FIG. 9. RICHBOROUGH, KENT. EXTERIOR OF NORTH WALL
6. Dubris, Dover
A paper by Rev. Canon Puckle on Vestiges of Roman Dover was published some years ago in “Archaeologia Cantiana.”[8] It was accompanied by a plan in which are set out the outlines of what are supposed to have been the limits of the Roman town or fortress of Dover. Although the outline is merely tentative and hypothetical, there is a certain plausibility about the suggested site and size of the castrum. It was situated, as is pointed out, quite away from the pharos, in the lowest part of the town, the present Market Square being approximately in the middle of the enclosure. The plan is roughly a parallelogram with certain irregularities on the north-west angle.
On the top of the eastern and western heights of Dover a lighthouse was erected by the Romans for the guidance of ships into the narrow mouth of the river. Traces of that on the western heights still remain, or remained recently: whilst that on the eastern heights stands intact, one of the most remarkable and interesting pieces of Roman architecture now remaining in the kingdom.
The Roman pharos at Dover consists of a strong and massive tower, hollow within, which rises to a height of 42 feet, having walls whose thickness varies from 12 feet at the base to about 7 feet at the top. The structure is not entirely of Roman workmanship, because in the thirteenth century certain additions were made to its outer walls.
Doubtless its massive masonry was calculated to withstand the severe storms to which its exposed position on the lofty cliff subjected it. Whether employed for signalling purposes or as a lighthouse, this building was doubtless in such a position as to communicate with similar buildings on the coast of France, and with the lighthouse or signalling tower (it may have served in both capacities) at Richborough.
The pharos on the western heights of Dover, of which little now remains, must have formed an extremely valuable auxiliary to that on the eastern heights, affording a guide for ships making at night for the haven of Dover. It is not at all improbable that both structures combined the purposes of lighthouses at night with those of signalling stations in the daytime.
