352.] Of the smaller local organizations, little can be said.

Towns existed, but many of them were the tribal capitals mentioned in the last paragraph, and these, as I have said, were doubtless ruled by the magistrates of the tribes.

It is idle to guess who administered the towns that were not such capitals or who controlled the various villages scattered through the country.

Nor can we pretend to know much more about the size and character of the estates which corresponded to the country-houses and farms of which remains survive.

The 'villa' system of demesne farms and serfs or _coloni_[1] which obtained elsewhere was doubtless familiar in Britain; indeed, the Theodosian Code definitely refers to British _coloni_.[2] But whether it was the only rural system in Britain is beyond proof, and previous attempts to work out the problem have done little more than demonstrate the fact.[3] It is quite possible that here, or indeed in any province, other forms of estates and of land tenure may have existed beside the predominant villa.[4] The one thing needed is evidence.