Dubris
DUBRISin Britain, mentioned both in the Itinerary and the Notitia, in the latter as the station of the Praepositus Militum Tungricanorum.Name for name, and place for place, Dubris == Dover.
The Octagon Tower attached to the old church is built chiefly of Roman bricks. How far, however, the materials may be older than the building is uncertain. The tower itself is considered to have been a lighthouse.
[R.G.L]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.
BIBLIOGRAPHYE.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