penetrated a depth of only 16 ft. and therefore did
not reach the timbering. As found, this structure—whether pier or
causeway or slipway—was embedded on its north side in bog-earth and on
its south side in sand. The bog-earth-—-or, rather, alluvium mixed
with Roman debris—has been found to continue northwards into Dolphin
Lane, and when the offices of the adjacent Phoenix Brewery were built it
is said that a log-canoe was discovered. Canon Puckle, too, records the
finding of mooring—rings. piles, groins, etc., in this district.68
In spite of much vagueness, it is sufficiently clear that in ancient
times much of the land in the vicinity of Dolphin Lane was under
sea-water: and it requires no great feat of imagination to suppose that
the timber framework was either that of an ancient quay flanking a small
harbour at this spot, or of a slipway descending into it. Timber-quays f
the Roman period, somewhat similarly constructed, have been found on the
banks of the Thames immediately above London Bridge; 69 and
the depth of the Dover structure, combined with the occurrence of Roman
debris apparently in association with it, leaves little doubt as to its
Roman date.
(11) At the junction of Saxon Street and St. Martin’s
Hill (i.e., at the eastern end of the Folkestone road), opposite the Red
Cow Inn, a tufa wall, apparently only 1 ft. thick, was found during the
laying of drain-pipes. Mr. Amos notes that all the ground on the east
side of the wall was ‘made,’ whereas that on the west side was
natural. The material is consistent with a Roman date, but Roman walls
only 1 ft. wide are rare, and tufa was used freely at Dover at least as
late as the Norman period (St. Martin’s-le-Grand and Dover Priory).
(12) In Albany Place, on the west of the town, Mr. Amos saw
the entrance to a dugout, about half-way down the road on the west side,
made in 1918. Roman pottery, tile, pieces of tufa, etc., were found from
a depth of 2 ft. below the road to the maximum depth of the cutting, 11
ft. On the western side, this ‘ made ‘soil ‘ rested against a
slope of clay,’ which may have been merely the side of a pit, but
suggests the possibility of a ditch running in a southerly or
south-easterly direction towards the edge of the cliff.
(ii) So much for the structural fragments on the site of
the medieval and modern town. Rather more is known of the cemeteries.
They arc indeed numerous enough to indicate either a fairly large body
of inhabitants or a long inhabitation. They consist almost entirely of
cremation burials. (i) on the south-west of the Roman area, outside
Adrian’s Gate, ‘ on the edge of the cliff,’ a ‘ Roman burying
ground,’ with urns and a few coins, was touched upon in 1797 and again
in 1804.70 (2) On the north-west two places of burial
are recorded. One on Priory Hill, in a field behind Dover College, was
opened in 1883, and contained burial urns with burnt bones, Samian and
coarser ware, one or two glass vessels, and half a dozen bronze armlets.
Four pottery stamps are recorded : C.IN.T.VSS.A
and OSIN (?) on Samian saucers; IVI-OF
on a black saucer of imitation Samian type, probably not a genuine stamp
but a makeshift ; SAV—perhaps part of Saturninus—on
a mortarium.71
68 Arch. Cant. xx,129.
69 Roy. Com. on Hist. Mons. (Eng.), Roman
London, 132. Similar structures were found in 1929 on the west side
of Fish Street.
70 Lyon, Hist, of Dover, i, 2.
71 Arch. Cant. xviii, 203 and
plate; remains in Dover Museum. Urns were dug up at the Priory Railway
Station in 1861. |