The Essay unearths the peoples and landscape of Iron Age Britain. From warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors.

"We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie open—and everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans." Tacitus, Agricola

Independent historian Nicki Howarth-Pollard pieces together Queen Cartimandua's reign and fate as a ruler who had to negotiate the survival of her people, the Brigantes, and the reality of a conquered land.

Producer: Mark Burman Show less