61 



sight of the French coast and picking up the high land of St. 

 Catherine's. St. Catherine's would be the landmark but not the 

 objective. Navigation in the early days was more subject to the 

 influences of wind and tide than it is to-day. To reach the main- 

 land they would take the line of least resistance and be carried 

 east or west as the case might be,, but, as the prevailing wind 

 would be from the S.W., in the majority of cases they would be 

 carried towards the eastern end of the island where, after rounding 

 Bemridge Point, they would find sheltering harbours on the island 

 itself, viz., Brading and the Medina, while on the mainland they 

 would have the land-locked harbours of Chichester, Langston, and 

 Portsmouth, and beyond, the great inlet which covers the sunken 

 valley of the Itchen, Southampton Water. This, then, was the 

 bridge used by many of the early invaders of our land including 

 the second Roman invasion, said to have taken place in Southamp- 

 ton Water about 43 A.D. Kent presents us with a different set of 

 physical features, the peninsula being on the English side. This 

 carries us within 22 miles of the French coast, thus forming 

 another bridge having at least as great importance as the Hamp- 

 shire one. The same conditions prevail here as in the former case, 

 the formidable white walls acting as landmark, but offering a dim- 

 cult landing, the same prevailing w;ind and the same search for 

 some sheltering harbour and easy approach. Those endeavouring 

 to use the Kent " bridge " might be carried . to Lympne, but in 

 most cases they found Pegwell Bay and Sandwich the most con- 

 venient when, by running through the Wensome, which then made 

 Thanet a real island, they would reach the mouth of the Thames 

 and so on to London. 



These two bridges have never ceased to be active down to the 

 present day, for no one will ever forget the Dover Patrol which 

 did such brilliant service during* the late war, or the silent service 

 from Southampton with its ceaseless train of men and munitions, 

 its set train-ferry and its faithful hospital ships on their errand 

 of mercy. Thus did the two counties of Hampshire and Kent 

 fulfil their destiny favoured by their unique position of being the 

 two nearest points to the Continent of Europe. 



The Roman invasion of Hampshire has already been men- 

 tioned. We must now refer to the invasion of Kent by the same 

 powerful nation. This took place nearly 100 years earlier, but 

 Kentish antiquarians are not quite so sure as those of Hampshire 

 about the place of landing. Taking all the opinions expressed, one 

 is inclined to> favour that which assigns the landing to the west of 

 Dover. The invaders seem to have come from Boulogne and not 

 Calais, so they may have chosen the low-lying land about Romney 

 Marshes, possibly at Lympne, which is the terminus of the 

 ancient Roman Stone Street. They seem to have taken Dover 

 from the land, thence marching to Canterbury after fighting a 

 fierce battle on Barham Downs. 



This brings us to the position of the two cities, Canterbury 



