The Celts were fierce and proud tribal people. Their culture dominated most of Western Europe and was prevalent throughout Britain from at least 700 BC, showing especially strong links with the peoples of northern France and the Low Countries through trade and the adoption fo coinage, types of pottery and goods imported from other parts of the world.

After the Roman settlement of Britain most Celts settled under their invaders, adsorbing their customs and language into their own. Tribes that resisted were pushed back to the fringes of Britain, into Wales and Cornwall, into Scotland and over the sea into Ireland, where their culture and language remained intact.