Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Numerous finds have been made across Dover throughout the 19th and 20th century which may be interpreted as forming part of the Roman Harbour at Dover, the evidence includes structural, artefactual and environmental remains. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information).

Monument Types

• BREAKWATER (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• JETTY (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• PIER (PIER, Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• QUAY (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• BOWL (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• SHERD (Roman - 101 AD? to 199 AD?)

Full description

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Numerous finds have been made across Dover throughout the 19th and 20th century which may be interpreted as forming part of the Roman Harbour at Dover, the evidence includes structural, artefactual and environmental remains.

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)

Further evidence that the site was a harbour area associated with Roman finds, was obtained in 1955-6, during excavations undertaken by the ministry of works at a site off Castle Street. Two timber and chalk structures were located, 15.2m from each other. One of these consisted of a line of timber piles standing to a maximum height of 2m, each 1.2m apart on a north-south axis, these have been interpreted as a quay. The other consisted of a single plank facing holding in place a chalk platform against the steeply sloping natural bank of the river Dour. The platform was 2.1m wide and stood 1.8m above the sub soil, level with the top of the timber piles. This chalk platform appears to have been surmounted by timber staging and planking and has been interpreted as a jetty. Excavation of the first structure shows that the basal very compact gravel slopes gradually to east and south, from 1.3m OD near Church Street to -0.7m OD near Castle Street. No direct evidence of a Roman date was uncovered but a secondary layer of Roman debris to the east contained 2nd and 3rd century sherds of pottery. Alongside this a Drag. 37 bowl was found in at this site in silted mud at a depth of 15 ft. Below the rim it has the graffito: IVLLI. The find is now in Dover Museum. (5-6)


Discussion of the Roman Quay/Harbour wall in relation to the Dover Western Docks Revival Scheme (7)

<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, VCH Kent 3 1932 45-6 (R E M Wheeler) (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, JRS 14 1924 241-2 (R G Collingwood & M V Taylor) (Article in serial). SKE32126.

<5> R. P. Wright, 1956, Journal of Roman Studies: Roman Britain in 1955: I. Sites Explored: II. Inscriptions. Vol. 46., JRS 46 1956 146 (Article in serial). SKE32127.

<6> Philip A. Rahtz, 1958, Archaeologia Cantiana, Dover: Stembrook and St. Martin Le Grand. Vol. 72 (Article in serial). SKE31641.

<8> Maritime Archaeology, 2008, Dover Terminal 2 EIA: Historic Environment Baseline Report Volume 1 (Unpublished document). SKE31717.

Sources and further reading

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