Archaeologists discover original Roman coastline - two miles from the sea » Communities » 24dash.com

English Heritage archaeologists, excavating on previously untouched land at Richborough Roman Fort near Sandwich in Kent, have discovered the original Roman coastline at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43.

This is two miles inland from today's coastline.

English Heritage Archaeologist Tony Wilmott said: "It is widely known that Richborough Roman Fort was the gateway to Roman Britain 2000 years ago but what is really exciting is that we have actually found the Roman foreshore while digging in a deep trench alongside the remains of a Roman wall.

The bottom of the trench continually fills with water and by trowelling you can feel the hard surface, which was the Roman beach.

“We have long been curious about this fallen Roman fort wall and now we know there was a Roman harbour sitting out there."

Fragments of Roman pottery and building materials such as wood and leather have been found in the ditch which will be carbon dated to validate the time period of around the 4th Century.

The month-long dig (ends Friday 3 October) along the 90-metre section of collapsed wall is about to come to an end and archaeologists have been thrilled to have also uncovered a Medieval dock.

This dock was created by a Medieval section of wall, being used as a plug between two sections of collapsed Roman wall.

Archaeologists believe this Medieval dock was built with the same masonry technique as the contemporary mid 14th century town wall in Sandwich, Kent.

The significance of the Medieval quayside is still being evaluated but it is known that Sandwich in Kent was once a large Medieval port. First impressions suggest that it may have been associated with the nearby St Augustine's chapel.

In the Roman era, Richborough Roman Fort overlooked a sheltered lagoon, where in AD43 the invading Roman forces first landed.

At the start of the dig, local volunteers helped to reclaim the walls from undergrowth, exposing them for the first time since the 1930s.

During this work, archaeologists have also uncovered a number of smaller finds such as Roman coins and fragments of Italian marble believed to be from a great triumphal arch built at Richborough in around 80 AD to commemorate the Conquest of Britain.