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
Dubris extensive and publicly accessible remains are at the Roman Painted House, where parts of the mansio, Saxon Shore Fort and Classis Britannica fort are all visible. The town council had plans to build a car park on the site, when the KARU team, led by Brian Philp, began to find Roman remains. After a convoluted battle with the council and the builders, the excavation was allowed to continue and a cover-building was built on the site by KARU while the carpark was built elsewhere, with the museum being completed before the car park. It has since received thousands of visitors,