House include the Dover Gems, a medieval cut in the floor allowing the hypocaust system to be viewed, and a medieval skeleton found in the nearby St Martin-le-Grand church, nicknamed "Fred" by the volunteers who keep the museum running. Saxon Shore fort Dubris's mansio was demolished in 270 for the construction of a Saxon Shore fort. This demolition preserved the mansio and its wall-paintings better than usual, since the foots of the walls were contained in the fort's rampart. Visible remains A small amount of the fort remains is now visible, on request, at Dover Library and Discovery Centre (the former White Cliffs Experience), and a public house off Market Square is built on and named after the Roman Quay. The most 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. 1980s excavations The town council had plans to build a car park on the site, when the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit (KARU), 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 car park was built elsewhere, with the museum being completed before the car park. It has since received thousands of visitors, including the Queen Mother, who signed a specially-presented guestbook. Philp continues to curate, giving talks to schoolchildren, tourists and academics alike. Other artefacts including an extremely important glass vessel are kept on the site, attracting academic study in recent years. This cover-building still stands over these remains. It has changed little since then and is now under threat from lack of funding. Many in the local area have commented that the site would have been better presented had it been integrated with the rest of the site, which was instead largely reburied under the new bypass, which was specially inclined to protect the remains and the White Cliffs Experience. All this has been widely criticised by, among others, Philp himself, who has said that “Countries that destroy their past deserve no future.” References External links Roman Painted House – Official Site Roman Painted House Council for Kentish Archaeology Roman Dover Roman Dover at roman-britain.co.uk Roman sites in Kent History of Dover, Kent Roman fortifications in England Roman towns and cities in England