An introduction to Saxon Shore Forts (a specific group of later Roman coastal defensive forts constructed to several different plans and portraying the development of Roman military architecture during the third and early fourth centuries, all apparently built in response to early Saxon raiders). Descriptions of the asset type and its development as well as its associations and a brief chronology are included. Several of the forts have been subject to coastal erosion, with large parts of those at Richborough, Reculver, Burgh Castle, and Bradwell-on-Sea being lost. Walton Castle has entirely gone, and is known only from antiquarian records. Others, such as the fine example in Dover, Kent, are better preserved due to silting up of the harbor within which it once was prominently positioned. The construction of the example in Dover involved some partial demolition of structures associated with earlier phases of the Classis Britannica Fort (Roman Navy). This included, a 'Mansio', or hotel, where military officials would have stayed, with painted murals of Bacchus, preserved in part by the construction of a large earth rampart for the new Saxon Shore Fort (and now opened up to see in a museum).