Reculver towers

Today I went back to my old home town of Herne Bay. It has changed a lot and, unlike Whitstable, which has been gentrified, looked tired and sad. I walked the coastal path to Reculver towers via Bishopstone glen. The sandstone cliffs (see extra) have not been eroded any further and the water channels which I used to slide down as a boy are still there. Of course in these days of health and safety it is all fenced off with danger signs. Coffee at our destination was most welcome as the walk had been cold and windy. The imposing twin towers of the medieval church at Reculver dominate the skyline. This was the site of one of the earliest Roman forts built against Saxon raids on the 'Saxon Shore'. It later became the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery before becoming the parish church for Reculver. The tall towers were built in a remodelling of the church in the 12th century preserved when the rest of the church fell into ruins to act as a navigational marker for ships at sea.

Much of the site has been lost to coastal erosion, but alongside the twin towers are the ruined remains of the early Roman fort.