R I C H BO ROUG H C A STLE Y - ' - F ' F B HE O . S . A . B . U S J , ' R F A I M T FOR GLA IN S ECTO O NC ENT MONU EN S E N N D . LONDON ' 'RINTE D AND 'U B LI SHED B Y HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S THE SITE HI STORY . THE F ORT THE C O NCRETE F OU NDATION S W ITHIN THE WALLS OTHER B U ILDIN GS WITHIN THE WALLS THE AREA OU TSIDE THE F ORT AM 'HITHEATRE THE CEM ETERY THE M U SE UM R IC HB OR OUGH CASTLE — E H . l . T SITE HE Roman fort of Rutupiae , now known as Richborough about mile and of I Castle , lies a a half north Sandwich and is situated on an undulating hill which rises to a height of to about 50 feet above the marsh . In order form an idea Of the appearance of the site in Roman times , it is necessary to trans m ' for in one s mind the whole of the surrounding marsh into sea , with the Isle of Thanet rising from it to the north and the , mainland stretching away to the west and south . Rutupiae would have been separated entirely from the main land at high tide by a narrow strip of sea and at low tide by a sandy creek across which the Romans must have constructed a . either a bridge or causew y Where this was situated is uncertain , but it was probably at the narrowest point to the west of the l . Island , a ittle to the south of the modern road The line of the a to Durovernum r Rom n road from here onwards , the mode n a ran Canterbury , c nnot now be traced , but that it across country in a practically straight line in accordance with the usual Roman two of practice may be assumed , and the first or three miles the Canterbury—Sandwi ch Road after leaving Canterbury may n have formed part of it . The site was also co nected with Dubris (Dover) in Roman times by a road which ran through n Wood esborough and Eastry . The harbour of Rutupiae would have been very accessible for of ri for the light draft ships the pe od , and good shelter them could - have been found to the nort h or south west . The geographical pos ition of the site made it eminently suitable as a port for ship h ping plying between t is country and the Continent , and as such it was undoubtedly used during the whole period of the Roman occupation . 7008 W t 1 0084 500 1 000 arrow ( ) . / H 6 RICHBOROUGH CASTLE 2 — S O Y , HI T R . e a Rutupiae is m ntioned many times by Rom n writers , and it would appear that the whole of this part of the coast was known Rutu ine one s i as the p Shore , as of the earlie t references , dat ng 9 — 8 1 1 7 A . D from the reign of Traj an . , mentions the oysters i ri from that local ty (the B tish oysters , Pliny states , were held in in high esteem at Rome) . Ptolemy his geography, compiled in r al o f th e a the fi st h f second century, states that Rutupi e , with an n of Cantii London and C terbury , were tow s the , a tribe which ' inh abited the district roughly corresponding to ent . In the to Antonine Itinerary , believed have been compiled in the second D . r A . Fo century , it is called a port or haven the fourth century i an there are some st ll more definite references . Ammi us Marcelli nus states that Julian despatched the general Lupicinus to Britain 359 in to repel the Picts and Scots , and that he embarked from e Boulogne with a fleet and landed at Rutupiae , which he describ d a an d al s a safe quiet station . The same writer so tells us that ' an of other general , Theodosius , the father of the Emperor that a 368 m name , entered the country by the s me route in , in the ti e of ' a ' on t o the Emperors alentini n and alens , when his way quell a rising of the northern tribes and at the same time to protect, the country against the inroads of the Saxons and Franks on th e south coast . The above are the m oSt important references to the site by classical writers and from them and the objects discovered on the is an its site it possible to restore outline , at any rate , of history and the great events with which it was associated . Rutu ine The p shore is mentioned as early as the first century , and that the town itself was occupied at that period is clearly a shown by the coins , pottery and other datable rticles that have been found . It is probable that it was inhabited before the Roman a 3 t AD . 4 as o inv sion under Claudius in , a few pieces of p t ery of - pre Roman native technique have been recovered from the site . of There is at present , however , little evidence an extensive - f r 1 00 A D . 70 . o occupation before the period , which there are an is m y remains , and it more than probable that Rutupiae was used as one of the main ports for the disembarking of troops and supplies in connection with the great military Operations that were carried out during that period in the west and north , when the tribes in Wales were subdued and the general Agricola made his expedition into Scotland . HISTORY 7 Durin g the second and part of the third centuries it probably as a served one of the chief commerci l ports of this country , the greater part of the trade with the Continent passing through it . an Carausius m a Maximian M y coins of , the Ad ir l of the Emperor , who with the aid of his fleet and the Legionaries in this country A 286 e i a D . set h mself up as Emperor in Brit in in , have be n found on the site and Show that it was used to a large extent during his time an d was probably the harbour for his fleet as well Allectus 293—296 AD as that of his successor , whose coins are also ea plentiful . In the rly part of its existence as a Roman port it unfortified as may well have been , the British tribes on the adj acent mainland had been entirely subdued soon after the a and was no a Roman inv sion , there fe r of an attack from the sea di al at that period . Later , however , the con tions tered , the sea a a a f ring Saxons from the e st became constant source of danger , and t o protect the country from their raids a chain of forts was titia a . N o constructed long the coast The , a document showing a ' the distribution of the troops ll over the Empire , the British section of which is believed to depict the organisation of the fourth c d entury , states that these forts were under the comman of the Count of the Saxon Shore and were placed at intervals along the coast from Brancaster on the north of Norfolk to Porchester near Portsmouth . One of these was Rutupiae , which , together with that m an ai whose ruins are still to be seen at Reculver , com ded the str ts ai between the Isle of Thanet and the m nland . When these forts c ai were onstructed is uncert n , but they probably date from the a latter h lf of the third century . The passages already referred to show that towards the end of the fourth century Rutupiae was the port at which reinforce ments brought from the Continent for the army of Britain were la N otit'ia nded . The states that it was garrisoned by the Second ai A D . Legion . This Legion came to Brit n in the first century . , and remained in the country until the close of the Roman occu t f pa iou . Its headquarters during the greater part o the time appear to have been at Caerleon in South Wales . The garrison was therefore stronger than that of the other forts under the two command of the Count of the Saxon Shore . These facts , a e t ken togeth r , indicate that at this period Rutupiae was the chief military port of Britain and the headquarters of the naval s defence of the province . so of This harbour , intimately connected with the early years the Roman occupation of Britain and their soj ourn here for over 350 a n one a b years , must lso have bee of the l st places occupied v 8 RICHBOROUGH CASTLE them , and must have been largely used during their gradual evacuation of the country . Magnus Maximus , proclaimed Emperor in Britain in 383 and styled by the poet Ausonius the Rutu ine n 0 0 p Robber , took ma y of the best tr ps from this country to the Continent and with th eir help made himself eventually a w . as m ster of the Western Roman Empire He , however , at as N l t defeated in orthern Ital' by the Eastern Army , and few if any of his troops could ever have returned to this country In consequence the depleted garrisons on the North British frontier and the east coast were hard pressed in defending themselves a ag inst the Picts , Scots and Saxons , but at the very end Of the — fourth century the general Stilicho if the poet Claudian is to be —' t to believed succeeded in res oring security the country .