There is a Roman station near the present village, and (across the Thames) the double isolated mound known as Wittenham Hills (Sinodum), on the summit of which are strong early earthworks. In 655, this place was the seat of a bishopric, the largest in England, including the whole of Wessex and Mercia. In 1086, William the First and Bishop Remigius removed the bishop's stool to Lincoln. DOVER.--Roman _Dubris_, on the Dour (_dwr_--water), the principal Cinque port, is situated close to the South Foreland, and is 72 miles from London. It is the eye of England, looking over to the nearest part of the continent. It is also the gate of England, through which have come and gone in all historic ages kings and queens and lesser folk on all kinds of missions, relating both to war and peace. Geologically it is knit to the French shore, by the existence both of _white_ and _black_ rocks, _i.e._, chalk and coal. At a time when Britain was joined to what is now Europe, when the cave bear devoured his prey in Kent's cavern, and the monkey gambolled in the lofty trees, when the Thames was a tributary of some great eastern stream, the Dour might have been a considerable river, as it has worked for itself a deep erosive valley. Even in early historic times its estuary must have occupied a great part of the land on which stands modern Dover. Originally wood fires were lighted on corresponding sites on the E. and W. cliffs to guide vessels into the intermediate beach and natural harbour during the darkness of a winter's night. Even when the Pharos was reared, the primitive mode of illumination by means of wood or coal was employed. The modern form of lighthouse, with glass or metal reflectors, dates but from 1758, when the first Eddystone lighthouse was built. A common coal fire-light was continued at St. Bees Head, in Cumberland, as late as 1820. Architecturally, the Dover Pharos (so called from one erected at Pharos, Alexandria, in 285 B.C.--550 ft. high--said to have been visible 42 miles away) is interesting from the fact that the stones from which it is built are not native, but are supposed to have been brought over as ballast in Roman galleys. In some places it would appear that they were built up wall-shape, liquid cement being poured into the interstices. That the ubiquitous King Arthur built the first castle on the cliffs, 300 ft. above the sea, is a tradition--one we should like to believe. His name is also associated with sites on the Western Heights and Barham Downs. It is certain that the Roman invaders early took advantage of the position of this "key" of the island, and that amongst their five coast castles, under the control of "the Count of the Saxon Shore," Dover held a position second only to Richborough. In the Watling Street, the baths, now destroyed, the church within the Castle, the Pharos, the Romans have left clear evidence of their occupation. St. Mary's may be the first Christian church in Britain. To the beginning