Richborough

Richborough is a settlement just north of Sandwich on the east coast of the English county of Kent.

Although now some distance from the sea, Richborough stood at the southern end of the Wantsum Channel from prehistory to the early mediaeval period. The channel provided a safe searoute from the continent to the Thames estuary and separated the island of Thanet from the mainland.

The channel has now silted up; prior to this, Richborough was an important natural harbour most famous as being the likely landing place of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. Two defensive ditches at the site dating from this period support Richborough as the site of the Claudian invasion of Britain.

Richborough is a suffragan bishopric of the Diocese of Canterbury, created in 1995 to provide a second provincial episcopal visitor (after Ebbsfleet) for the Province of Canterbury. As of 2006, the present Bishop of Richborough is the Right Reverend Keith Newton.

History

Roman and Saxon

The Romans founded the site and, after the Roman withdrawal, the site was occupied by a Saxon religious settlement (since St. Augustine landed nearby in 597 at nearby Ebbsfleet).

First World War

During the First World War the site was used as a Mystery Port for transporting goods and troops to the front.