Dover Shakespeare's "King Lear" (between 1603 and 1606), in which the town and its cliffs play a prominent role. Archaeological finds have shown that there were Stone Age people in the area, and that some Iron Age finds also exist. During the Roman period, the area became part of the Roman communications network. It was connected by road to Canterbury and Watling Street and it became "Portus Dubris", a fortified port. Dover has a partly preserved Roman lighthouse (the tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain) and the remains of a villa with the only preserved Roman wall painting outside Italy. Dover
Dover Western Heights Century AD, and would have been similar in design lighting the cliffs either side of the Roman Port of Dubris. The remains were lost during the first period of construction, but were re-discovered during the second period and restored to their original position as a rather shapeless lump of masonry. The foundations, though, are present in the room immediately below. Local names for the remains of the Pharos are the ‘Bredenstone’ or the ‘Devil’s Drop of Mortar’, and it was here, until 1804, that the Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports had their installation ceremony. It is likely that the