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Hengist and Horsa, leaders of the Saxons, landed in Kent in the 5th century in Pegwell Bay, according to tradition, and so did St Augustine and his party of missionaries from Rome in 597. They made for Canterbury, which is still a magnet for visitors with its magnificent cathedral, the mother church of Anglican Christianity. The Pilgrim's Way footpath to Canterbury follows the long ridge of the North Downs, which cross the county in the north above the M2 Motorway. To the south, in the shelter of the Downs lies the countryside of the Weald with its neat little towns and villages, its hop-gardens and oasthouses, its time-honoured amicable pubs. In the far south-east the wet, flat, cattle-grazed country of Romney Marsh is agog with romantic tales of smugglers.
Early Invaders - Julius Caesar's Raid on Britain
Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice, in 55 BC and 54 BC. Presumably this brilliantly successful Roman commander envisaged no difficulties in overcoming the wild Celtic Britons who inhabited the island. The natives, however, had some nasty surprises for Caesar.
Before Julius Caesar and his army of 10,000 soldiers landed in 55 BC, the Romans' concept of Britain was comparatively vague. The only solid facts that Caesar knew were that the Britons had aided their fellow Celts in Gaul in resisting the Romans and that they had sheltered refugees who managed to get away. Otherwise the Romans regarded Britain as a wild, mysterious place ruled by terrifying priest-magicians, the Druids. To them, Isola Sacra, the sacred isle, as they called it, had an aura of superstitious dread. The Romans also mistakenly believed that Britain was a rich source of pearls and gold.
The First Raid
Despite all this, Caesar set out across Oceanus, the Romans called the English Channel, at midnight one day in the late summer of 55 BC and, at nine in the morning, arrived near Dover. The Britons were waiting for him, bristling with weapons, and lined up along the white cliffs. They paced the Roman ships as they continued north-east towards their landing place at Deal and this was so unnerving that many Romans refused to disembark. It took the standard-bearer of the 10th Legion, braver and more dutiful than the rest, to show them the way by jumping into the water first. But before they could struggle through the water to the shore, British horsemen swooped down and rode into the surf, swinging their swords and yelling terrifying battle cries. Sufficient numbers of Romans reached the shore, however, to take up battle formation and the Britons fled in the face of their menacing javelins.
Caesar's Frustrations
This, though, was only a taste of how frustrating Isola Sacra was going to be. British battle tactics proved almost impossible for the Romans to deal with: either they indulged in guerrilla warfare - lightning strikes or ambushes in which they surprised the Romans, then fled back into hiding - or they made a menacing show of force, riding their chariots into the Roman ranks, but melting into the forests as soon as Roman resistance stiffened.. The Roman army was the best and most successful in the ancient world. Reports from Celts in France during the Roman conquest there had told the Britons that the Romans were perfectly capable if winning a proper, pitched battle: the British tactic was to deny them the opportunity.
The was, besides, the appalling British weather to contend with. A ferocious Channel storm wrecked Caesar's ships and left a mass of wreckage on the rain-lashed shore. The Romans were superlative engineers and managed to repair the ships by cannibalising some of those more hopelessly damaged. Even so, Caesar had had enough. After only a few weeks, he packed his soldiers into the galleys and sailed back to Gaul.
The Second Raid
The following year he was back, with a much larger force of 25,000 men, 2,000 cavalry, 800 ships and an elephant. This time the Romans penetrated inland, though Kent towards the River Stour, but still there was no pitched battle. The Britons retreated into the forest, drawing the Romans further and further in. The Romans had only just caught up with their elusive foe when news reached Caesar that yet another violent Channel storm had wrecked his ships.
With the Romans distracted by this disaster, the various British tribes combined forces under a single leader, Cassivellaunus. For the normally quarrelsome tribes this amounted to a show of strength and the intention of using it. Nevertheless, the Britons still refused to come out and fight, still preferring their hit-and-run tactics and the shelter of their fortified forest camps. Worse, autunm was approaching and gales were already blowing offshore. Once again Caesar gave up, although his report to the Senate in Rome made his 'campaigns' sound like brilliant victories. He never returned.
The Saxon Shore
The Anglo-Saxons were attacking Britain for some time before the Romans abandonned Britannia in around AD 426. The Roman response to these attacks was to build a line of forts protecting the vulnerable area known as the Saxon Shore.
Throughout their 400-year rule in Britiain, the Romans were never entirely secure against rebellion or invasion. Although the northernmost province of their empire had the appearance of a civilian colony, it also had to serve as a zone of military occupation. It was complete with legionary garrisons and forts for protection and defence.
Pirates and Raiders
The invaders that these fortifications were designed to keep out included the English-Channel pirates who preyed on Roman shipping as well as occasionally raiding onshore. The major enemies, however, were the Anglo-Saxons from Germany and Denmark. They were not simply raiders: their long-term intent was to settle in Britain and acquire the benefits of its fertile land and other riches. Precisely when they began their attacks on Britain is unkown, but the presence of Saxon Shore forts, at both Brancaster and Reculver, in AD 230, suggests that for just under half of the Romans' occupation of Britain, the Anglo-Saxons were regarded as a serious threat.
The Defensive Network
Brancaster was garrisoned by the Cohors I Aquitanorun from Gaul; Reculver, by the Cohors I Baetasiorum. They were among seven, possibly eight, similar forts built at Richborough in AD 275, Bugh Castle in AD 280 and Pevensey in AD 340, with Bradwell, Dover, Lympne, Portchester and possibly Walton Castle completing the network. Bugh Castle housed the Bulkan cavalry, Bradwell, the Limen Fortenses from North Africa and Richborough the Legio II Augusta. The first known mention of the Litoris Saxonici - the Saxon Shore - was made in about AD 408 in a document named Notitia dignitatum. This was a military handbook for the management of the forts and their defences. Overall command was the responsibility of the Comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniam, usually translated as the 'Count of the Saxon Shore for Britannia'.
Early Warning System
The Saxon Shore forts were designed to be an early warning system as well as direct defence against attack. There forts were massive contructions with stone walls 4.5m (15 ft) thick and 8m (26 ft) high. On average the forts occupied between 2.4 and 3.4 hectares (6 and 8 acres). They were rectangular in shape and most featured immense, external round towers at each corner, together with heavily secured gates. For obvious reasons, the gateways were narrow. The walls were surrounded by a ditch about 2.5m (8 ft) deep, or a double ditch in the case of Richborough. Since the forts were constructed close to the shore, the sea completed the moat formed by the ditches. Inside the forts there were forecourts 154m (168 yds) square and inner gates flanked by guardrooms.
As they were meant for permanent occupation, a full compliment of facilities seem to have been provided for the garrisons. Archaeologists have discovered headquarter buildings, barracks, baths, roads, pits, wells and hearths. The Roman legionaries also left behind a mass of objects made of clay, bone, stone and glass. A large amount of broken pottery and tiles have been uncovered, together with quern-stones (for grinding corn). The Romans built similar fortifications along the equally vulnerable northeast coast of Britannia.
Not Always Impregnable
Despite the mighty appearance of the Saxon Shore forts, evidence has been found that some of them were destroyed by fire early in 3 AD. Although the forts generally succeeded in their purpose and held back the tide of Anglo-Saxon and other invaders, this suggests that the forts were not always impregnable. The was, too, the chance that the Anglo-Saxons might outflank the forts and reach inland before the Romans were able to reach them. This was why the Romans strengthened the fortifications of some of their inland cities and maintained a strong legionary presence in places such as York. From there they could quickly dispatch troops to deal with the intruders.
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