Καινος Λιμην
Attested: Ptolemy 2,3,4 Καινος Λιμην
Where: Probably at Hastings, where there used to be a substantial estuary linking up with the Roman road through the Wealden iron works to Maidstone and Rochester. Probably the same as Novia in the Cosmography.
Name Origin: Greek for ‘new harbour’.
Notes: Thanks to Bruce Starkey for drawing attention to Hastings' possible Roman importance in exporting iron from the Weald. Note the local place names Hastings (compare Latin hasta ‘spear’), Ore (compare Latin ora ‘high bank’), Wickham (typical of early trading places), and Broomgrove (because Broom- etc occur so often near Roman sites). The actual cargo-handling wharfs would have been well inland from the sea.
Not at Pevensey as suggested by Richmond and Crawford and previously favoured here. Nor at Newhaven, favoured by Kleineberg, Marx & Lelgemann (2012), on the river Ouse with Lewes further upstream , nor at Lympne, a fort of the Saxon Shore favoured by Dmitri Gusev, nor on the river Arun (probably Ptolemy's Τρισαντωνος), with mouth near Shoreham but likely Roman-era port some way inland, around Pulborough TQ052176, favoured by Rivet & Smith, nor Dover, nor Chichester.
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Last edited 24 September 2025 To main Menu