Regulbium

Hf

Regulbium was part of the castle chain at the British Saxon Shore (SK) in England, on the northern coast of the county of Kent, City of Canterbury district in today's Reculver, a seaside resort two kilometers east of Herne Bay.

Its remains were first described in the 19th century by Charles Roach and finally exposed in a total of seven excavations by Brian Philp 1952-1968 and examined more closely. As the only Saxon coastal fortifications here could also be salvaged building inscription, which made an exact dating of the establishment of the fort possible. The more than 24,000 small finds from the fort area and its surroundings (weapons, pieces of pottery, utensils, etc.) are kept in Herne Bay Museum and Dover Castle.

• 6.3.1 Building SW
• 6.3.2 barracks

Name

The name of the castle dates back to the Celtic and means " At the big chap ". He is so far only from the Notitia Dignitatum ( ND ) ( Regulbio ) known. Reculver is in the early Middle Ages, in a document from the year 669, as Raculfmynster and in a charter of 784, referred to as Raculfceaster. [A 1] In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of the 12th century, the city emerged as Raculf again. [A 2]

Dating

24 coins from the time of Tiberius and Nero speak for a use of the place by the Romans from the 1st century. The foundation of the stone fort was in the early or mid 3rd century. This assumption is based primarily on an inscription plaque from the sanctuary flags ( see below). The dating of the inscription in the early 3rd century also coincides with the finds (among the ceramics) that have been made especially in 1957, but in later excavations around the fort.

Inscription

The Roman commemorative inscription of Reculver is one of the most remarkable discoveries of the Saxon Shore, since it is only known that tell of construction work on a fort of Wash - Solent Limes. It is generally regarded as the inscription of the fort, but she only reports the completion of the commandant, but certainly one of the first and most important function of buildings inside the fort. The first of the eleven fragments of the inscription was discovered in September 1960, under the flags of the sanctuary Principia. Your letters were originally painted with red paint. She had probably been attached to the front wall of the Sacellums before they fell down in the destruction of the building in the basement of the flags sanctuary. After comparison and composition of the fragments could by Ian Archibald Richmond about ¾ of the original text to be reconstructed:

" AEDEM p [ Rinci ] piorum / cu [ mb ] asilica / su [b A ( ulo ) Triar ] io Rufino / co ( n ) s ( ulari )) / [--- Fo ] rtunatus / [ --- ] it The flags sanctuary with the cross- hall, under Aulus Triarius Rufinus, consul ( ar) [ ... ] Fortunatus [ ... ] has donated this. "

According to his interpretation of the text, the Principia were the flags sanctuary (Aedes principiorum ) and built the sanctuary of the upstream transverse hall ( Basilica ) in the reign of the governor Triarius Rufinus. Monitors were the work of a certain Fortunatus, probably, the then commander of the fort. Triarius Rufinus was the consul of the year 210, Richmond believes that he began work as brit norman governor sometime in the years 210-216.

However, Richard Harper and the latest edition in the corpus of British inscriptions are of the opinion that it is in the in the inscription referred governor is Quintus Aradius Rufinus, who probably held by 220 this office (see below [b A] r [ad ] io Rufino ). Worth mentioning is also that this text is the earliest known, in which the use of the flags Sanctuary and Basilica for a military hall the names Aedes principiorum.

Location and Function

Since late antiquity, the coastline has changed and today's landscape has only little in common with the Roman Regulbium or "the great peninsula ". At the time of antiquity Thanet was still separated from the mainland by the Wantsumkanal island. The fort was still about a kilometer from the coast, on the so-called Thanet Beds, a sandy loam soil with interspersed has thus eroded very quickly and had already ripped half the fort in the course of time into the sea in Roman times. Even the mainland north of attachment is almost completely disappeared today. The Wantsumkanal, however, is now largely silted up.

Regulbium secured the northern entrance to the canal, which was then still a busy sea passage, and thus the important vessel traffic mouth of the Thames. Its southern end oversaw the fort Rutupiae. Probably it also served as a port and supply base of the Channel Fleet. The object of the occupying it probably was to defend this part of the coast against an invasion attempt by the Roman central government ( see below).

Development

Probably left the Romans in 43 AD here land part of their invading army and then built the place by system of a wood and earth castle into a fortified bridgehead. The base was later probably used mainly as a beacon and signal station, as he lay at favorable position on the banks of Wantsum channel and near the mouths of the River Thames and the Medway.

Due to the increasing exposure to Saxon and Frankish pirates from the continent organized Carausius, founder and ruler ( usurper ) of the so-called "British Empire Special ", about the year 287 the defense of the British Channel coast again. Through new or reconstruction of existing plants he created and his successor Allectus gradually a dense chain of tw. strongly fortified castles, which also Regulbium was included. The fort was then occupied for about 150 years by the Roman army. The finds from the fort area show that at the end of the 3rd century increased construction activities are to determine the cause of which was probably the raiding Saxon pirates and raiders on the British Channel coast. Shortly after its completion, the fort was but apparently leave, how long is unknown.

In the context of two excavated barracks in the northern sector of about 100 coins were recovered from the period 270-300. This depends, of the excavator 's view, perhaps with the temporary absence of the garrison and the associated decline of the barracks together. Perhaps the fort was only around 296, after the sinking of the Britannic Empire Special (see Carausius ), again occupied under Constantius I. troops. However, from the first half of the 4th century, the military activities take back noticeably. The discovery of coins also showed that the castle after 360 apparently finally abandoned by the military and the civilian population or either settlers or immigrants was left. In other SK- forts but this could not be established beyond doubt.

After withdrawal of the Romans, the castle served as a temporary residence of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent, one of them, Ecgberht I., was here inter alia build a church. In the year 669 Ecgberht transferred land at Reculver establishing a monastery to the clergy bass. In the year 679 King gave Hlothhere lands at Westanae (Isle of Thanet ) and in Sturry ( at Canterbury ) to the abbot and the monastery Beorhtwald Reculver. The Benedictine abbey was later known as St. Mary's Church of Reculver; their characteristic twin towers ( long an important landmark for navigation ) were built in the 12th century. Today Reculver is a village with 135 inhabitants.

Fort

The archaeologists were able to distinguish several phases during the excavations in the fort.

Wood and earth fort

Meanwhile, east and south sides could be localized between 1961-1963 within the later Saxon Shore fort. The east side of the Claudian wood and earth fort was heavily overlaid by later building remains. It was two weir trenches, the inner and the outer Y- V-shaped, surrounded. The outer ditch was apparently neglected in antiquity soon and not cleaned regularly, so he was partially filled with clay deposits and sludge broken bits of pottery of different time periods included. The trench was further northwest direction, so that the excavators assumed that the north wall under a cluster of cottages, a late ancient spa and a medieval cemetery is to be sought.

Stone fort

From the fort today is not much to see, only the strong of overgrowing with vegetation remnants of the South and the Ostwalles are still recognizable. Of these, the south wall was the best preserved. It is connected by a rounded corner with the east wall, the upstream two defensive ditches can also be seen still rudimentary. This design is typical of castles of the early 3rd century, which is mostly in the traditional style of the early and middle imperial period ( game card form) have been executed.

Base enclosure and ditches

The safety fence is made of mortared black flint, which was broken on the Isle of Thanet, and pebbly sandstone. On the east wall repairs are still visible, also the remains of a kiln were found. In the ruins of the Anglo-Saxon church often find Roman brick which must be from the fort buildings. Other building material for the castle was brought from Bishopstone Glen ( between Reculver and Herne Bay), the pebble sandstone probably derived from the area around Maidstone. A rear, massive earth ramp stabilized the relatively narrow annular wall, which measured three feet at the base and 2.4 m at the crest. It consisted originally probably an area of ​​about 3.06 ha, in addition, two V-shaped ditches surrounded the castle, the inner was 2.7 m deep and 7.9 m wide, the outer had a depth of about 2 × 5 m.

Towers and gates

In the mid- west and east wall was ever a goal. By about 2.7 m wide passage of the east gate leads to the former Via Principalis in the interior of the fort. After passing through the gate on the right side you can still see the heavily overgrown foundations of a guardhouse. Only one, inside an attached tower could be detected in the southwest corner. Since none - for the typical late antiquity - was found projecting U- towers, it will almost certainly include its in Branch Aster, one of the earliest stone castles on the Saxon Shore.

Internal buildings

When excavation in September 1968, we addressed especially with the grid squares east of the Principia, the headquarters building, and south of the Via Principalis, that once connected the two ports on the flanks of the fort inside the bearing. However, by the already very far advanced erosion can but on the internal buildings, not much to be said.

They found the remains of the Principia, with unterkellertem flags sanctuary (Aedes principiorum ), the foundations of a transverse hall ( Basilica ), walls from the commander house ( praetorium ) and a bath house with Hypokaustenheizung and a double barracks. With the stitch excavations along the gravelled Remains of the Via Principalis, Via Praetoria and Via sagularis also be made ​​numerous discoveries. The built in stone construction Principia were following the classical in the central area of the fort.

In the first half of the 4th century, most of the internal buildings should have consisted of wooden buildings, as could be detected in the burnt layer of the western barracks post-holes who did not follow the previous design scheme.

Building SW

When the base enclosure of the stone fort was built, it was planned to also build a larger building in the camp SW sector. Its foundations consisted of several hard-packed layers of pebbles that had been on apparently collected on the beaches nearby. Later, its SE corner and the west wall were investigated. In this case, no evidence could be found that the building was ever completed or progressed beyond the stage of foundation. Philp assumes that this circumstance is a temporary task of the fort, for the talk are other findings from the bearing interior related.

Barracks

The original plan must then have been changed because now instead of two larger buildings were pulled up in the north sector. The floors of these buildings consisted of a layer of rammed earth over which an anchored into the solid foundations of a wooden pallet for fixing the floor boards was laid. The walls of at least one of the two barracks was plastered and painted, the roof covered with heavy bricks. Apparently, she served as crew quarters for higher ranks or specialists, as they were in the immediate vicinity of the Principia. The easternmost barracks was obviously already fallen into disrepair when it was finally (perhaps by settlers ) burned down.

Signal Station

A square building just outside of the fort was probably used as a signal station, or possibly as a lighthouse. It stood at the northern entrance to Wantsum channel and thus underlining the importance of this waterway for the supply transports the Roman army in Britain. Findings that might confirm his undoubted temporal classification were not recovered, but coins found locally from the reign of Tiberius and Nero can assume that here at least since AD 65 was a military station.

Garrison

Vicus

Around the fort also traces of a civil settlement could be detected, but the center was probably due to the now completely worn north side.