The site south of Worth, near Sandwich in east Kent, comprises a Romano-Celtic temple overlying earlier Iron Age activity, active broadly from the late Iron Age through the Roman period (roughly 1st century BC to 4th century AD). It was likely a modest rural shrine of the typical square cella-and-ambulatory plan, serving a local agricultural and coastal community near the Wantsum Channel.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Positioned in the hinterland of the Roman port of Richborough (Rutupiae), the temple represents the continuity of native religious practice into the Roman period in a strategically important corner of Britannia close to the principal cross-Channel landing point. Such rural sanctuaries acted as focal points for local cult activity, votive deposition and seasonal gatherings within a heavily Romanised landscape.
Early 20th-century investigations recovered evidence of a Romano-Celtic temple with associated Iron Age occupation, including pottery, coins and votive material, suggesting cult continuity on a pre-Roman sacred site; the remains parallel comparable Kentish shrines at Worth, Springhead and Lullingstone. Detailed published excavation records are limited, and much of the assemblage is known only from antiquarian and interim reports.
The site south of Worth, near Sandwich in east Kent, comprises a Romano-Celtic temple overlying earlier Iron Age activity, active broadly from the late Iron Age through the Roman period (roughly 1st century BC to 4th century AD). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-Celtic temple and Iron Age site S of Worth is classified as a Roman temple — a religious 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 Roman amphitheater at Richborough (4.6 km), Rutupiae (4.9 km), Wingham (9.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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