The Saxon Shore (litus Saxonicum) was a military command consisting of fortifications built on both sides of the English Channel, which were established in the late 3rd century AD to defend Britain against the incursion of Saxon raiders. Its nine English forts are mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum, a document that details the administrative organisation of the late Roman Empire. Over this and next month’s column, I will visit each of these forts in turn, from the exposed north Norfolk coast to the shelter of Portsmouth harbour. Current Archaeology has covered all nine sites over the years, but as CA 182 (November 2002) notes, ‘archaeology provides an incomplete record, and in the case of the shore forts, the gaps in the evidence are chasms’. This is perhaps why there has never been a comprehensive survey of these sites in Current Archaeology, and why there is no straightforward starting point for this column. Nonetheless, I will flag three interesting articles to commence with: CA 275 (February 2013) on North Sea coastal communities, CA 332 (November 2017) on the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of the Fens, and CA 336 (March 2018) on how the Roman military shaped industrial infrastructure in Britain, all of which refer to the workings of the Saxon Shore. What these articles reveal is more than just the history of each fort in isolation, but rather a palimpsest that includes the local farming communities that supplied them, the troops who garrisoned them, and what finds from these sites reveal about changes in late Roman society.
Branodunum, Brancaster, Norfolk
Branodunum lies to the east of the modern village of Brancaster, halfway between Hunstanton and Burnham Market. The fort was built to guard the Wash approaches, and during the Roman period its northern wall lay directly on the seashore, which served as a harbour; since then, the shoreline has shifted, and the fort now lies inland of salt marshes. The site has been subject to periodic investigation, including by Time Team in 2012, who carried out ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys. Producing one of the great ‘wow’ moments of the television show, these revealed a wealth of detail about its layout (see CA 276, March 2013). What is especially interesting about the site is that it has been studied both inside and out, including explorations of the civilian settlement immediately beyond its east gate, as reported in CA 44 (May 1974), which showed the community’s complete layout down to individual house plots. Later evidence for settlement has also been found there, including during the Anglo-Saxon era, as was reported in CA 85 (December 1982), and – as will become a pattern across this column – this is usefully compared to other settlements both near and far away, such as the early medieval village at Dunston’s Clump, near Babworth, Nottinghamshire. Closer to home, CA 211 (September 2007) suggested links between the fort and the Roman villa at Gayton Thorpe near King’s Lynn (perhaps as a supplier of grain and other materials), 32km (20 miles) south along the Icknield Way. The larger context of these Roman Fenlands is examined in CA 295 (October 2014): was this in fact one great imperial estate, with the farmsteads and the forts inexorably interlinked and the roads, rivers, and canals shipping grain, salt, and other commodities to military distribution centres like Brancaster? The magazine has over the years flagged finds, too, that show the shifting cultures of these forts – notably, from Brancaster, a 4th-century ring bearing a Christian inscription which was reported in CA 284 (November 2013).
Gariannonum, Burgh Castle/Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk
Gariannonum has been identified as either Burgh Castle on the River Waveney, located just before its confluence with the River Yare to the west of Great Yarmouth, or at Caister-on-Sea, 9km (6 miles) away at the mouth of the River Bure to the north of Great Yarmouth. During the Roman period, the sites lay on opposite shores of a large estuary, the modern remnant of which is Breydon Water. The significance of landscape- and seascape-change in this area since the Roman era is crucial to our understanding of both sites: as the map in CA 270 (September 2012, p.32) demonstrates, the ‘great estuary’ of the River Yare made water transport around this area the easiest option, including travel inland to the major local town of Venta Icenorum/Caistor St Edmund. This last site, just to the south of modern-day Norwich, was the capital of the Iceni people. Its interior is explored in CA 270 (September 2012); see also CA 344 (November 2018), CA 356 (November 2019), CA 380 (November 2021), CA 393 (December 2022), CA 406 (January 2024), and CA 419 (February 2025), as well as next month’s issue, for coverage of more recent work outside the settlement’s walls. Both Burgh Castle and Caister-on-Sea have been investigated since the 1950s, revealing a range of finds that indicate their high-status interconnections: for example, a collection of late Roman glass from Burgh Castle, which was reported in CA 186 (June 2003).
Riches from the sea