Sandwich
May 15, 2022
HM 183. Sandwich - four miles up a "Roman" river.
I love the challenge of sailing up shallow rivers, and the River Stour up to Sandwich did not disappoint. Many people had warned me about the dangers of Pegwell Bay and the tricky entrance to the river, but we found it well buoyed and the depth sounder matched the chart which is always a relief!
This area of East Kent is a Roman history goldmine and we sailed right past where the Romans landed 2000 years ago. Photo 3 shows a map of the coast in AD 43 which was the date of the second (successful) conquest of Britain by Claudius whose troops landed at Richborough "Harbour" (Rutupiae on the map) with 625 ships! 100 years previously, in BC 54, Caesar had failed in his attempt, south of Deal (Dola), possibly due to the long shingle beach.
More recently an unusual secret Roll-on Roll-off jetty was built near the estuary entrance (photo 10) in WW1, servicing ferries taking troops and equipment across to France. Today, this ancient waterway is quite silted up but encouraged by friendly Harbour Master Ian Broughton we made it right into the centre of beautiful Sandwich where we were kindly lent a mooring alongside a US Navy "Rhine" patrol boat.
Ian knows the 8 miles of his river intimately. With a varied career constructing motorways, being an RSPCA inspector and delivering yachts, Ian now lives abroad his own boat and not a lot gets past him....forgive the pun! He is very proud that all 158 boats under his charge pay their harbour dues on time - not many harbours achieve that. He told me he loves his job, mainly due to the variety of people he meets and the variety of wildlife and other things which inhabit his harbour - beavers and kingfishers and an enormous Pfizer factory where viagra was developed. (I wonder if anyone reads down this far!)
Thank you so much Ian for persuading me to visit Sandwich - highly recommended.
I love the challenge of sailing up shallow rivers, and the River Stour up to Sandwich did not disappoint. Many people had warned me about the dangers of Pegwell Bay and the tricky entrance to the river, but we found it well buoyed and the depth sounder matched the chart which is always a relief!
This area of East Kent is a Roman history goldmine and we sailed right past where the Romans landed 2000 years ago. Photo 3 shows a map of the coast in AD 43 which was the date of the second (successful) conquest of Britain by Claudius whose troops landed at Richborough "Harbour" (Rutupiae on the map) with 625 ships! 100 years previously, in BC 54, Caesar had failed in his attempt, south of Deal (Dola), possibly due to the long shingle beach.
More recently an unusual secret Roll-on Roll-off jetty was built near the estuary entrance (photo 10) in WW1, servicing ferries taking troops and equipment across to France. Today, this ancient waterway is quite silted up but encouraged by friendly Harbour Master Ian Broughton we made it right into the centre of beautiful Sandwich where we were kindly lent a mooring alongside a US Navy "Rhine" patrol boat.
Ian knows the 8 miles of his river intimately. With a varied career constructing motorways, being an RSPCA inspector and delivering yachts, Ian now lives abroad his own boat and not a lot gets past him....forgive the pun! He is very proud that all 158 boats under his charge pay their harbour dues on time - not many harbours achieve that. He told me he loves his job, mainly due to the variety of people he meets and the variety of wildlife and other things which inhabit his harbour - beavers and kingfishers and an enormous Pfizer factory where viagra was developed. (I wonder if anyone reads down this far!)
Thank you so much Ian for persuading me to visit Sandwich - highly recommended.