- The Strait of Dover was known to the Romans as the ‘Fretum Gallicum’ which separated Roman Britannia from Roman Gaul.
- The two Provinces were linked by the Roman port of Boulogne in Gaul with the Roman Port of Richborough, the entry point for Britannia.
Roman Lighthouses
- Dover Roman Lighthouse
- The Dover Roman Lighthouse or ‘Pharos’ is a well preserved octagonal building on five floors and is located next to Dover Castle in Dover, Kent in the South East Region of England.
- The Lighthouse was built shortly after the Roman Conquest of Britannia in 43 CE.
- It was one of a pair of Roman Lighthouses, the other being on the other side of the Dour valley, on the western heights.
- Both Lighthouses were 80 feet high (24m).
- Boulogne Roman Lighthouse
- Built in 46 CE by Caligula after his aborted attempt to invade Britania, and switched off in 475 CE.
- Location: Known as the Tour de l’Ordre or Le Phare de Caligula, it collapsed on the 29th July 1644 CE.
- A seventeenth century engraving is kept in the Boulogne Castle Museum. It shows a 12 storey octagonal tower 55-60m high, similar to the Dover lighthouse, with which it was intervisible.
Strait of Dover