The history

From AD 43 to today

The Roman invasion, the early and later forts, Carausius, the Count of the Saxon Shore, the end of Roman Britain, and the forts’ long lives afterwards.

Jump to: Before the forts | The early forts | The later forts | Carausius and Allectus | The Count of the Saxon Shore | Raids and the end of Roman Britain | After the Romans | Later centuries | Today | For teachers

Before the forts

The invading Roman army first came ashore at Richborough in AD 43. English Heritage: Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre It is widely believed that Emperor Claudius’s invasion force of 40,000 men landed at Richborough in AD 43. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre

In Roman times Richborough was a small island; today it is 2 miles inland. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre Richborough stood at the southern end of the Wantsum Channel, which then divided the Isle of Thanet from Kent. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre

The port town at Richborough was known across the Roman world as Rutupiae. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre Richborough saw over 360 years of Roman rule. English Heritage: Richborough Roman Fort, history and stories

English Heritage’s page on the arch says the Romans built it in around AD 90. English Heritage: Gateway to Britannia, Richborough’s Monumental Arch The arch was a quadrifons: a rare kind of arch with four faces and four openings. English Heritage: Gateway to Britannia, Richborough’s Monumental Arch

Two English Heritage pages give different heights and dates for the arch: see when sources disagree.

The early forts

In the 3rd century AD, several Roman forts were built along the Channel coasts of east and south-east England and northern Gaul. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

In the AD 230s, three forts were built on the east coast of Britain: Brancaster and Caister-on-Sea in Norfolk, and Reculver in Kent. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison Brancaster, Caister and Reculver have “playing card” plans: rectangular, with rounded corners. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

English Heritage’s Caister page says the fort was built about AD 200, as a base for a unit of the Roman army and navy. English Heritage: History of Caister Roman Fort

Two English Heritage pages give different dates for Caister: see when sources disagree.

An inscription from Reculver’s headquarters building, possibly from the AD 230s, mentions a man named Rufinus. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

There is no written evidence for raiding in Britain at the time the early forts were built. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

The later forts

Archaeologists have shown that the later forts were built at various times between about AD 260 and AD 300. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison The later forts are at Burgh Castle, Bradwell-on-Sea, Richborough, Dover, Lympne, Pevensey and Portchester. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Around AD 250, buildings in the middle of Richborough’s town were knocked down and replaced by a small fort. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre English Heritage’s Richborough history says the stone fort was built sometime between AD 275 and 290. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre

Two English Heritage pages give different dates for Richborough’s stone fort: see when sources disagree.

Coins recently found at Portchester date the fort to after about 268. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle English Heritage’s Saxon Shore article dates Portchester to around AD 286 and Pevensey to around AD 293. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Our sources give different dates for Portchester: see when sources disagree.

Tree-ring dating of wooden posts under Pevensey’s walls suggests the fort was built in about AD 290. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle Coins from the time of Carausius and Allectus have been found in Pevensey’s wall foundations. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

Carausius and Allectus

In AD 286 Carausius, commander of the Roman Channel fleet, proclaimed himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison His breakaway empire lasted until his successor, Allectus, was defeated in AD 296. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

English Heritage says the fort may well have been founded by Carausius, appointed to command the Roman fleet in the Channel in about AD 285. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle In AD 293 Carausius was assassinated by his deputy, Allectus. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle

English Heritage’s Pevensey history says Carausius and Allectus had a strong motive to fortify the coast against reconquest by the central Roman government. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle Archaeological dating suggests Carausius or Allectus are more likely to have built the later British forts. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

The Count of the Saxon Shore

It may have been the emperor Constantine I who created the Saxon Shore command. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison The Notitia gives a very senior officer the title Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam, “the Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain”. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

The Notitia Dignitatum, or “List of Offices”, lists the senior military and civilian posts across the Roman Empire. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison A medieval copy of the Notitia, dated 1436, shows the places under the command of the Count of the Saxon Shore. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

English Heritage’s Saxon Shore article says the Notitia was probably compiled between AD 390 and AD 420. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison Some of the information in the Notitia may be much older than the document itself. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Three English Heritage pages date the Notitia differently: see when sources disagree.

Burgh Castle, Lympne and Reculver had been abandoned by the AD 380s, which shows how out of date some of the Notitia is. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Raids and the end of Roman Britain

Roman writers record that by the mid 3rd century Germanic raiders were regularly attacking the Channel coast on the continental side. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison Roman writers make no mention of raids on Britain at that time. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

The first recorded raids on the British coast date from the 4th century. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison The writer Ammianus Marcellinus first mentions Saxons affecting Britain in the AD 360s, including the “Great Conspiracy” of AD 367. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

English Heritage’s Burgh Castle history says that in AD 367 the Saxons, Picts and Scots made a joint attack on Britain, and the forts began to be overrun. English Heritage: History of Burgh Castle Roman Fort

Count Theodosius entered Britain at Richborough and made London his base. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison A senior Roman officer called Nectaridus, “count of the maritime region”, was killed or captured during the fighting. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

The poet Claudian wrote that, thanks to General Stilicho, Britain need not “watch all along the shore for the arrival of the Saxon”. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Regular soldiers were taken from Britain bit by bit: in AD 383 under Magnus Maximus, and perhaps finally under Constantine III in AD 407. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison At Richborough, late Roman coins as late as AD 402 have been found. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

Richborough may have been the last place in Britannia to which Roman coins were supplied. English Heritage: History of Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre

After the Romans

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 471 the fort at Pevensey was besieged. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

Bede records that in about AD 630 Sigeberht, King of the East Angles, gave land inside a Roman fortress to St Fursa to found a monastery. English Heritage: History of Burgh Castle Roman Fort That place, Cnobheresburh, may have been Burgh Castle, but Caister is also a likely candidate. English Heritage: History of Burgh Castle Roman Fort

An Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded inside Reculver fort in 669. English Heritage: History of Reculver Towers and Roman Fort

In 904 the Bishop of Winchester gave the fort to King Edward the Elder. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle Portchester then became a burh, one of a series of fortified places that protected the kingdom from Viking attack. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle

William the Conqueror landed at Pevensey on 28 September 1066. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle William’s invading fleet had between 700 and 1,000 ships. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

After the Norman Conquest, a castle was built in one corner of the Roman fort at Portchester. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle After the Norman Conquest, Burgh was used as a motte-and-bailey castle. English Heritage: History of Burgh Castle Roman Fort

The siege of Pevensey in 1264 to 1265 was the longest siege in medieval England. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

A royal palace was built at Portchester in the 1390s for Richard II. English Heritage: Portchester Castle, history and stories In 1415 Henry V launched his invasion of France from Portchester; it ended in his victory at Agincourt. English Heritage: Portchester Castle, history and stories

Later centuries

From 1665 Portchester was used as a prisoner-of-war camp; between 1793 and 1815 it held up to 8,000 prisoners at a time. English Heritage: Portchester Castle, history and stories French prisoners set up a theatre in Portchester’s keep in 1810. English Heritage: Portchester Castle, history and stories

Reculver church’s tall twin towers were added in the 12th century. English Heritage: History of Reculver Towers and Roman Fort The church was partly knocked down in 1809, leaving the towers as a sea-mark for ships. English Heritage: History of Reculver Towers and Roman Fort

2,000 tons of the church’s stone were sold and used to build Margate Harbour. English Heritage: History of Reculver Towers and Roman Fort

In the 1920s and 1930s, many of the workmen who repaired Portchester’s walls were unemployed Welsh miners. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle

In 1925 the Duke of Devonshire gave Pevensey Castle to the State. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

In 1940 Pevensey was used again, with machine-gun posts cleverly hidden in its walls. English Heritage: Pevensey Castle In the Second World War the new defences at Pevensey were made to blend in with the old walls. English Heritage: History of Pevensey Castle

Today

Portchester came into the care of English Heritage in 1984. English Heritage: History of Portchester Castle Burgh Castle is managed by Norfolk Archaeological Trust. English Heritage: Burgh Castle Roman Fort

Conservation work took place at Reculver in 2023 to protect it for the future. English Heritage: History of Reculver Towers and Roman Fort

Today the name lives on in a 153-mile long-distance footpath, the Saxon Shore Way. English Heritage: Roman Coastal Defences and the Saxon Shore, by Paul Pattison

For teachers: where this fits

The words “Saxon Shore” do not appear in the national curriculum in England. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

At KS2, pupils in England study “the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain”; one non-statutory example is “successful invasion by Claudius and conquest, including Hadrian’s Wall”. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

So the Saxon Shore forts fit best as enrichment alongside that unit, not as a required topic (our suggestion).

For Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots, one non-statutory example is “Roman withdrawal from Britain in c. AD 410 and the fall of the western Roman Empire”. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

At KS3, pupils in England study “an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils’ chronological knowledge from before 1066”. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

The curriculum names concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study Pupils should understand how evidence is used to make claims, and why there are different accounts of the past. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

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