early Christianity  spread into  Britan along the existing Trade Routes  across med and via Joseph of Arimathea to The White Isle  Temples of Apollo  The Roman Fleet   Roman Conquest of Britan    The Jewish Revolt   Rebellion of the Silures   The Boudiccan Revolt  Vespasian  caratacus traditions of christianisation

"If early traditions are to be believed, at least two churches in Britain were founded within a few decades of the crucifixion, during the lifetime of men who had known Christ or his apostles." from 'Arthur, Roman Britain's last Champion'

"Joseph and his company prepared their fleet and entered without delay, and did not end their voyage till they reached the land which God had promised to Joseph. The name of the country was the White Isle; well I know that thus it was called."- Perceval

'In traversing the Island the visitor is struck by the white glittering appearance of the ground, it being thinly covered in many places with white gravel, composed of cubes or nodules of quartz set free by the decomposition of the granite.'          Lundy Island - J. R. Chanter

"The main theory is of Hebrew or Hebrew- Phoenician missions extending from Palestine to all the old Phoenician colonies in the very earliest years of Christendom of missions conducted by the inner circle of disciples who were brought into immediate contact with Jesus at Capernaum and Jerusalem: men and women who were well known to have been the followers of Jesus, and who therefore, in common with Lazarus (John 12:10-11) and with Saul (Acts 9:23), went about in danger of their lives, and were forced to escape from Jerusalem at the earliest opportunity." from The Coming of the Saints. 

'And at this time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad', and 'they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the 'word' (Acts 8:1, 4)

"But rumour, which is swifter than the wind, swiftly brought the news to the Jews, who were by no means delighted but rather were deeply dejected. Among themselves they held a council in order to banish Joseph and expel him from the land, and they informed him at once that he must depart because of his crime, he and all his friends, and also Nicodemus, who was a marvellously wise man, and a sister of his."- Perceval

Joseph of Arimathea was a highly respected Jewish councilor, a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Judaic community under the Romans and a successful merchant. 

He was also a secret disciple of Jesus and had extensive knowledge both of the trade routes and their use by early Christian missions.

"Joseph had been chosen for such a task, because he knew Britain well already. He was a merchant by trade and had conducted business with the Dumnonian tin-miners and Durotrigian lead-miners of Britain many times before."

Traditions of the passing of Joseph and his companions are to be found at every main stopping point on the route.

When Joseph of Arimathea came to Lundy he found an existing,important, pre-christian, sacred site 

"When Joseph of Arimathea and his disciples arrived they passed through the city till he came to the temple of the sun, the most beautiful in the city. In the court of the temple Joseph and his companions found the aged king Evalach the Unknown". from 'Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance.'

Joseph founded Celtic Christianity, and the earliest Christian Church, on Lundy; probably at the Beacon Hill site.

( An early manuscript credits Joseph  with a share in founding the first Christian community at a place named Lydda.) (3 out of 5)

Celtic Christianity was based and became widespread outside the Roman sphere of influence. 

quoting from Gildas;- 'These islands received the beams of light - that is, the holy precepts of Christ - The True Sun, as we know, at the latter part of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, in whose time this religion was propagated without impediment and death threatened to those who interfered with its professors. 'quoting from Eusebius speaking of events from 37-41 AD;- 'Thus ... the doctrine of the Saviour, like the beams of the sun, soon irradiated the whole world. 'Tiberius died in AD 37. 'What we do know is that through the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius and the earlier years of Nero there was but little or no hindrance to the spread of the gospel, and that troops were constantly passing between Britain and Rome during all this time.

**** "It is also in essential harmony with the Welsh account in the 35th Triad (third series) which records how the native king bestowed 'the freedom of the country and nation with privilege of judgement and surety on all those who might be of the Faith of Christ, and how he built the first church at 'LLandaff' . The only question that arises is whether the last word is not a mistake for Llundain, or London."  *** from 'The Coming of the Saints.'p.159  (4 out of 5)

'The Rev. R. W. Morgan writing in the nineteenth century gives the following as all having stated that Joseph of Arimathea was the first to bring the teachings of Christ to Britain ;- The CHRONICON of PSEUDO-DEXTER, the FRAGMENTA of Haleca Archbishop of Saragossa, Freculphus and Forcatulus and also adds 'Cressy, Pitsaeus, Sanders, Alford, the Roman Catholic historians, concur with Gildas in the year, and with the above authorities in holding Joseph of Arimathea to have been the first who preached Christ in Britain'  from St.Paul in Britain.

Freculphus tells how Joseph and his companions including Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Marcella, and Maximin were invited by certain high ranking druids to travel from Marseilles to the seat of a druidic cor at Ynys Avalon, a site which was subsequently made over to them by Arvigarus. 

It was on this site that they built the first church, the mother of Christianity in Britain. 

Joseph died and was interred there in 76 AD.'

We know from Tertullian that Britain was Christian before it was Roman. 'Regions in Britain which have never been penetrated by the Roman arms have received the religion of Christ.' If this statement were correct, after the war between Britain and Rome had raged for a century and a half, from AD 43 to AD 192, it is obvious that the Arimathean mission must have been founded in the heart of independent Britain, outside the pale of the Roman empire. This inference tallies with the rest of the evidence. Joseph died in these 'loca inaccessa Romanis.' His death, therefore, could not be chronicled by Greek or Roman churches.' from Paul in Britain

The Greek and Roman menologies and Martyrologies commemorate with scrupulous jealousy the obituaries and death-places of all the earlier Christian characters of mark who died within the pale of the Roman Empire. They nowhere record those of Joseph.