The remains of a Roman villa, and traces of pottery, brick, and tile manufacture have been found in the village. The villa and any factory would have been supported by its own extensive farmlands, worked by both freemen and slaves. Their homes would have in themselves formed a village. The local Roman regional capital was a short way up-river, south of Norwich. The mouth of the Yare was protected by huge fortifications, built as part of the Saxon Shore defences.
Burgh Castle is one of the most impressively preserved Roman military buildings.
But of course the Anglo Saxons did take over in the end. With their settlement, probably complete by the end of the 5th century, the story of Brundall really began. From the Yare their longships could sail to any part of the new Kingdom of East Anglia, and far beyond. It was from a hunting lodge at Reedham, his centre a few miles downstream from Brundall, that King Edmund marched against the Viking marauders- a march ending in his defeat and ultimate canonisation. Brundall had grown into a thriving village by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086.