s villages
scattered through the country. Nor can we pretend to know much more
about the size and character of the estates which corresponded to the
country-houses and farms of which remains survive. The 'villa' system of
demesne farms and serfs or _coloni_[1] which obtained elsewhere was
doubtless familiar in Britain; indeed, the Theodosian Code definitely
refers to British _coloni_.[2] But whether it was the only rural system
in Britain is beyond proof, and previous attempts to work out the
problem have done little more than demonstrate the fact.[3] It is quite
possible that here, or indeed in any province, other forms of estates
and of land tenure may have existed beside the predominant villa.[4]
The one thing needed is evidence. And in any case the net result appears
fairly certain. The bulk of British local government must have been
carried on through Roman municipalities, through imperial estates, and
still more through tribal _civitates_ using a Romanized constitution.
The bulk of the landed estates must have conformed in their legal
aspects to the 'villas' of other provinces. Whatever room there may be
for survival of native customs or institutions, we have no evidence that
they survived, within the Romanized area, either in great amount or in
any form which contrasted with the general Roman character of the
country.

[Footnote 1: The term 'villa' is generally used to denote Romano-British
country-houses and farms, irrespective of their legal classification.
The use is so firmly established, both in England and abroad, that it
would be idle to attempt to alter it. But for clearness I have thought
it better in this paper to employ the term 'villa' only where I refer to
the definite 'villa' system.]

[Footnote 2: Cod. Theod. xi. 7.2.]

[Footnote 3: For instance, Mr. Seebohm (_English Village Community_, pp.
254 foll.) connects the suffix 'ham' with the Roman 'villa' and
apparently argues that the occurrence of the suffix indicates in general
the former existence of a 'villa'. But his map showing the percentage of
local names ending in 'ham' in various counties disproves his view
completely. For the distribution of the suffix 'ham' and the frequency
of Roman country-houses and farms do not coincide. In Norfolk, for
instance, 'ham' is common, but there is hardly a trace of a Roman
country-house or farm in the whole county (_Victoria Hist. of Norfolk_,
i. 294-8). Somerset, on the other hand, is crowded with Roman