History · 2nd century AD
The Roman Fort at Ockenburgh
Nearly two thousand years before Kijkduin had hotels, Rome had a fort here, and it is the biggest Roman find The Hague has.
- A small Roman fort with a civilian settlement (vicus) stood at Ockenburgh in the 2nd century AD.
- It is the largest known site of Roman remains in The Hague.
- Today the site is occupied by the Ockenburgh campsite and bungalow park.
- It sits right next to Landgoed Ockenburgh and the beach near Kijkduin.
Was there really a Roman fort near Kijkduin?
In the second century AD, a small Roman fort stood in the dunes at Ockenburgh, along with an accompanying civilian settlement known as the Vicus van Ockenburgh. It stood on the ground where the campsite and bungalow park now stand, immediately south of Kijkduin, on land that today has no visible ruins.
This is the largest known site of Roman remains found anywhere in The Hague: a detail that rarely makes it into English-language guides to the city, even though it puts a Roman military and civilian presence directly on Kijkduin's doorstep.
What was a vicus, and why does it matter here?
A vicus was a civilian settlement that grew up alongside a Roman military post, typically housing traders, craftspeople and families connected to the fort. The Vicus van Ockenburgh represents that same pattern on what is now Dutch soil at the edge of the Roman Empire's northern frontier.
Is the vicus site at Ockenburgh open to visitors?
The former Roman fort and vicus site at Ockenburgh is now occupied by the campsite and bungalow park, so there is no exposed excavation to walk around at street level. Current on-site information, if any is presented, is best confirmed directly with the site's own management rather than assumed from an outside source. Landgoed Ockenburgh, the country estate built centuries later on part of the same ground, is covered on its own page.
For a fixed opening time or fee, check with the site's own management rather than a figure published elsewhere: we have not verified either for this page.
Is Ockenburgh the only Roman find near Den Haag?
Ockenburgh is confirmed as the largest known site of Roman remains found in The Hague, not necessarily the only one. Smaller or less-documented Roman traces may exist elsewhere in the wider region, but this site's vicus and fort remain the most significant confirmed find in the city itself, predating every other event in Kijkduin's own recorded history by more than a thousand years; see the full history of Kijkduin for the more recent story.
Key terms
- Vicus
- A civilian settlement that developed next to a Roman military fort, usually home to traders and craftspeople serving the garrison.