Following on from last month’s column, here I continue my survey of the Saxon Shore forts of south-east England: a series of fortifications on both sides of the English Channel thatwere established in the late 3rd century AD to defend Britain against the incursions of Saxon raiders. In CA 433, I visited the four northerly sites – this month I complete the set with their five southerly counterparts.
Rutupiae, Richborough, Kent
Rutupiae is situated in Richborough, near Sandwich, originally positioned near a large natural harbour in the Wantsum Channel and the mouth of the River Stour, although the site is now 4km (2.5 miles) inland of the current coastline. It is part of a larger Roman town that developed around the port before evolving into the later shore fort. As at nearby Reculver, Richborough’s significance means it has been investigated from the 1920s onwards, most recently in the early 2000s. Its earliest mention in Current Archaeology is an intriguing one: CA 3 (July 1967) reported on two temples of the Romano-Celtic type that were deliberately destroyed there in the mid-4th century AD – evidence perhaps of the arrival of Christianity (an event that is possibly also expressed through gentler means at Brancaster fort in Norfolk where, we noted last month, a 4th-century ring bearing a Christian inscription was found).
Richborough was, like Reculver, well placed to connect along the Wantsum Channel with its wealthy farming hinterland at sites like the villa at Minster-in-Thanet (CA 193, August 2004), and it is the only one of the nine forts to have received in-depth analysis by Current Archaeology. CA 257 (August 2011), visiting at the time of a survey, shows it to have been a thriving port town by the 2nd century AD, which had its own amphitheatre sited within a comprehensive city grid, and CA 382 (January 2022) followed up on this, reporting on finds from the amphitheatre itself. Another marker of Richborough’s wealth and prominence comes in a piece from CA 386 (May 2022) on Roman triumphal arches: the site is home to one of only two such constructions known in the country, which was built around AD 85. (The other arch is from early 3rd-century London.) Most recently, CA 399 (June 2023) returned to see the fruits of this research come together in the then-recently reinterpreted site and new museum, making Richborough the undoubted star of the Saxon Shore.
