DUBRIS
(Dover) Kent, England.
The Roman fort lies beneath the modern city in a valley between steep chalk hills, close to the sea. The site was
probably continuously occupied from the time of the
Roman invasion of A.D. 43. The nature of the 1st c.
occupation is uncertain, but in the 2d c. a fort was constructed to house a detachment of the Classis Britannica.
Part of the wall, a gate, and a series of internal buildings belonging to the fort were discovered in 1970. At
a later date, probably towards the end of the 3d c.,
the old structure was replaced by a more substantial
fort of the Saxon Shore series. Its extent is at present
unknown but it must have enclosed an area of over
2.4 ha. Traces of other buildings, as well as evidence
of wharves and jetties, have come to light from time
to time. The finds are housed in the City Museum.
On the E hill, within what is now Dover Castle, stand
the remains of a well-preserved Roman lighthouse. The
structure is octagonal in plan outside but rectangular
inside. Originally it would have stood ca. 24 in high
with the outer face stepped back in eight stages, but only
four Roman stages now remain. It was built of flint
rubble faced with limestone blocks and bonded with
tile courses. Its window openings and doors are well
preserved. Fragments of another lighthouse survive on
the W heights on the far side of the valley.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E.G.J. Amos & R.E.M. Wheeler, “The
Saxon-Shore Fortress at Dover,”
ArchJ 76 (1929) 47-58; S. E. Rigold, “The Roman Haven of Dover,” ibid. 126 (1970) 78-100; B. Philp, “The Discovery of the
Classis Britannica and Saxon Shore Forts at Dover. An
Interim Report,”
Kent Archaeological Review 23 (1971) 74-86.
B. W. CUNLIFFE
