Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit a building, a substantial Roman building consisting of 6 main rooms was uncovered lying on an east-west axis. This structure is today known as the ‘Painted House’ due to the vast quantity of painted wall plaster which was located, largely in situ, in association with it. The uncovered remains remain open to the public for viewing. Rooms 5 and 6, were two interconnecting rooms which were located at the western end of the complex. They had been heavily damaged by later activity at the site, and the greater parts of both of them had been destroyed by the excavation of the west ditch of the late Roman Saxon Shore Fort. Small sections of the east, south and north walls of room five survived, while only the eastern wall of room six remained. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WALL (Walls of rooms 5 and 6 of C9, Roman - 200 AD to 270 AD?)
• Wall Foundation (Foundations of structure C9, Roman - 200 AD to 330 AD?)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

(summarised from publication)

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit a building, a substantial Roman building consisting of 6 main rooms was uncovered lying on an east-west axis. This structure is today known as the ‘Painted House’ due to the vast quantity of painted wall plaster which was located, largely in situ, in association with it. The uncovered remains remain open to the public for viewing. Rooms 5 and 6, were two interconnecting rooms which were located at the western end of the complex. They had been heavily damaged by later activity at the site, and the greater parts of both of them had been destroyed by the excavation of the west ditch of the late Roman Saxon Shore Fort. Small sections of the east, south and north walls of room five survived, while only the eastern wall of room six remained.

The estimated minimum internal dimensions of these rooms are 9.2m (E-W) by 6.12m (N-S) for room 5 and 4.5mm (E-W) by 3.86m (N-S) for room 6. The northern end of the east wall of room 5 appears to butt the earlier tufa block building. It is likely that this room (and in fact the whole range) may have been a subsequent addition to the tufa block structure, and, despite having differing construction dates, may have been standing at the same time. The eastern wall of room 6 stood to a height of 60cm while short sections of north east and south east corners of room five stood 3-4 courses high. All were constructed of coursed flints set in a hard white mortar. The walls sat upon wall footings of flint which were 30-60cm high and slightly wider than the walls (60cm - 70cm wide whereas the walls were a maximum of 60cm). The wall footings were in turn positioned upon a set of broad foundations which consisted of flint rubble with a few fragments of tufa and chalk, 70-80cm wide and 30cm deep. Traces of the opus signinum floor were located in both rooms; there was a small section along the eastern side of room 6 and another in the north eastern corner of room 5. There was no underlying hypocaust in room 6 and the hypocaust beneath room 5 had been heavily damaged by the later construction. (1)

<1> Philp, B, 1989, The Roman House with Bacchic Murals at Dover (Monograph). SKE24004.

Sources and further reading

Related records