Roman Road
The Roman road (Margary road No. 100) from Richborough to Dover passes through Betteshanger. It is marked on OS maps and can still be traced as a lane/footpath across the parish, although to the north, Betteshanger House lies across the line of the road.
Margary states:
'From Woodnesborough southward the road is still in use to Betteshanger Park, where the agger1 can be very clearly seen in the plantation east of the present track, about 25 feet wide. Between the park and Telegraph Farm the agger is again plain, on the west of the present lane, and a war-time trench some 200 yards north of the farm disclosed its metalling, a thin layer of 2-3 inches of flints upon an agger 15 feet wide.'2
The port of Richborough (Rutupiae) was the original port of entry to the Roman province. In the Hadrian-Antonine times (150-250 AD) Richborough went into decline and Dover (Dubris) became the main gateway to Roman Britain.
[1] - The agger (or embankment) constitutes the road's foundation, and varies greatly in width and height. It is sometimes just an earth bank, and in other places layers of stony material. Along less important routes there is no agger and the road is set directly on the levelled ground surface.
[2] - Margary Ivan D, 1955, 'Roman Roads in Britain,' Vol. 1, p.33.