A civilian settlement (canabae legionis) was gradually established outside the walls of the fortress; it probably began as a collection of traders who became prosperous from dealing with the fortress. The settlement was administered by an elected council rather than by the legion. As legionaries retired many settled in the canabae legionis, effectively making it a veteran colony. Cemeteries were located alongside the roads leading to the settlement, beyond built-up areas. The Grosvenor Museum has over 150 tombstones, the largest collection of Roman tombstones from a single site in Britain. Most of them were used to repair the north wall in the 4th century. Settlement extended around the fortress to the east, south, and west; shops fronted the roadside for about 300 metres (980 ft) beyond the fortress walls. To the east was the legion's parade ground, civilian baths were built to the west, and to the south was a mansio, a large coaching house for travelling government officials. The buildings of the canabae legionis were originally timber, but during the early 2nd century began to be replaced by stone-built structures. The settlement expanded throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries as the population increased. Once the legion had left, the civilian settlement continued, eventually becoming part of the town of Chester.
Indeed scholars such as Christopher Snyder believe that during the 5th and 6th centuries — approximately from 410 AD when Roman legions withdrew, to 597 AD when St. Augustine of Canterbury arrived — southern Britain preserved a sub-Roman society that was able to survive the attacks from the barbarian Anglo-Saxons and even use a vernacular Latin (called British Romance) for an active culture. There is even the possibility that this vernacular Latin lasted to the late 7th century in the area of Chester, where amphorae and archaeological remnants of a local Romano-British culture at Deva Victrix have been found.
Read more about this topic: Deva Victrix