Roman Rutupiae near Sandwich, likely landing place of the AD 43 invasion, where towering walls of a Saxon Shore fort still stand
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Two thousand years ago the flat farmland east of Sandwich was the sea, and a small island sat at the mouth of a tidal channel called the Wantsum. Roman forces are thought to have come ashore there in AD 43 — the exact landing spot is disputed, but Richborough is the leading candidate, and archaeologists have found the double ditch and rampart the invading army threw up to protect its beachhead.
The base grew into Rutupiae, a busy port town, with a stone inn for messengers and, by the 2nd century, a marble-clad arch about 25 metres high, among the largest anywhere in the Roman empire. The town thrived for around 200 years before Roman troops tore the arch down themselves, reusing its stone to build a fort as new threats appeared along the coast.
By the 250s Rome was under pressure from Channel raiders; a fort went up on the old town centre, replaced around AD 275–90 by the stone walls you see today, standing in places to more than 8 metres, one of the Saxon Shore forts built along the south-east coast. Richborough’s amphitheatre, on a low hill at the edge of the old town, held around 5,000 spectators for the animal hunts, executions and gladiator fights that Roman audiences expected; excavations in 2021 found its arena walls had been plastered and painted.
People carried on living inside the walls into the early 400s, close to when Roman control of Britain ended, and Richborough may have been among the last places in the province still receiving official Roman coin. The Saxon Shore Way footpath passes the site; there’s an admission charge and staff on hand, plus a rebuilt timber gateway and a museum of finds from the excavations. Sandwich and its old streets make an easy add-on, a couple of kilometres to the south-east.
