Saxon Shore Forts

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For other uses of "Saxon Shore", see Saxon Shore (disambiguation).

The Saxon Shore Forts is the collective name given to a system of forts (castra) built along the east and south-east coast of what is now England, during the latter centuries of the Roman occupation of Britain, as part of the wider fortification network known of the Saxon Shore, which extended across the Channel.

[edit] The forts

The forts are:

Our knowledge of this system of fortresses comes from the Notitia Dignitatum, which names the commander as the Comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniam (Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain), and gives the respective complement of military personnel at each site. They were probably built in the late third century, at a time when Carausius was in rebellion against Rome. Carausius had, however, been originally appointed to defeat piracy in the narrow seas, and their construction was in line with general imperial policy.

Further north on the coast, the precautions took the form of central depots at Lincoln and Malton with roads radiating to coastal signal stations. When an alert was relayed to the base, troops could be dispatched along the road. The Lincoln out-station at Salinae could receive signals from Branodunum.

[edit] External links