The Roman Pharos at Dover Castle: England's only Roman lighthouse

English Heritage ^ | prior to 2026 | Contributors Kevin Booth, Rose Arkle

[SunkenCiv]

Mighty Dover Castle commands a view of the shortest sea crossing between Britain and continental Europe, a position of immense strategic importance. But within the walls of the medieval castle stands a much older building, dating from a time when Britain was an outpost of the Roman Empire.

Around 2,000 years ago, in the early 2nd century AD, the Romans built a pharos, or lighthouse, here. This would have guided the ships of a Roman fleet into the harbour below.

Not only is the Dover pharos the most complete standing Roman building in England, it's also one of only three lighthouses to survive from the whole of the former Roman empire.

The others are at Leptis Magna in Libya and La Coruña in Spain.

The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43, and in the first half of the 2nd century Dover was chosen as the base for the Classis Britannica, the fleet that patrolled the English Channel and North Sea.

The pharos was probably built on Castle Hill around this time, along with another on the high ground opposite (the Western Heights).

They were clearly intended to act as beacons, guiding shipping into the entrance to the harbour in the Dour estuary below.

The views from the topmost stage of the pharos seem to have been deliberately angled so that it could communicate not only with the second lighthouse on Western Heights but with Cap Gris Nez on the French coast. Platforms at the top of the towers would have held burning braziers to act as beacons.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; dovercastle; godsgravesglyphs; romanempire

[SunkenCiv]

The outline of a contemporary lighthouse is scratched on this Romano-British floor tile.

[SunkenCiv]

[skips the intro, but there's an ad for Opera a few minutes in. Oh, and this isn't a new discovery.] History Hit's Tristan Hughes visits the Channel coast in Kent to learn about two key gateways into Roman Britain. First, he visits Dover Castle with Dr Simon Elliott to see the striking remains of the Pharos, one of the best preserved Roman lighthouses in the world. He then visits an exciting excavation 15 miles west at Lympne, where Simon, fellow archaeologist Dr Richard Taylor and their team believe they've located another key port that linked Roman Britain to the continent. This video shines light on the importance of the English Channel to the Romans. It was the vital waterway that connected Britannia with the rest of the Empire. Serviced by ports, forts and lighthouses, vital to the success of Roman Britain/

Roman Britain: New Ancient Archaeological Discovery | 22:25
History Hit | 1.83M subscribers | 90,728 views | July 24, 2025

[SunkenCiv]

[stevio]

IDK, looks like a spaceship.

[Carry_Okie]

I think it imprudent to abandon functioning coastal signal lights. In the case of a Carrington event or satellite jamming, they would become critical.

[dljordan]

That’ll make a great mosque.

[BenLurkin]

Wait a minute. Isn’t that the fickle finger of fate?

[17th Miss Regt]

And the young children can watch the Mickey Mosque Show!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Platforms at the top of the towers would have held burning braziers to act as beacons.

Those Romans sure had odd ways to make a signal fire...

[jimtorr]

I’ve been there, and on a day clear enough to see the white cliffs in France. At the time, I thought the Pharos looked like an odd bell tower for the church. Only learned later that the thing was Roman.

I have a great photo of the castle from the Dover city center.

[gleeaikin]

Is there any sign that reflective or optical surfaces and objects were used to increase light transmission? Romans had glass, but did they ever discover silver surfacing to create mirrors? Also did they ever use prisms or other cut glass for any purpose?

[SunkenCiv]

Nice!

[SunkenCiv]

These lights were built, or modified/enhanced, or rebuilt during the third century. There were a whole series of these for military signaling. I think I first read about them in one of Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman series of novels, same goes for reading about her fictionalized version of Carausius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Sutcliff#Eagle_of_the_Ninth_series

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silver_Branch_(Sutcliff_novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius

[MikelTackNailer]

Burning braziers...good one! Let loose the lions - give the people what they want.

Where it said "The views from the topmost stage of the pharos seem to have been deliberately angled so that it could communicate not only with the second lighthouse on Western Heights but with Cap Gris Nez on the French coast" shows that J.R.R. Tolkien didn't dream up the concept of relayed signal towers all by himself.

Then there's the lost Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (which stood for over 1000 years before earthquakes had their way.

You can see they kept the same basic design stressing function over style. The English one stood around 40 feet while Alexandria's was 330, hence the emphasis on a massive base.

[SunkenCiv]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abusir_(Lake_Mariout)