IT may be more than 1600 years since the Romans ruled Britain, but these young Caesars turned back history as they put on a fearsome display.

These Year three and four pupils from Winscombe Primary School were visited by legionnaires ‘Marcus’ and ‘Octavius’ (in reality Jason Ashton and Bob Gibbons from Cosmo Productions), who taught them how to fight like Romans.

In an action-packed day, the pupils were taught how to form a tortoise formation with the shields they had made in class, fire a ballista, make mosaics, and even trade gold for their teacher, who was a slave for the day.

Teacher Indira Mistry said: “The children really enjoyed the whole day; it really allowed them to get an understanding of the Roman way of life, and I think they especially enjoyed showing off their formation to the parents at the end of the day.”