Christianity in Britain may date back to before the year 200; it is claimed that St. Peter upon Cornhill church in London was founded in the year 179. Certainly, Christianity had reached Britain by the year 208. The church father Tertullian mentions this fact as an example of the geographical spread of Christianity in his time, "In all parts of Spain, among the various nations of Gaul, in districts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subdued to Christ, in all these the kingdom and name of Christ are venerated." Another church father, Origen, writing about 239, likewise refers to Christianity among the Britons, "The power of the Saviour is felt even among those who are divided from our world, in Britain," although he is also careful to qualify that "very many have not yet heard the word of the Gospel."
The first known martyr for the Christian faith in Britain was Alban, who was killed at Verulam (now St Alban's) sometime between the year 250 and 305 for the crime of harbouring a Christian cleric. Julius and Aaron were also martyred around the same time, possibly at Caerleon (Newport, South Wales).
Following the end of persecution, there were three British bishops present at the Council of Arles in 314: Eborius (from York), Restitutus (from London), and Adelphius (from Lincoln or possibly Caerleon). In 359, there were many British bishops present at the Council of Rimini, and three of them received an imperial allowance for their daily support. In 358, the church father Hilary of Poitiers addressed a treatise to, among others, the bishops of Britain.
The earliest archaeological evidence of Christianity in what is now England includes the Hinton St Mary mosiac (Dorset, 4th century) and the Lullingstone Wall Paintings (Kent, 4th century), the Binchester Roman Ring, the Water Newton treasure, and the Hoxne hoard (early 5th century).
From around 380, settlers from northern continental Europe, Angles, Saxons and Jutes, migrated across the North Sea and came to settle the eastern half of the island. The Roman legions finally withdrew in 410. The incoming Anglo-Saxons drove out the native population of Britons (whose native language, Brythonic, was related to modern-day Welsh), and destroyed churches, as recorded by the contemporary church historian Gildas. In what would become England, some Christian presence survived into the 500s, evidenced by Christian burial practices, various inscriptions, reverence for Saint Alban, and place names including "eccles" (church). However, by the final quarter of the 500s, the long line of bishops of London came to an end; in about 586, the last bishop of London, Theanus, fled to Wales when the city was taken over by the Saxons. Christianity thrived in the western areas of the country inhabited by Celtic Britons; the phrase "Age of Saints" describes the cohort of Christian monastics in Wales in the 500s, including Dyfrig, Illtud, Gildas, David and Teilo.
The next chapter in the history of Christianity in Britain was the re-evangelisation of the island in a three-pronged advance: the Irish from the north, the Romans arriving in Kent in the south, and the Franks represented by Bertha, queen of Kent. Frankish Christian princess Bertha married the future Saxon king, Æthelberht in 580 on the condition that she be able to practise her religion. A former church was restored for her use as a royal chapel: St. Martin's church in Canterbury. Later, Pope Gregory the Great dispatched Augustine to evangelise England, arriving at the Saxon kingdom of Kent in 597; Bertha's husband, now king of Kent, Æthelberht, converted to the Christian faith by 601. Somewhat later still, the Irish monks from Iona began to evangelise the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria with the support of its king, Christian convert Edwin (r. 616-634), founding a missionary base on the island of Lindisfarne in 635. The most famous representative of the Irish mission was Aidan. In 664, the two "sides" (Roman and Irish) met at the Synod of Whitby to agree common customs for the English church. It was agreed that they would follow the Roman customs which, in their understanding, enjoyed the patronage of St Peter. Many northern saints such as Chad and Wilfrid were involved in Christianising the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms such as Mercia (Midlands) and Sussex (south coast).
As Christianity became established in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (sometimes referred to as the "heptarchy"), in the 700s, along the lines of the earlier Irish missions associated with Columba and Iona, an Anglo-Saxon missionary movement began from England to the continent of Europe. A major aspect of this movement was the aim to reach their still-pagan Germanic ancestors. Prominent representatives of this movement included Willibrord (evangelised Frisians), and Wynfreth aka Boniface ("Apostle of Germany"). This was also the age of the Venerable Bede, an Anglo-Saxon scholar at Jarrow, who wrote the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" as well as translating some of the New Testament into Old English.
A little later, as the Kingdom of the Franks grew in power and territory, Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin was appointed head of the academy at Aachen, capital of Frankish kingdom of Charles the Great.
Sources
Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English people.Gildas, "The Ruin and Conquest of Britain"
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