THE COUNT OF THE SAXON SHORE

[Lothia]

I have read several texts concerning late Britain trying to understand the troop disposition along the Saxon Shore.
In looking at units listed in the ND and then at individual city entries concerning Roman troops stationing,  I get what I see as a jumbled, contradictory listing of which units were stationed where, and when they were there.

My question at the moment, in particular, is about Colchester.  In the very early  5th century, Were Roman units stationed there, what units were they, and where, in or around   Colchester, were they posted.

In addition, at that time, where would the Count have been headquartered?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Tom

[Robert Vermaat]

I think nobody knows. Colchester was a town and, as with town during the 4th and 5th centuries, troops were never permamently stationed there (except on the Limes). So no to Camelodunum.

I'm almost sure that the Comis Litoris Saxonici would have been in Rutupiae or maybe even in Gaul if you accept that the original command consisted of troops both in Gaul and Britannia.

[Magister_Officiorum13241]

Camulodunum (Colchester) in Essex was part of the province of Flavia Caesarensis since Valentinian I reorganised the British provinces after the Great Conspiracy of 367. We don't have information in the Notitia Dignitatum of what units were stationed there, if any. But we do have some clues on units stationed in what later became Essex.

The Saxon Shore fort of Othona was garrisoned by a unit called the Numerus Fortensium, according to the Notitia Dignatatum. In the Late Roman Empire, a Numerus was a unit of the Limitanei (border guard), about 300 strong.

[Lothia]

Thank you Robert,
Very helpful. Never thought about Gaul.
Tom

[Crispianus]

There is a couple of military belt finds from the later 4th century from Colchester...
In the town itself large areas had been demolished and turned into farmland by the early 5th century according to Philip Crummy... it doesnt look to me like the remaining population would have been enough to defend the walls if the occasion arose...

However there were several large Forts along the the coast in this region at Bradwell on Sea (Athona), Walton (dont know how large) and Felixstowe but Coastal erosion has destroyed them...

[Nathan Ross]

it doesnt look to me like the remaining population would have been enough to defend the walls if the occasion arose...

Somebody appears to have been defending something in the later 4th or early 5th century, although as usual the scrappy evidence isn't giving us many clues about what was really going on!

"The gate appears to have been burnt on at least two occasions in the late Roman period. The second fire was the more serious. Brushwood was piled up against the outer face of the wooden doors and set alight causing the doors to collapse inwards. The heat was so intense that many stones turned red. The two fires are not closely datable but the first was probably no earlier than 367 and the second substantially later. The fact that there were two fires shows that the town survived the first assault (if indeed that was the cause of the first fire). The debris from the second fire, however, does not appear to have been cleared away, implying that the gate was never repaired." 

"The fate of the Romano-British population of Colchester is unclear but life in the town was certainly radically different by the mid 5th century, the date of the earliest known Saxon hut... Before the change, there is likely to have been a period when the population was in rapid decline."

Iron Age and Roman Colchester (1994)

I don't know if there has been much new work done on the later period there since.

As for the Comes Litoris Saxonici, my own favoured theory is that the commands of both he and the Dux Britanniarum as listed in the ND were set up c.370 and replaced whatever previous arrangements might have been in place, including the wall garrison, which survives as one of many anachronisms in the ND's list. As with most other things in this period, these commands were in a state of constant flux and probably did not survive in that form until the end of the 4th century.

By the early 5th century, I think, most troops in Britain would have been settled Germanic foederati and local militia, with only the mobile field command of the Comes Britanniae acting as a strategic reserve - the latter were probably billeted in towns or even larger villas across southeastern Britain, until c.AD407.

The Comes Litoris may have been based at Dover, or have moved his headquarters around the country. He may even have established himself at one of the surviving big villas of the coastal region - Eccles and Darenth in Kent, for example, are usually believed to have been downgraded to 'industrial use' by this period, but may have been taken over by the military instead, perhaps?

[Crispianus]

Most of the Colchester reports are available online, I've highlighted the CAR reports here which contain the military finds.

On Walton Castle there is a blog here showing the proposed extent of the fortifications, there has been quite a lot written about this by local arch societys as far as I can remember...

I've visited all the sites along this area of coast on frequent occasions although this was many years ago now, and they are well situated, as you can see for many miles covering the entire extent of the waterways in the region, plus theres no way in roman times to travel along this part of the coast without a boat, with any speed...

EG: from Colchester to Bradwell/Athona is about 35 miles (from memory) by a very circuitous route.

You could say without the forts the area is indefensible.

Theres also "City of Victory" by P. Crummy 1997 which I would recommend it includes the highlights and many artists reconstructions of the town.

My signature refers to Athona (Othona), specifically "St Peters on the Wall" a 6th/7th century Anglo Saxon church built on the foundations of the inland wall of the fort, from an article on the Saxon Shore forts ...

"On the Castra of Littus Saxonicum, and particularly the castrum of Othona" by Thomas lewin 1867 Archaeologia.

[Crispianus]

Othona was apparantly excavated in the 19th and 20th century and turned up a number of artifacts including a "Frankish" axe, the troops stationed here were thought to be "Limen Fortensis" light Cavalry...

from the guide which also includes a plan of the remains which shows it to be similar to the other East Anglian forts:

"The fort of Othona and the chapel of st Peters on the Wall" by H. Malcolm Carter 1966

Second hand copies are available from ABE books etc and may be available new from the site below:

Link to the online site: https://www.bradwellchapel.org/history/t...-of-othona

According to this site coins and pottery dated as late as 468AD have been found...


Last and not least its well worth the visit...