Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During the excavation of a Gasometer pit near Dolphin Lane in Dover between 1855 and 1856, a large timber feature was uncovered at a depth of approximately 6m from the surface. This feature was associated with tidal deposits and has been interpreted as a possible breakwater for the Roman Harbour. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BREAKWATER (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD?)

Full description

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During the excavation of a gasometer pit, 130 yards east of the Market Square, Dover, in 1855-6, it was found that at a depth of 20 feet, the whole area – 100 feet in diameter - was crossed by a framework of large oak timbers. There were two timber walls running east-west across the pit, and the eastern end was slightly wider and higher than the western end. These walls were each composed of four very large oak beams placed one above the other forming a solid wall four feet high and braced at 11 foot intervals by transverse beams. The whole of the interior of the framework was packed with shingle which was not otherwise found at the site. The full extent of the structure was not revealed as no further investigation was undertaken. It was embedded on its north side in ‘bog earth’ or alluvium, which contained numerous finds of a Roman date, and on its southern side in sand. Located in close proximity to the structure were groins, warping gear, hawser rings, and other remains of a rough mariner's craft. (1-3)

The area occupied by the gasometer was later used as the East Kent Motor Car Garage and in 1924 a series of discoveries were made when a series of pits, 5.2m deep, were been sunk for the piers of the new garage. These piers were between St James' Street, Dolphin Lane and Phoenix Lane and Fecton's Place. Riverine sand, bits of tufa, lumps of chalk and Samian were found in the southerly pit. In the two most northerly pits on the west side was silt with flints, tufa, peat, chalk and a fragment of a Samian bowl of shape 37, probably from east Gaul and of the early second century. This area once formed part of the Roman harbour. (4)

<1> The Rev. Canon Puckle., 1893, Archaeologia Cantiana: Vestiges of Roman Dover Vol. 20 (Article in serial). SKE31794.

<2> Page, W. (ed), 1932, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Kent Volume III (Monograph). SKE7810.

<3> E. G. J. Amos and R. E. M. Wheeler, 1929, Archaeological journal: The Saxon Shore fortress at Dover Vol. 86 (Article in serial). SKE31895.

<4> R. G. Collingwood, 1924, Journal of Roman Studies: Roman Britain in 1924. Vol. 14 (Article in serial). SKE32126.

Sources and further reading

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