Gateway to Britannia

Today, Richborough Roman Fort is a peaceful archaeological site amid the rolling hills of Kent. However, in AD 43, the sea was much closer, and Richborough was the beachhead for the Roman invasion of Britain. It later became the official gateway to the Roman province of Britannia.

Walking around the site today, visitors can explore many phases of the site's history, including fascinating features from more than 1,000 years of occupation.

It was a ‘quadrifrons’ arch with four gateways. Two large gates faced east and west, and led out onto the Roman road of Watling Street. There were two smaller gateways on the north and south sides.

The Roman town extended to around 21 hectares and included shops, an amphitheatre and an official ‘mansio’ - an inn for those travelling on Imperial business.

Sometimes objects are found alongside the others they were used with. This 1st-century AD bronze lamp is decorated with a pair of lions’ heads and a large leaf-shaped counterpoise at the back, which covers the handle.

It was found with a pair of tweezers for trimming the wick and sections of chain (by which it would have been suspended from a hook in the wall or ceiling) corroded onto its surface.

Mica-dusted ceramics like this jar have a slight sheen or sparkle that is intended to make them look like bronze or gold.

They were used as high quality tableware and were produced either on the Continent or in a small number of British kilns, including in London.

While shards have been found at various sites around the country, complete vessels like this are rare.

Richborough is often portrayed primarily as a military site but the survival of over a thousand hairpins demonstrates the presence of women as well.

A few pins are decorated with military symbols such as acorns, suggesting that some of these women had a connection to the army. Others, like this one depicting a woman with a domed hairstyle that was fashionable in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD, are from Richborough’s time as a port town.

A number of fragments survive from the sculpture that topped the monumental arch. It was probably an emperor on a horse or chariot.

Unfortunately there is not enough to attempt a reconstruction but the scale of pieces such as this rosette, which is likely to come from a piece of armour called a cuirass (a joined breastplate and backplate), suggests a figure that was well over life-size.

This small votive statuette illustrates the religious side of Roman life. It was probably from a private household shrine.

It depicts a young man holding a patera dish and a cornucopia (horn of plenty) and has been identified as Bonus Eventus (literally ‘good outcome’), a divinity associated with agriculture and good fortune.

The weighing of commodities was an important part of daily life, used when distributing rations, manufacturing objects and trading goods. Some steelyard weights were made into the form of gods and goddesses, like this Silenus bust.

Having a deity attached to your weighing scales implied that your weights were honest and guaranteed by the gods.

Seal boxes like this one were used to protect the wax securing documents such as scrolls and writing tablets during transport.

The hare on this box lid is a typical animal to appear in this context, along with frogs, toads and eagles – all animals characterised by speed. This suggests that they may have been used on official documents carried on the cursus publicus, the Imperial courier service.

Money and valuables would have been kept secured in boxes, which could themselves be elaborately decorated.

The conical bosses seen on this lock plate are common throughout the Roman world, occasionally covering the entire chest. The plate was mounted on a modern wooden block after excavation.

This large crossbow brooch (so named because of their shape) was probably used by a soldier to fasten his cloak. It is one of 445 brooches found on the site.

Brooches of this type are complex constructions with many pieces. You can see here where a third onion-shaped knob would originally have been screwed into the hole at the top.

Richborough continued to be used beyond the Roman period. Objects such as coins, keys and this pitcher have been found in the area of the Anglo-Saxon church.

Unlike Roman pottery, which was typically thrown on a wheel, this pitcher was made by hand and has a curved base, making it unstable on a flat surface. It would have been hung from the lugs on each side.

This sword was found in the south-west part of the site, away from most of the post-Roman material, with the remains of its scabbard. It was constructed from a central core of pattern-welded iron, with two steel cutting edges welded on separately.

Usually a sword of this type would have been ornamented, but no evidence of decoration has survived.