Burgh Castle

The imposing stone walls, with added towers for catapults, of a Roman 3rd century 'Saxon Shore' fort.

Panoramic views over Breydon Water, which the fourth wall collapsed into a long time ago. 

The Roman sites at Burgh and at nearby Caister-on-Sea were part of a string of forts along what the Romans knew as the ‘Saxon Shore’, the stretch of coast extending between the Solent and the Wash.

These ‘Saxon Shore forts’ are thought to have acted as a defensive system against seaborne raiders, and would have been naval bases and perhaps defended trading centres.

The forts were under the command of the Count of the Saxon Shore and are documented in the 'Notitia Dignitatum', an official list of all military commands recorded at the end of the 4th century AD. This tells us that Burgh was home to the Stablesian cavalry unit, and cropmarks out-side the walls indicate there was an extensive 'vicus' (civilian settlement) there.

In the 4th century AD Burgh and Caister controlled the entrance to the Waveney estuary, which is occupied by extensive marshes. They probably operated together and one, or both, were known by the Romans as 'Gariannonum'. 

For more than half a century the Saxon raids were checked fairly successfully and it was not until 367 AD, when the Saxons, Picts and Scots made a concerted attack on Britain, that the forts began to be overrun and the Count was killed.

Bede records that in about 630 AD Sigeberht, King of the East Angles, gave land inside a Roman fortress to St Fursa to found a monastery. The site, which was called 'Cnobheresburh', may have been Burgh: there is evidence for Saxon occupation and a cemetery inside the fort at this time. However Caister is also a likely candidate. It too was the site of Saxon activity from the 7th century, and there was a large Saxon cemetery to the south of the fort.

It is worth visiting both sites to get a good impression of these Roman forts: Burgh for its still imposing defences and striking location and Caister for the evidence of its internal streets and buildings.