Our Blog - Summer 2024 Trip - Reculver Towers and Roman Fort - Herne Bay, England

These imposing twin towers are the remains of a medieval church on Herne Bay, acting as a navigation marker for ships at sea. This was also the site of one of the earliest Roman forts built against Saxon raids on the Saxon Shore. In Roman times, the Isle of Thanet was, in fact, an island. When the Romans conquered Britain around 43 AD, they built 2 forts where the Wantsum Channel joined the Thames estuary: the Reculver Fort here, and the Richborough Fort on the other side (we didn't make it to the Richborough Roman Fort, but it can be visited as well). Part of the Roman Fort has been lost to coastal erosion and what remains is really just some ruined walls and earthworks (which doesn't really do well in pictures).

By the 5th century, the Romans had abandoned their defense of Britain and the fort here had fallen into disuse. An Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded on the site in 669, re-using the existing defenses, and the church of St Mary was built near the center of the earlier fort. The monastery ceased functioning by the 10th century and the church became a parish church. It was remodeled in the 12th century to add the tall twin towers which you can see here. You can see a few remnants of the rest of the church as well, and initially, I thought that it had been destroyed by something natural (storms, erosion, fire). But in fact, the medieval church was partly demolished in 1805 to reuse the stones to build a new church on higher ground, but the twin towers were left. Some people say that the towers were left to continue to act as a navigation marker for ships.

They had a huge grass area that was, based on the various drawings, within the walls of the Roman Fort. So we decided this would be a great place to allow Lucy to play.