Reculver

Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the north-western end of the Wantsum Channel, a sea lane that separated the Isle of Thanet and the Kent mainland until the late Middle Ages [1]. This led the Romans to build a small fort there at the time of their conquest of Britain in 43 AD, and, starting late in the 2nd century, they built a larger fort, or castrum, called Regulbium, which later became one of the chain of Saxon Shore forts [1]. By the 7th century Reculver had become a landed estate of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent [1]. The site of the Roman fort was given over for the establishment of a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 669 AD [1]. Stone Age flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver, and a Mesolithic tranchet axe was found near the centre of the Roman fort in 1960 [1]. This was probably an accidental loss, rather than suggesting a human settlement, evidence for which begins with late Bronze Age and Iron Age ditches [1]. These indicate an extensive settlement, where a Bronze Age palstave and Iron Age gold coins have been found [1].