Leaving Canterbury,[113] I journeyed to find out _Rutupiæ_. At Wingham I saw a very large barrow, of Celtic make, by the road side, called the Mount: upon enquiry I found there were several more in the parish, and that a lane here is called Port-lane; doubtless the Roman road, for here the common road goes more southward. The Roman city and port without peradventure was the place now called Stonar, or _Stanar_, as they pronounce it, from the stony foundations I chuse to think; over-against Sandwich, or rather half a mile lower upon the river coming from Canterbury, and almost incompassed by it. This river at first discharged itself into the sea by Ebbesflete, north of the Roman city, till the sand, pouring so directly upon it, obliged the stream to slide under the cliff by Richborough castle, and so by Sandwich: then, coming in obliquely by the weight of its waters, it maintains its passage. I conceit the etymology of _Rhutupium_, about which the learned contend much, is to be sought for in this _Ebbesflete_; and that this water was originally called _Ube_, or _Tyvi_: _rhyd tyf_ or _tyvi_, is the passage over it: the Saxons called it _Reptacester_, a contraction only from _Rhutupicester_: and so our _Ebbe_ at present came from them; _Ruptimuth_ anciently. Hence you see far into the isle of Thanet and Ramsgate cliff, named from the Romans, thrusting its chalky promontory into the sea. This was the chief port for the Roman navy.[114] At present there is only a farm-house or two, standing on an elevation in the marshes: they informed me that here had been a great city, and that they can discover all the streets when the corn is on the ground; and those streets are nothing but pure gravel laid very deep: innumerable stones and foundations have been dug up, but now mostly evacuated; and no doubt Sandwich was built out of it. The river runs close by it, with difficulty preserving its current to the sea; but no doubt originally it was an open beach, or port: perhaps the city itself was an island. The old mouth of the river is now filled up by the astonishing quantity of small pebbles thrown into this bay by the roll of the ocean: you see here a hundred acres of this flat ground covered over with them six or seven foot deep, and looking blue like the water. I fancied the people that lived here, in like danger with those that travel the sandy deserts of Africa, or Arabia. Here are two elevations, where they say two churches stood: upon one, where an elder-tree grows, much rubble and stone is left, but no part of any building; nor is it easy to distinguish what it was originally. [Illustration: 35·2ᵈ. View of Portus Rutupiæ from Sandwich. _7. Oct. 1722._ _South West view of_ Richborough Castle. _Stukeley delin:_ _E. Kirkall sculp:_] [Illustration: 97 Richborow _Castle of the Romans 7 Oct. 1722_. Auspiciis Doctissimi D. Tancred Robinson M. D. &c. _Stukeley delin:_]