Richborough Castle is a Roman Saxon Shore fort better known as Richborough Roman Fort. It is situated in Richborough near

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Substantial remains of the massive fort walls still stand to a height of several metres. It is part of a larger Roman town called Rutupiae or Portus Ritupis that developed around the fort and the associated port. The settlement was founded after the

Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...

in AD 43. Because of its position near to a large natural harbour in the

Wantsum Channel The Wantsum Channel was a strait separating the Isle of Thanet from the north-eastern extremity of the English county of Kent and connecting the English Channel and the Thames Estuary. It was a major shipping route when Britain was part of the R ...

and to the mouth of the Stour, Rutupiae served as a main gateway to Roman Britain and the starting point for the road now known as

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

. The site is now miles inland from the current coastline. Earth fortifications were first dug on the site in the 1st century, probably for a storage depot and bridgehead for the Roman army. The site expanded into a major civilian and commercial town, and the stone Saxon Shore fort was added around the year 277. The later fort is believed to have been constructed by the rebel

Carausius Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and ...

.White, Donald. Litus Saxonicum; The British Saxon Shore in Scholarship and History, page 36. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin for Dept. of History, University of Wisconsin, 1961. The site is now under the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Etymology

The meaning of the name ''Rutupiae'' is uncertain, although the first element may derive from the British Celtic *''rutu-'' meaning "rust; mud" (cf. Welsh ''rhwd''). An alternative attested name for the fort, ''Ritupiae'', may represent a clearer British form, containing the word *''ritus'' "ford" (Welsh ''rhyd''), referring to a crossing point between the then island and the mainland. The meaning of the ''-piae'' element remains unknown.

History

Roman Invasion

Richborough was probably the landing site for the Claudian

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

in 43 AD as the first defensive barrier dating from this period has been discovered at the site in the form of twin V-shaped ditches of at least 650 m length and parallel to the Roman coastline. These would have protected the invasion beachhead and supply depot. The crossing would have exploited one of the shortest routes over the English Channel. However, other explicit details on the site of the Claudian invasion have not survived and its location is a matter of scholarly debate. In Roman times the broad

separated the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in a ...

from mainland Britain and Rutupiae is thought to have guarded the channel.

Civilian town

Richborough was a military port and supply base. For most of the period of Roman rule it was the main port of entry for imports into Britain. The town was widely regarded throughout the Roman Empire for the quality of its

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

s. They are mentioned as on a par with those from the Italian Lucrine Lake in

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

. "Rutupine shore" was used as a common

metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...

for Britain in Latin writers.

Triumphal arch

A major quadrifrons

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

, one of the biggest in the Roman Empire, was erected in about AD 85 straddling Watling Street, the main road from Richborough to London. Its position and size suggest it may have been built to celebrate the final conquest of Britain after Agricola's victory at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Almost high, it had a façade of high-quality Italian granite and was adorned with sculptures and inscriptions, and must have been built by the Emperor. Standing as it did between the port and the province, passage through the arch signified formal entry into ''

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

'' (cf the similarly maritime Arch of Trajan at

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

in Italy). Only the foundations and mound of the Richborough arch are still visible. It was demolished by the Romans themselves, apparently to provide building materials for the later Saxon Shore fort on the site.

Saxon Shore fort

During the late 3rd century this (by now large) civilian town was re-militarised by the conversion of part of it into a so-called Saxon Shore fort, a series of forts built by the Romans along the Channel on the English and French coasts possibly to guard against invading Saxon pirates. Construction of the fort here is believed to have started in 277 and been completed in 285. This involved the demolition and reuse as spolia of the triumphal arch, and

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

evidence suggests it occurred during the reign of

. The fort was in area and was surrounded by massive walls, forming an almost perfect square. However, the north and south walls were constructed differently. The north wall was built by separate gangs of labourers, while the south wall seems to have been built as a single unit, suggesting that the north wall was built after the south wall. In some places, the walls reached over 25 feet (8 m) in height, and were built of small ashlar and double-tile courses. The main entrance of the fort was in the west wall. The walls stand to a great height and were of such high quality that they only recently needed repointing. In the interior of the fort most buildings were of timber though some were stone. A stone central rectangular building was probably the principia (headquarters) and there were also small, stone-built baths.

Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre has been visible as a hummock, roughly a 5 minutes' walk from the main site. It had a capacity of 5000 spectators. Excavations in 2021 have revealed that the amphitheatre and the settlement are likely to have continued in use from the invasion to the end of Roman rule in the early 5th century. The arena walls used chalk block from local quarries and were plastered and painted vivid red and blue, the first for any Roman amphitheatre in Britain. A ''carcer'', or cell, with walls almost 2 m high, used to hold wild animals, criminals or gladiators before entry in the arena was also found.

Church at Richborough

There exists an unexplained structure at Richborough that is believed to be a font. Today, this structure is almost entirely destroyed. The hexagonal font discovered during the excavations at Richborough suggests that baptisms could have been a function of this church. The church was probably built at the end of the 4th century or at the beginning of the 5th century. It seems plausible that the church was built of wood.

Roman withdrawal

During the decline of the Roman Empire, Richborough was eventually abandoned by the Romans and the site was later occupied by a Saxon religious settlement.

Excavations

In 1849 excavations on the amphitheatre discovered a skeleton suggesting the site later became a cemetery. Excavations continued in 1900. Further major excavations were made in 1922-38 by J.P. Bushe-Fox. Excavations carried out in late 2008 of a section of Roman wall uncovered the original Roman coastline along with the remains of a medieval dock. The discovery and excavation of the beach itself has pinpointed its geographical relationship to the site's earthworks, proving that the earthworks were a beachhead defence, protecting around of coast. Excavations from 2021 have focussed on the amphitheatre situated 300 m south west of the fort, where unique painted walls have been found.

New buildings

In 2023 a replica wooden Roman gateway was built near the centre of the Roman fort, on the precise site of the Claudian gateway of 43 AD. From the top of the structure there are views all round the surrounding walls, and in good weather as far afield as

Reculver Reculver is a village and coastal resort about east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. It is in the Wards of the United Kingdom, ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent. Reculver once o ...

to the north, the site of Regulbium, another Roman Saxon Shore fort. In addition, the on-site museum has been refurbished to display some of the many finds from Richborough, a location which saw both the very beginning and the very end of Roman rule in Britain.

In popular culture

The American Russell Hoban repurposed Richborough Castle as "Roaming Rune" (alluding to its Roman origins) in his 1980, post-apocalyptic novel '' Riddley Walker''.

References

External links

Richborough Roman Fort page at English Heritage'Gateway to Britannia'
on Google Arts & Culture {{DEFAULTSORT:RICHBOROUGH CASTLE Ancient Roman triumphal arches Archaeological sites in Kent Buildings and structures in Kent Dover District English Heritage sites in Kent Roman fortifications in England Roman towns and cities in England Saxon Shore forts 40s establishments in the Roman Empire Populated places established in the 1st century Grade I listed buildings in Kent Former populated places in Kent 1st-century establishments in Roman Britain Ruins in Kent Roman auxiliary forts in England