Portus Lemanis, known today as Stutfall Castle near Lympne in Kent, was a Roman fort and harbour established in the late 2nd century AD, later rebuilt as one of the Saxon Shore forts in the mid-3rd century. It served as a base for the Classis Britannica (the British fleet) and subsequently as a coastal defence installation against seaborne raiders, remaining active into the late 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the chain of Saxon Shore forts listed in the Notitia Dignitatum (under the command of the Comes Litoris Saxonici), Portus Lemanis controlled a major harbour at the eastern end of Stone Street, the Roman road linking the coast to Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum). It was a key node in the late Roman defensive and logistical network of southeast Britain.
Excavations by Charles Roach Smith in 1850 and by Barry Cunliffe in 1976–78 revealed an irregular polygonal circuit of walls with projecting bastions, much disturbed by landslip, along with an altar dedicated by Lucius Aufidius Pantera, prefect of the British fleet (c. AD 130–140). Finds include tiles stamped CL BR (Classis Britannica), confirming the naval connection, though the original earlier fort and harbour installations have been largely obscured by later geomorphological collapse.
Portus Lemanis, known today as Stutfall Castle near Lympne in Kent, was a Roman fort and harbour established in the late 2nd century AD, later rebuilt as one of the Saxon Shore forts in the mid-3rd century. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Portus Lemanis is classified as a Roman fort — a military 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 Romano-British building S of Burch's Rough (3.6 km), Aldington Knoll Roman barrow and later beacon (4.8 km), Roman barrow, 438m south-west of Middle Park (8.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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