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There is evidence for an [[Iron Age]] promontory fort at Maiden Castle, a hill in the city of Durham which rises around 100 ft above the River Wear.

There is evidence for an [[Iron Age]] promontory fort at Maiden Castle, a hill in the city of Durham which rises around 100 ft above the River Wear.

Following the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was clearly a Roman presence in modern-day County Durham by c. 70 AD as many of its Roman forts, including Cognancis ([[Chester-le-Street]]), Morbium ([[Piercebridge]]) and Vinovium ([[Binchester]]), appear to date from this period. One of County Durham's largest Roman forts is Arbeia ([[South Shields]]), which dates from c. 129 AD.

Following the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was clearly a Roman presence in modern-day County Durham by c. 70 AD as many of its Roman forts, including Cognancis ([[Chester-le-Street]]), Morbium ([[Piercebridge]]) and Vinovium ([[Binchester]]), appear to date from this period. One of County Durham's largest Roman forts is Arbeia ([[South Shields]]), which dates from c. 129 AD. At this time, what would become County Durham lay, along with much of northern England, within the territory of the Brigantes, a people recorded by [[Ptolemy]] in the 2nd century AD.

During c. 400 AD-450 AD, the time period immediately after the Romans left Britain, but before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, modern-day County Durham may have formed a part of the Brythonic kingdom ''Bryneich''. By the mid 6th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the Brythonic kingdom ''Bryneich'' had become the Anglian kingdom ''Beornice'', or Bernicia, with the first recorded king being Ida, whose reign lasted from approximately 547 AD-559 AD. By c. 605 AD, modern-day County Durham lay within the heart of the Anglian kingdom [[Northumbria]] after Ida's grandson Æthelfrith had merged Bernicia by force with its southern neighbour Deira which, ruled from Eoforwic (modern-day [[York]]), was located roughly between the rivers Tees in the north and [[River Humber|Humber]] in the south (covering approximately the modern-day [[North Riding of Yorkshire|North]] and [[East Riding of Yorkshire|East Ridings of Yorkshire]]). The overwhelming majority of the modern-day County Palatine's place-names are of [[Old English]] origin, and thus were coined in the Anglian period (late 5th-mid 11th centuries).

During c. 400 AD-450 AD, the time period immediately after the Romans left Britain, but before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, modern-day County Durham may have formed a part of the Brythonic kingdom ''Bryneich''. By the mid 6th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the Brythonic kingdom ''Bryneich'' had become the Anglian kingdom ''Beornice'', or Bernicia, with the first recorded king being Ida, whose reign lasted from approximately 547 AD-559 AD. By c. 605 AD, modern-day County Durham lay within the heart of the Anglian kingdom [[Northumbria]] after Ida's grandson Æthelfrith had merged Bernicia by force with its southern neighbour Deira which, ruled from Eoforwic (modern-day [[York]]), was located roughly between the rivers Tees in the north and [[River Humber|Humber]] in the south (covering approximately the modern-day [[North Riding of Yorkshire|North]] and [[East Riding of Yorkshire|East Ridings of Yorkshire]]). The overwhelming majority of the modern-day County Palatine's place-names are of [[Old English]] origin, and thus were coined in the Anglian period (late 5th-mid 11th centuries).