Othona or Othonae was the name of an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fort of the

Saxon Shore The Saxon Shore () was a military command of the Late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the English Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the " Count of the Saxon Shore". In the ...

at the sea's edge near the modern village of Bradwell-on-Sea in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

name ''Ythanceaster'' for the locality derives from the Roman name.

History

The fort of Othona is in a typical late 3rd-century style, and was possibly constructed during or shortly prior to the Carausian Revolt, making it contemporary with the forts at

Dubris Dubris, also known as Portus Dubris and Dubrae, was a port in Roman Britain on the site of present-day Dover, Kent, England. As the closest point to continental Europe and the site of the estuary of the River Dour, Kent, Dour, the site chosen ...

(

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

), Portus Lemanis (

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...

) and Gariannonum (

Burgh Castle Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Burgh Castle is located south-west of Great Yarmouth and east of Norwich. The parish was part of Suffolk until 1974. History Burgh Castle was likely the site of a ...

). According to the early 5th-century ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

'', which is the only contemporary document mentioning Othona, the fort was garrisoned by a ''numerus fortensium'' (" ''numerus'' of the brave ones").

Location and construction

Othona's location at the edge of the Dengie Peninsula was ideal for control of the estuaries of the rivers Blackwater and

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...

, the latter leading to the important city of

Camulodunum Camulodunum ( ; ), the Roman Empire, Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important Castra, castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "wikt:strapline, strapline" in the 1960s ...

(now

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

). The fort's shape was roughly

trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

al, with rounded corners. The stone rampart was 4.2 metres thick, indicating a tall superstructure, and enclosed over . A single exterior ditch surrounded the site. Although some of the Roman building material was reused in the 7th-century Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, enough of the rampart survived until the 17th century, when it was described by the local historian

Philemon Holland Philemon Holland (1552 – 9 February 1637) was an English schoolmaster, physician and translator. He is known for the first English translations of several works by Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Plutarch, and also for translating William Camden's ...

as a "huge ruin". It has since been largely swallowed by the sea, leaving scant remains on view.

Christianity

The Othona Community is a Christian community and retreat centre based at Bradwell and at Burton Bradstock in West Dorset. It was founded in 1946 by Norman Motley, a Church of England priest who had served as an RAF chaplain during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and after the war as rector of St Michael, Cornhill, 1956–1980. Othona is a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

ric of the Roman Catholic Church. Vincent Nichols was Titular Bishop of Othona, (1992–2000). Bishop of Bradwell is an episcopal title used by an

area bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the Metropolitan ...

of the Church of England

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. It was created on 23 January 1914 from part of the Diocese of St Albans. It covers Essex and part of East London. Since 1984 it is divided into three ...

since 1968. The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall is a mid-7th-century chapel that has survived from the period of the evangelisation of the

Kingdom of Essex The Kingdom of the East Saxons (; ), referred to as the Kingdom of Essex , was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex ...

. The chapel belongs to

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral, formally titled the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, dedicated to Mary (mother of Jesus), St Mary the Virgi ...

and is in regular use for Church of England services and by the Othona Community.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Othona , Roman Britain
{{Saxon Shore Saxon Shore forts Roman fortifications in England Coastal Essex