Thing #2. Rutupaie is one of the most important places in all of British history. Isn’t it funny how you organically are discovering why.

It was the main Roman Port in Britain. It was the end point for the highway that would be the major British highway for centuries (Watling Street) which ran through London to Wales and extended all the way to the wall. It was a center of power for Carausius, one of the third century usurpers, who claimed the Empire from a British power base. He was originally the guy in charge of the fleet that kept the Saxons at bay, and may have been the one who commissioned the Saxon Shore forts in the first place.

The importance of the navy in protecting Britain even then is demonstrated by the fact this navy guy had the power to declare himself (if only for a while) Emperor.

You can tell from the map that once past the fort, the sea leads right to the Thames, which shows how important it was.

Not visible on the map…is that the entire end of Kent (where the out of scale fort is sitting) was at the time the isle of Thanet…now silted into a peninsula.

Rutupaie was built on the mainland side of the channel. Thanet is where Julius Caesar landed, Claudius landed, and later was the land gifted to Hengest and Horsa (Thanet actually being the Saxon name for it).

You can now imagine why that little scrap of land falling into Saxon hands was a Big Deal.

Much later in history long after the fort was gone, the port shifted a little south to Sandwich…one of the Cinque Ports that would continue to play a major role.

And of course, due south of that fort piece are the cliffs of Dover and a short hop south east across the narrowest part of the Channel is Calais.

That little patch of ground is big time.