At the most fundamental institutional level, we inherited the idea of a legal code, conceived in terms of a science with objective standards to appeal to. Eventually, this would be summed up in the body of civil law instituted by the emperor Justinian (he reigned in the sixth century, after the Roman withdrawal from Britain). This took the place of the tyrannical and chaotic methods of redress that Britons had previously lived with, under which tribal leaders issued rulings as they saw fit, and at the lower level individuals took responsibility for sorting out their own grievances as well as they could.

A measure of systematic efficiency had transformed everyday transactions when standard units of measurement – the imperial system that became our feet and inches, pounds and ounces – became the yardsticks of commercial exchange. The long, straight roads that connected major towns made travel both quicker and safer. You might be interested to learn that when Roman horse-drawn vehicles travelled on the roads, they drove on the left-hand side.

The numerous old systems of measuring time by the seasons were replaced by the Julian calendar of 365 days, with its (initially) ten months of the year named after Roman deities, plus two emperors – July for Julius Caesar, and August for Augustus. There was now a week with seven days, named after the planets, including the sun and moon.

The wider spread of literacy introduced a written culture where previously most communication was carried on verbally. And the native language itself absorbed a whole host of Latin borrowings, laying one of the major foundation-stones of the language we all speak today. Inscriptions on papyrus scrolls were eventually replaced by books with separate pages, more or less in the form familiar to us now.

Hygiene improved immeasurably with the introduction of hot-water bathing, not to mention basic but highly efficient sewage systems. The hypocaust – a means of underfloor heating based on the circulation of hot air from furnaces – made the homes of those who could afford it much more comfortable, and may be seen as the origin of modern-day central heating.

Architecture was transformed, as the classical technique of building on rectangular principles came in, replacing the haphazardly constructed dwellings of the native people. The crafts of brickmaking and glassblowing made new materials available.

The diet of ordinary people was broadened and made healthier with the introduction of a whole host of new fruit and vegetable crops, including apples and pears, carrots, leeks and turnips. The domestic fowl took its place in farmsteads alongside the pigs and goats traditionally kept, bringing chicken into the diet. Although grapes for winemaking didn’t appear to thrive in English soil at this stage in the nation’s history, the trade in wine was firmly established on foundations that would eventually lead Britain to become the world’s premier wine merchant.

When the emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Empire in the late fourth century AD, the then relatively young religion gained a foothold among the people, largely replacing the patchwork of pagan belief systems that had been practised up until then.

And if religion, law, measurements, roads and an extended diet weren’t enough, the Romans also introduced the sweet chestnut tree, ensuring that in centuries to come, we would have something to stuff the Christmas turkey with (once the turkey itself had arrived from the Americas, that is).