A reconstructed gateway and rampart standing on the exact site where Romans set up their own fortifications 2,000 years ago is set to open to the public.

The eight-metre high opening, at Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre, has been created where the original structure was built in 43AD and will now welcome invaders rather than trying to ward them off.

English Heritage, which manages the site, has also curated a new museum display in time for Wednesday's reopening since working with previously unseen objects from the collection found at Richborough.

This explores the site’s history that spanned both the beginning and the end of Roman rule.

From a military base to a thriving port town, Richborough, near Sandwich, called Rutupiae in Latin, is considered a hugely significant Roman site in Britain, often referred to as the "gateway to Britannia".

At the time of the invasion, Richborough was a small island, which became the location of a large fortification, was discovered by archaeologists in the 1920s.

In 2021, at the entrance to the defences, experts exposed the large holes in the Roman ground surface, which had held the large timber posts that had supported a wooden gateway and tower.

This tower guarded an entrance to the fortification, inside which soldiers and supplies were assembled after disembarkation from a fleet of ships.

Paul Pattison, English Heritage senior properties historian, said: “This is an historic moment. To be able to rebuild a structure as accurately as possible, and one that stands on the exact spot of the original almost 2000 years ago, is remarkable.

"The Roman invasion was a major milestone in our history.

"We know that Richborough witnessed over 360 years of Roman rule but standing atop this eight-metre high gateway, looking out and imagining what the first Romans might have seen, is quite an experience.”

The new gateway has been constructed in oak, using Roman-style dovetail, lap and scarf joints and vertical boards secured using hand-made iron nails similar to types from the era.

The collection of objects found at Richborough is one of the largest for any Roman site in the country, including 450 brooches, more than 1,000 hairpins, and 56,000 coins.

Museum treasures also include a 2,000-year-old cup made from blown glass from the Middle East.

In addition there is a trader’s weight in the shape of Harpocrates, the god of silence, which is the only one of its kind in Britain.

Visitors will also be able to enjoy new audio guides.

These draw parallels between Richborough’s Roman inhabitants and modern occupants.

They include interviews with oyster sellers, stonemasons, a special-forces soldier, and a former harbourmaster.

Roman Richborough was located on a small island in the Wantsum Channel, the stretch of sea which once separated mainland Kent from Thanet.

There was a sister fortification at the northern end of the channel at Reculver, near Herne Bay, which also still stands today.

Richborough was considered an ideal location for a sheltered anchorage for the Roman invasion fleet, and later a convenient harbour for ships crossing the Channel.

Fortifications were built there to protect the Roman ships in the Wantsum Channel by sealing off the island from the mainland.

Watling Street, the first major Roman road to be developed after the invasion, ran all the way from Richborough to north Wales.

Today, the A2 roughly follows the same course as Watling Street in parts is still known by that name including in Strood and along the A2 dual carriageway stretch between the Medway Towns to Ebbsfleet.

It linked key towns such as London and Chester.

As the Roman army secured southern Britain, Richborough gradually developed into a thriving civilian port town. Goods from across the empire entered the new Roman province of Britannia through it.