Reculver Towers

This is one of the best known landmarks on the North Kent coast of the Thames estuary. The towers were part of a twelfth century remodelling of a Saxon church, and were left standing when most of the church was demolished in the eighteenth century, replaced by a church on higher ground. The Saxon church was originally part of a monastery, which was build amidst the remains of an earlier Roman fort. Almost nothing remains of the substantial Roman fortifications and the settlement and harbour thought to have preceded them, as much of the original site has been lost to coastal erosion, but the fort defended the entrance to the Wantsum Channel, a sea channel which separated the Isle of Thanet from the rest of mainland Kent, from Saxon raids. The Wantsum gradually silted up, and is now an area of low-lying ground with watery pools, channels and marshland; it will not take a lot of sea level rise to make Thanet an island again. 

We walked/ pushed up the steep slope to the ruins, then continued along the substantial sea wall which defends the low lying ground against storm surges. It was interesting, because unusual for us, to find ourselves on a ridge between the shingle beach sloping into the sea on our left and a steep, grassy slope down to patches of water, meadow and long grass stretching away to the horizon on our right, punctuated only by a few lines of trees and distant glimpses of trains on the line to Margate. The shingle was home to a lot of flora, much of it unfamiliar to me, and there were lovely drifts of wild flowers in the grass, but my companions have limited tolerance for me faffing about with a camera, especially if it involves more than one lens and a lot of attempts at a shot, so I just took my compact camera and tried to limit my photography to things I could frame fairly quickly and easily at the first attempt. I much prefer solitary walks for photography, but naturally also want to take the opportunity to capture some different locations when the opportunity arises. 

The extra is another "view between", looking out to sea from the ruins. It was a glorious day, with vivid blue sky and sea, and comfortably warm. A few people and dogs were enjoying the beach, and families picnicked and played games on the grassy field enclosed by the remaining stretches of Roman wall. I think we were last there nine years ago, on one of our first visits to Kent after buying our present house but before we moved; I hope we will return for a more substantial walk before too long.