Celts in Britain today

There are still quite a lot of Celts living in the British Isles today. They live mainly in Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland.

The Celts living in Britain today stem from the two main types of Celt who invaded Britain:

• the Goidelic Celts (Gaels or Gaelic ) - Scotland, Isle of Man and Ireland
• the Brythonic celts (Britons or British) - roughly Wales and Cornwall

The Goidelic Celts were first to invade Britain. They were later pushed into Ireland by their cousins the Brythonic (or British) Celts who came over in 500 - 400 BC. The Brythonic occupied present day England and Wales.

By the time Julius Caesar was ready to launch his Roman invasion of Britain, more Celts had crossed over from Gaul, and had settled in the south-east of England. These were largely the Belgic tribes, from what is now southern Belgium and northern France, and they were related to the Britons already here.