Durobrivae was a small Roman walled town on the east bank of the River Medway at the crossing point of Watling Street, occupying the site of modern Rochester. Founded in the mid-1st century AD shortly after the Claudian conquest, it remained active throughout the Roman period and served as a posting station, river crossing and modest civilian settlement of around 9.5 hectares within its later walls.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the Medway bridgehead on Watling Street between Rutupiae (Richborough) and Londinium, Durobrivae was a strategic node controlling movement between the Channel ports and the provincial capital, and it was important enough to receive masonry defences in the later 2nd or 3rd century.
Excavations within Rochester have revealed sections of the town wall and earthen rampart, traces of the Roman bridge abutments in the Medway, and evidence of timber and masonry buildings, cemeteries outside the walls and pottery assemblages indicating sustained occupation; however, deep medieval and modern overburden has limited large-scale investigation, and much remains known only from rescue work.
Durobrivae was a small Roman walled town on the east bank of the River Medway at the crossing point of Watling Street, occupying the site of modern Rochester. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Durobrivae is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Open areas within Roman, Saxon and medieval town (0.3 km), Romano-British villa and 19th century reservoir in Cobham Park (6 km), Roman villa 200m north of church (7.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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