Page:Sussex Archaeological Collections, volume 6.djvu/125

 originally under or very near where the town of Hithe now stands, though then most probably the channel had been diverted from the neighbourhood of Apledore toward Romney. But no weight can be laid upon this consideration, because the array of Roman coast-guard towers extended certainly from Norfolk to Hampshire. A vastly more formidable objection is couched in the concluding clause of Gildas's statement, wherein he declares the Roman fortresses to have been erected, not simply "on the sea coast southwards," but even "ad prospectum maris—in view of the sea." Now the spot whereupon it is proposed to fix one of those coast towers is the very extremity and lowest edge of what alone could have been dry, sound land some 1300 or 1400 years ago; and I affirm, without fear of contradiction, that no possibility exists of obtaining from thence a view of the sea, which, at the nearest point, the modern mouth of the Rother beyond Rye, must be ten or twelve miles off, while the outlet of the ancient estuary, which was coeval with Anderida, must have been distant not less than from twenty to twenty-five miles. Moreover, a position here commanding a view of the estuary can by no means be equivalent to commanding a view of the sea, because the position would not overlook even the estuary, the ancient course of the river making a sharp turn to the left, or more eastward, immediately after passing Newenden, so that, from the elevation of intervening ground, three miles will be a very liberal allowance for the extent of the prospect down the water, and very probably nothing could have been seen beyond less than half that space. And if a navigable channel should have existed (which is very likely) in the valley under the Isle of Oxney, through which the Rother now flows seaward, the prospect in that direction would have reached but little further than on the other side, because the course of the valley speedily VI.