Durovernum Cantiacorum

Originally an Iron Age hill fort, Durovernum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia which existed for a period of four hundred years from the time of the Roman Conquest until the arrival of Hengist and Horsa in the mid-fifth century.

Durovernum was founded as a Roman fort in 43 AD, very soon after the conquest, to guard a crossing of the River Stour. Military occupation of the site lasted until 60 AD. After demilitarisation, Durovernum became the civitas capital of the Cantii, a Celtic tribe who inhabited most of modern day Kent. The short period of militarisation and the very early date for the founding of Durovernum (one of the earliest in Britain) reflects the largely pro-Roman attitudes found at that time among the Cantii.

With a strategic position on Watling Street, Durovernum was a prosperous and thriving Roman town. As a civitas, the town would have had a forum, a basilica, temples, a theatre and public baths. The exact locations of many of these buildings are unknown, buried as they are under modern day Canterbury. In the late third century, to defend against barbarian raids, stone walls and a large earth bank were constructed around the town.

Durovernum Cantiacorum in its Roman heyday...

After the Roman withdrawal in around 410, the Romano-British inhabitants of many civitas capitals in Britain attempted to carry on as normal and Durovernum was no exception. It’s not known if Ceint became a true kingdom in its own right in the early fifth century, or if it was a semi-independent province governed by a Roman-style magistrate. Whichever the case, Ceint’s increasing vulnerability to barbarian raids meant Saxon laeti were quickly hired to protect Durovernum in return for land outside of the city walls.

In the 440s, the Romano-Britons of Ceint were hit by a double-whammy; firstly a plague swept across southern Britain in 446; secondly there was laeti revolt soon after in which many of the Saxon and Jutish mercenaries settled around Ceint joined a Germanic army of invaders led by Hengist and Horsa. Chaos ruled across south-east Britain and Durovernum fell in 457.

...and Durovernum Cantiacorum in the fifth century. The few inhabitants that remained likely lived in wooden houses among the ruins.

However, despite Hengist’s hostile takeover of Ceint, Durovernum was not completely abandoned. It seems to still have been a sizable settlement although life for the Romano-British inhabitants must have been very different. The Roman buildings and roads quickly fell into disrepair as urban life was abandoned and the people of Durovernum reverted to subsistence farming. The town would later be revived by Jutish settlers who would rename it Cantwaraburh. Over time Cantwaraburh would become Canterbury.