Feel like you’re looking at a picture of the past? Well, you’re not. This isn’t a scene from the forthcoming Gladiator reboot or anything like that, but rather a huge and very spectacular reconstructed Roman gateway, which has just opened to the British public.
Built by English Heritage, the wooden structure stands eight metres high and looks out over Richborough in Kent. The gateway is built on the exact spot that a fort would have stood all the way back in AD 43, when Roman soldiers would use it to defend their military base. Visitors can climb to the top and soak up the same panoramic views as our Roman ancestors – thankfully without the looming threat of invasion.
Staying as true to the original structure as possible, the gateway has been constructed in oak, using Roman-style dovetail, lap and scarf joints.
Often referred to as the ‘gateway to Britannia’, Richborough was a significant landmark in Roman Britain. It was there that the Roman conquest began and troops built fortifications to protect their ships on the channel. The area later became a bustling trade hub and was where the first Roman road was built, running all the way to north Wales.
The fort will open alongside an exhibition curated by English Heritage, which showcases some never before seen ancient artefacts including a 2,000-year-old glass cup made from blown glass in the Middle East and a trader’s weight in the shape of Harpocrates, the god of silence, the only one of its kind in Britain.
Paul Pattison, of English Heritage, said: ‘To be able to rebuild a structure as accurately as possible, and one that stands on the exact spot of the original at Richborough almost 2,000 years ago, is remarkable.
‘Standing atop this eight-metre-high gateway, looking out and imagining what the first Romans might have seen, is quite an experience.’
Tickets to Richborough Roman fort and amphitheatre are available here.
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