Speaker: Max Craven

In 2017 Max and Carole Craven undertook a Roman-themed voyage of discovery , taking in the more obscure but unjustifiably neglected sections of the southern and eastern coasts of England on which stand some of the most impressive vestiges of Roman Britain, interspersed with sections on basic facts, location, access and contact details of each, interspersed with enjoyable non-Roman interludes.

In the later third century AD, the outer reaches of the Roman empire were being threatened on all sides by hostile actors. Along the southern and eastern coasts of Britain, a series of ten, possibly twelve, vast fortified enclosures were built beside strategic harbours to defend against external threats, mainly from Germanic marauders and also to act as secure entrepôts for Britian supplied much of the Annona (edible supplies) for the Rhine army, any interruption of which would needless to say, be disastrous. Through sixteen centuries, impressive vestiges of most of them have survived, although three have vanished, virtually without trace. Several became the sites of Norman castles; others have associations with early Christianity; all have a story to tell.

Taking the story from the colossal surviving fort at Portchester in Hampshire to the empty, windswept site of Brancaster on the north Norfolk coast, Seeking the Saxon Shore is an introduction to exploring these ancient sites and for bringing them to life; acting as a practical guide to locate and access them. In describing the origins of the forts, their ancient settings, their functions and subsequent histories, this lecture will, we hope, enable those listening to travel through a modern landscape but well briefed to recognise and visualise the distant past.