romanobritish

British Library digitised image from page 260 of "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon: a history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent

from British Library

• mikescottnz said:

  Rochester was one of the two oppida of the Cantiaci tribe, the western administrative centre of the Celtic kingdom (the other being their capital of Durovernum Cantiacorum, modern day Canterbury). The Celtic road (trackway) which became Watling Street probably passed through on roughly the current alignment: the geography of the Medway dictates the best crossing point. The source of the Romano-British name for Rochester, Durobrivae, has been a matter of some debate. The name Durobrivae can be translated as "stronghold" or "fort" by the "bridge" or "bridges".[1] This could have been the oppidum (see pre-Roman history, below) or a pre-Roman fort. No such fort has been discovered by archaeologists, but much of the land has been disturbed by the succeeding two millennia of continuous occupation. Alternatively, Durobrivae may refer to a small fort set up by Aulus Plautius, the general in charge of the first phase of the Roman conquest of Britain; it was not needed for long, as Kent was soon settled. More fundamentally, there was no bridge in AD 43. The alternative explanation notes that Durobrivae was also recorded as Durobrovum and Durobrivis. Either of these could be a Latinisation of the British word Dourbruf meaning "swift stream". The name is recorded as Durobrivis in around AD 730 and Dorobrevis in AD 844.