Roman Kent

Index

Richborough Castle
Roman Roads
Roman Lighthouse
Roman Painted House

Richborough Castle (Kent)

Although now 2 miles from the sea amid the marshes of east Kent, Richborough Castle was arguably the Romans main entry point when they invaded Britain in circa AD 43. They established a bridgehead and commemorated their success by building a triumphal arch whose cross shaped foundations still survive at the site which is now looked after by English Heritage.

According to the English Heritage Web site Roman Britain was under attack by Saxon and other raiders in the 3rd Century and it became necessary to fortify the once-prosperous commercial port of Rutupiae. Triple ditches and ramparts were dug (still visible round the site of the arch Richborough Castle) although the defenses were completely revamped after a decade or so and Richborough was provided with its circuit of towered stone walls and outer ditches, becoming one of the most important of the Saxon shore forts.

Richborough Castle was one of the last to be regularly occupied and there is evidence of a large Roman population here in the early 5th century, some of them worshipping in the Early Christian church discovered in a corner of the fort.

Roman Roads in Kent

There are many Roman roads in Kent. They were constructed between approximately AD 50 and AD 400, in order to facilitate trade and military traffic between the different regions of Roman Britain. The most notable of these is Watling Street (also known as Stone Street) which runs from Lympne to Canterbury and also Inter III from Dover to London which follows the route of the current A2.

Map Key
Green = Known path of road
Red = Unknown path of road

Roman Lighthouse (Dover, Kent)

Dover also had a large Roman Presence with a lighthouse and a Roman painted house. The two lighthouses, each called the Pharos, were built soon after the Roman conquest. They were sited on the two heights (Eastern Heights and Western Heights). The one on the Eastern Heights still stands in the grounds of Dover Castle to 80 foot (24 m) high close to its original height, and has been adapted for use as the bell tower of the adjacent castle church of St Mary de Castro.

What little remains of the western lighthouse is called the Bredenstone or the Devil's Drop of Mortar after the putative nearby lost village of Braddon, within Drop Redoubt on Dover Western Heights - it was covered in the 18th century building works but then rediscovered in fresh works in the 1860s, and was the traditional site of the investiture of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Roman Painted House (Dover, Kent)

The Roman Painted House is a Roman mansio, a hostel for government officials, which was built in c. 200. It was discovered in 1970 by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit and, as it houses some of the finest example of Roman murals in Britain (over 400 sq. ft. of painted plaster, the most extensive ever found north of the Alps)

Parts of 28 painted panels survive, each with a motif relating to Bacchus, the Roman God of wine. This Bacchic link, and the building's proximity to the baths, port and fort, has been said by some to suggest that the Painted House was once a brothel. However, this is entirely circumstantial evidence (frescos in brothels tended to be more explicit, as in those at Pompeii, and Bacchic motifs are very commonly found in simply domestic areas) and so most academics believe the rooms are too small to have supported this line of work and instead support its designation as a mansio.

Other features of the Painted House include the Dover Gems, a medieval cut in the floor allowing the hypocaust system to be viewed and a medieval skeleton found in the nearby St Martin-le-Grand church, nicknamed "Fred" by the

Links To Other Websites:

Dover Museum

Richborough Roman Fort

Roman Painted House

Romans in Lympne