<P> The early history of Christianity in Britain is highly obscure . Medieval legends concerning the conversion of the island under King Lucius or from a mission by St Philip or Joseph of Arimathea have been discredited ; they seem to have been pious forgeries introduced in attempts to establish independence or seniority in the ecclesiastical hierarchy formalized following the Norman conquest of England and Wales . The first archaeological evidence and credible records showing a community large enough to maintain churches and bishops dates to the 3rd and 4th centuries , but it started from a small base : the British delegation to the 353 Council of Rimini had to beg for financial assistance from its fellows in order to return home . The Romano - British population seem to have been mostly Christian by the Sub-Roman period , although the Great Conspiracy in the 360s and increased raiding around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain saw many enslaved . The Saxon invasions of Britain destroyed most of the formal church as they progressed , replacing it with a form of Germanic polytheism . There seems to have been a lull traditionally attributed to the Battle of Badon but , following the arrival of Justinian 's Plague around 547 , the expansion resumed . By the time Cornwall was subjugated by Wessex at Hingston Down in 838 , however , it was largely left to its native people and practices . </P>
<P> The early history of Christianity in Britain is highly obscure . Medieval legends concerning the conversion of the island under King Lucius or from a mission by St Philip or Joseph of Arimathea have been discredited ; they seem to have been pious forgeries introduced in attempts to establish independence or seniority in the ecclesiastical hierarchy formalized following the Norman conquest of England and Wales . The first archaeological evidence and credible records showing a community large enough to maintain churches and bishops dates to the 3rd and 4th centuries , but it started from a small base : the British delegation to the 353 Council of Rimini had to beg for financial assistance from its fellows in order to return home . The Romano - British population seem to have been mostly Christian by the Sub-Roman period , although the Great Conspiracy in the 360s and increased raiding around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain saw many enslaved . The Saxon invasions of Britain destroyed most of the formal church as they progressed , replacing it with a form of Germanic polytheism . There seems to have been a lull traditionally attributed to the Battle of Badon but , following the arrival of Justinian 's Plague around 547 , the expansion resumed . By the time Cornwall was subjugated by Wessex at Hingston Down in 838 , however , it was largely left to its native people and practices . </P>
when did christianity come to the british isles
when did christianity come to the british isles
3rd and 4th centuries
3rd and 4th centuries