Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During extensive rescue excavations undertaken across Dover’s Town centre by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, sections of all four walls of the Classis Britannica were located and recorded. A section of the south wall was revealed when site clearance on the line of the York Street Bypass was undertaken in 1971. Further investigation revealed that the whole of the south east corner of the fort survived to a maximum height of 1.29m and it was traced across the site for a total of 24m. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WALL (CLBR Fort Wall, Roman - 125 AD to 210 AD)

Full description

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(Summarised from publications)

During extensive rescue excavations undertaken across Dover’s Town centre by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, sections of all four walls of the Classis Britannica were located and recorded. A section of the south wall was revealed when site clearance on the line of the York Street Bypass was undertaken in 1971. Further investigation revealed that the whole of the south east corner of the fort survived to a maximum height of 1.29m and it was traced across the site for a total of 24m.

The wall was constructed with a chalk rubble core, well coursed chalk blocks on the internal face. The external face of the south and east walls were constructed differently, the east consisted of alternating courses of tufa and chalk blocks while the south external face was of alternating courses of flint and tufa blocks, with very little chalk. Close examination of the corner of the wall revealed that a section 14m of chalk block walling had been inserted at a later date. This may represent a repair or, more probably, that this section was left open for easy access during the completion of the rest of the walls.

Overall the Dover town centre excavation in the 1970’s and 1980’s revealed 79m of the CLBR fort walls with three reasonably clear corners and sections of all four sides. This produces a quadrilateral plan for the fort measuring 109m by 92m with its long axis roughly north south. (1)

<1> Philp, B. J., 1981, The Excavation of the Roman Forts of the Classis Britannica at Dover 1970-1977 (Monograph). SKE7863.

Sources and further reading

Related records