Who lived in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons?

Celtic, Scots, Picts, Romans, Attacotti and Déisi.

Celtic tribes were prob the biggest bunch.

These people were pushed back into Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland after the Saxon invasion. Most Romans left with the Empire but many stayed and were absorbed into the community.

The Romans, and before the Romans, the whole of britain was Welsh. The scots were immigrants from Ireland and occupied north britain. Then came a germanic ribe called the Angles, then the Saxons came so it was an Anglo Saxon britain for the area which is now England. From the name Angle Land, you get England. At that time Wales still held cornwall and the West country as well as Wales itself. but lost that territory with the Norman invasion in 1066. The old Cornish language is still very similar to the Welsh language today.

Historically, the Britons (sometimes Brythons or British) were the P-Celtic speaking indigenous peoples inhabiting the island of Great Britain south of the river Forth. They were speakers of the Brythonic languages (also called P-Celtic) and shared common cultural traditions; the surviving P-Celtic languages are Welsh, Cornish and Breton. In terms of language and culture, much of north-western Europe was mainly Celtic during this period. The inhabitants of Ireland, the Isle of Man and Dál Riata were Gaels or Gaelic Celts who spoke Goidelic languages.

The Romans

Romans and Celts

'Mixed-race' Romano-Celts, descended from the indigenous ancient Britons and Roman settlers