of Lundenwic ("London trading town") was not within the Roman walls but to the west in Aldwych. Essex had created it 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Londinium (named Lundenburg, or ("London Fort").Excavations show that the settlement covered about 600,000 m2 (6,500,000 sq ft), stretching along the north side of the Strand (i.e. "the beach") from the present-day National Gallery site in the west to Aldwych in the east. They were the capital of Essex for awhile. London was formally incorporated into the Kingdom of Essex from the mid-6th century.
 * 2) Maldon was the capital of Essex for a while.
 * 3) Tamworth on the Staffordshire\Warwickshire county border acted as Mercia’s official capital under King Offa and had previously established as its royal centre by King Penda in the 7th century.
 * 4) Alfred the Great started Saxon rule from Winchester in the late 800s. Winchester (Wintan-ceastre\Cair Guinntguic ("Fort Venta")) was the capital of England between the 10th and 11th centuries.

The Vikings

 * 1) Jórvík (York) was a major Norse settlement and their de facto capital at the time- 866-954 AD
 * 2) King Sweyn Forkbeard, who was crowned there on Christmas Day in 1013. He ruled England for just 40 days as nation’s shortest-reigning monarch. Gainsborough was his chosen as his capital.
 * 3) Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The village is situated to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. It is part of the Pensby & Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is situated within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the 2001 Census, Thingwall had 3,140 inhabitants (1,450 males, 1,680 females). The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse Ra-byr, meaning 'boundary settlement'. It is believed to be so named because it lay close to the boundary which existed in the 10th and 11th centuries between the Norse colony in Wirral to the north, centred on Thingwall, and Anglo-Saxon Mercia to the south. From the Old Norse þing vollr, meaning 'assembly field', the name indicates that it was once the site of a Germanic thing (or þing). Similar place names in the British Isles include Tynwald, Dingwall, and Tingwall; see also Thingvellir in Iceland and Tingvoll in Norway. The boundary of the Viking colony is believed to have passed south of Neston and Raby, and along Dibbinsdale. Evidence of Norse speech in Wirral can still be seen from place name evidence – such as the common -by (meaning "village" in Scandinavian languages) – suffixes and names such as Tranmere, which comes from trani melr ("cranebird sandbank"). Viking Age sculpture corroborates this. Recent Y-DNA research has also revealed the genetic trail left by Scandinavians in Wirral, specifically relatively high rates of the haplogroup R1a, associated in Britain with Scandinavian ancestry. Bromborough in Wirral is also one of the possible sites of an epic battle in 937, the Battle of Brunanburh, which confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom.

The Normans

 * 1) London was declared the de jure national capital by the Normans in 1066. It had grown so much in importance it had become the de facto since the 12th century.

England

 * 1) London was declared the de jure national capital by the Normans in 1066. It had grown so much in importance it had become the de facto since the 12th century.
 * 2) Canterbury had periodically been the capital of England in the middle ages. It still hosts the head of the Anglican Church.
 * 3) Oxford was declared the nation’s royalist capital for a while during the English Civil War when Charles I held his court in the city from 1642, after Oliver Cromwell successfully expelled him from London.

United Kingdom

 * 1) Napoleonic war- Weedon, Bucks; Weedon, Northampton and Weldon, Northants were planned as a post invasion capital for a UK resistance movement.
 * 2) The Great Stink got so bad in 1858 that MPs suggested that the business of government to Oxford, Henley, Richmond-upon-Thames, Reading, Windsor, Southend-upon-Sea or St Albans. Oxford and St. Albans were the most likely, with Henley close behind.
 * 3) The government's cabinet sat ad-hoc in Inverness for a few days in the early 20th century.
 * 4) WW1-Liverpool was planned as a post invasion capital for a UK resistance movement.
 * 5) WW2-Worcester was planned as a post invasion capital for a UK resistance movement.

Also see

 * 1) United Kingdom