District, afterwards exchanged for the title of Comes Saxonici Litoris, Count of the Saxon shore.
Now Kent was well defended by Rutupiae or Richborough Castle near Sandwich , and by Dover ; Romney Marsh, by Lymne and Old Romney ; the neighbourhood of the Downs, by Anderida or Pevensey ; but, unless it be allowed that there was a Roman post here, we are driven to the strange conclusion that they omitted all means of securing the whole line of coast from Romney to Pevensey, from insult and invasion, at the very point where a good harbour and facilities for advancing into the interior of the country were sure to invite the approach of an enterprising foe. These various considerations produce on my own mind, by their cumulative effect,the conviction that this was a Roman municipal town: indeed, I believe, if the town were now known by its earlier designation of Hastings Chester,that the name alone would be accepted as a convincing proof of the truth of my proposition.
It is remarkable that in the earliest list we have of Roman Ports in Britain ,[1] the first name on the list " Othona," has never been satisfactorily identified : although it takes pre cedence of Dover which is second, for the names are not arranged in geographical order, and,therefore,we may fairly presume that they are placed in order of importance. CAM DEN vaguely conjectures that it may be the same as Ithane chester , in Essex, of which nothing but the tradition -
- ↑ Philipotts Villare Cantianum , p . 9. (Notitia of Pancirollus.)
