Since Britain has been inhabited for hundreds of thousands of years, it is not possible to know exactly which is Britain's oldest settlement.

Bones and flint tools found near Happisburgh in Norfolk, and Pakefield in Suffolk, show that humans were living in Britain 700,000 years ago. At this time Britain was still connected to the European mainland by a land bridge and so ancient peoples were able to easily make their way over to Britain.

A river which no longer exists, but of which archaeological evidence has been found, has been named by archaeologists as "Bytham River", and it ran through the English Midlands until about 450,000 years ago. It is thought that the course of this river is the route into Britain that the first settlers took. There are remains of Lower Palaeolithic sites along the course of the former river, at Warren Hill, Lakenheath, Hengrave, and other places, so perhaps one of these is Britain's oldest settlement.