Richborough

Richborough (/ˈrɪtʃbərə/) is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash.

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

The channel has now silted up, but prior to this, Richborough was an important natural harbour and was the landing place of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. Until October 2008 there was uncertainty whether this was the site of the Claudian invasion of Britain; two ditches at the site which have been dated to the Roman period were interpreted as defensive structures; however, some archaeologists had favoured the theory that the landing took place in the vicinity of modern-day Chichester. The 2008 discovery proved that this was a defensive site of a Roman beachhead, protecting 700 metres (770 yd) of coast.

The suffragan bishop of Richborough, in the Diocese of Canterbury, was created in 1995 to provide a second provincial episcopal visitor (after Ebbsfleet) for the Province of Canterbury.