The whole indicates no more than half a dozen
graves. Farther west, towards Maxton, burials have been found at
various places and dates since 1851. In particular, a field
about a mile west of Dover market-place was dug for brick earth
in 1867 and yielded several graves—a barrel-shaped urn 11 in.
high, cordoned somewhat in Late Celtic fashion, which contained
burnt bones, a largish urn of red ware with bones and a fibula,
several smaller urns of black ware, some with bones, a skull
with a bronze circlet, and some few coins of Severus, Postumus,
and Constantine.72 (3) On the north of the town
near the London Road, which roughly reproduces the Roman road to
Canterbury, still more has come to light. The museum possesses
urns from Biggin Street, which seem in part at least sepulchral.
Farther on, near the end of Bridge Street, Charlton, a builder
found some burials in 1864. One large round-bellied ‘dolium,’
22 in. high by 18 in. in diameter, covered with a tile,
contained burnt bones and a graceful long-necked vessel of
glass, said to be inscribed but illegible. A similar big urn
contained a Samian saucer said to be stamped CNNTOS, burnt
bones, and snail shells—presumably not Roman snails, but later
intruders. A smaller jar of black ware, 14 in. high, contained
only burnt bones. Scratches like XX or X and V were
noticed outside it, but are probably only ornament.73
Still farther along the same road, at Buckland, much was
found, both when the railway was made in 1859 and subsequently.
Scores, if not hundreds, of burials must have been unearthed and
destroyed in 1859, most of them (it is said) consisting of a
large urn with bones and two or three smaller urns near it. Two
potters’ marks on Samian came to light, HABI?ISF, Habilis
fecit, now in the museum, and FRONTINI, recorded by Mr.
Payne.74 As amphora handles and pelves, now
in the museum, were also found here, it is possible that there
were cottages as well as a graveyard. (4) Pottery has also
been found on the north or Castle side, both in Castle Street
and on Castle Hill near the waterworks. But whether these belong
to burials is doubtful.75
(iii) One other building of Roman Dover still
survives to our day. It is famous, and deservedly, for it is
probably unique among the remains of Roman antiquity in the
world.76 This is the pharos on the Castle Hill (P1.
X). It has suffered many changes—in Saxon times probably a
church tower, later a fortification, and later still a belfry
with five bells, and for a while a Government storehouse,
patched and added to by many builders, and again left until
recently to fall into ruin. Its original object is,
nevertheless, plain, and has not been doubted since Stukeley. It
is a tower 62 ft. high. To the height of 43 ft. it is mostly
Roman work; the top story and battlements, 19 ft. in all, were
put on in the Middle Ages. The Roman portion, which alone
concerns us, is a hollow structure. Internally it is 14 ft.
square, with sides rising vertically. Externally it is an
octagon, now gradually diminishing upwards in one uniform
batter, but at one time with vertical walls receding
72 Dover Museum; Arch.
Journ. xxiv, 280; Arch. Cant. xviii, 204, plate nos.
A, B, C. The locality is misstated in the latter passage, and in
general it is hard to be sure which urns were found in which
Dover cemeteries. But the difference to the result is not great.
73 Arch. 7ourn. xxi, 183,
hence Gent. Mag. 1864, ii, 18; Dover Museum.
74 Arch. 7ourn. xvi, 297; Arch.
Cant. xviii, 204 plate (part only); Dover Museum;
photographs in C. R. Smith’s scrapbooks in Exeter Museum.
75 Dover Museum; Arch. Cant. xviii,
204.
76 The tower on Garreg hill,
overlooking the Dee near Holywell, has been called a Roman
lighthouse (Arch. Journ. lx, 254). It does not seem to be
either Roman or a lighthouse. |