Reasons for Designation
Due to its strategically important position overlooking the Straits of Dover
and the shortest route to the Continent, the medieval royal castle at Dover
developed from its presumed origins an Iron Age hillfort to become one of the
most elaborate and heavily defended fortresses in Europe. Although medieval
castles generally show a great deal of variety in form, the defences at Dover
demonstrate an unusually high degree of technical innovation and engineering
skill. Henry II's great keep was both the last and the technically most
ambitious of its kind in England and the defences of the outer bailey, planned
and begun before Henry's death, pre-empted the concentric castles of the 13th
century by almost half a century. Despite later modifications, the medieval
castle is unusual in surviving in such a complete state. Its importance is
further enhanced by its royal connections and the survival of detailed
documentary sources relating to its construction, and to the sieges of 1067
and 1216.
Between 1537 and 1540 Henry VIII instigated a campaign to build a chain of
defences along the south coast to counter the threat of French invasion. The
defences included a series of artillery forts, blockhouses and batteries and
were particularly concentrated along the Thames estuary and the south east.
Although modified in later periods, Moat's Bulwark is the only remaining
example of the three batteries known to have been built at Dover during this
period, and as a smaller battery rather than a fort, it represents a
particularly rare survival.
The extensive 18th and 19th century defensive works surrounding the castle and
the remodelling of earlier features provide a rare opportunity to understand
how military theory and engineering practice was forced to adapt in the face
of new technology. The Napoleonic underground barracks represent an unusual
solution to the problem of providing artillery-proof accommodation and are
both more extensive and complete than examples surviving elsewhere. The
tunnels have additional historical significance due to their use as the
headquarters of Ramsay during 1940. Together with the tunnels subsequently
constructed in World War II and adapted in the post-war period for use in the
event of nuclear war, the remains demonstrate a unique sequence of
uninterrupted military occupation from the Napoleonic era to the late 20th
century.
Dover Castle represents a complex multi-period site. The hillfort, lighthouse,
Saxon settlement, medieval royal castle and later defences, the tunnels and
Moat's Bulwark will all contain buried remains providing information about the
construction and use of the site, its economy and environmental setting from
the prehistoric to the post-medieval periods. Dover Castle is a prominent
feature in the landscape which is open to the public and has additional
significance as both an amenity and a major educational resource.
Details
The monument includes Dover Castle, a medieval royal castle built within the
presumed defences of a univallate Iron Age hillfort, a Roman lighthouse, and a
Saxon settlement and church. The monument also includes a series of tunnels
beneath the castle built between the 13th and 20th centuries and a 16th
century gun battery called Moat's Bulwark at the base of the cliff. The
remains of the castle and the lighthouse are Listed Grade I and the monument
is in the care of the Secretary of State. It is situated on a chalk promontory
overlooking both the River Dour and the modern town of Dover which lie
immediately to the west.
The hillfort was roughly triangular in shape, measuring a maximum of 300m
north-south and 200m east-west with the cliff at its southern extremity
preventing attack from this direction. The defences probably comprised a
single bank and ditch, with an entrance on the north eastern side. Excavations
adjacent to the church have produced evidence of Iron Age occupation in the
form of a series of pits. In around the 1st century AD a pair of lighthouses
were constructed on the headlands flanking either side of the major Roman port
of Dubris to help guide in cross-channel traffic. One of the lighthouses
survives within Dover Castle as a stepped tower approximately 19m in height
constructed of flint rubble, with tile bonding courses and a tufa ashlar
facing. The architecture of the lighthouse suggests that it originally stood
to a height of around 24m, but it has been extensively modified. Its top is
known to have been rebuilt by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester between 1415 and
1437 during his tenure as Constable of the Castle, by which time the
lighthouse had been adapted for use as a bell tower. During the late 10th or
early 11th century the Grade I Listed Church of St Mary in Castro was
constructed adjacent to the lighthouse, and excavation has revealed an
associated Saxon cemetery immediately to the south. Although the church and
cemetery were almost certainly located within a Saxon settlement, its precise
status is unclear. Documentary sources suggest that it was probably a burh or
fortified town, which utilised the defences of the earlier hillfort. Whether
it was a castle, or merely a burh, immediately following the Norman Conquest
it is known that Duke William, a Norman, spent eight days adding to the
defences. Excavation has produced evidence of a bank and ditch cutting through
the Saxon cemetery which probably dates from this phase of Norman occupation.
William put the castle into the care of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Hugh de
Montfort. In 1067 Dover was attacked by the men of Kent in league with Count
Eustace of Boulogne, but the assault was quickly repulsed by the garrison,
despite the absence of Odo and de Montfort. Pipe Rolls show that by the time
of his death in 1189 Henry II had spent 6000 pounds rebuilding the castle,
which constituted a huge expenditure. Work included the construction of the
great keep and the inner curtain wall surrounding it. The keep was built
between 1181 and 1188 and represents the most elaborate example in England.
Both the inner curtain and a portion of the eastern outer curtain built during
Henry II's reign included rectangular mural flanking towers which allowed the
outer face of the walls to be defended by cross-fire and sections to be
isolated if captured by escalade. The inner curtain had 14 towers with
entrances to the north and south protected by barbicans, only the northern of
which is visible today.
Excavations in the area of the southern barbican in 1963 revealed the
foundations of a substantial gatehouse which had been constructed in the reign
of Henry II but which was quickly demolished and superseded by the inner
bailey with its towers and barbicans. The precise extent of work carried out
on the outer bailey during the reign of Henry II is not known, however the odd
shape of the defences suggests that the new walls of the outer curtain almost
certainly followed the line of the earlier hillfort defences. Dover is
believed to be the first castle in western Europe to have employed concentric
lines of fortification.
Although the outer curtain remained uncompleted there is no record of major
expenditure at Dover until the reign of King John between 1199 and 1216.
Between 1205 and 1214 John spent 1000 pounds on improving the domestic
buildings within the inner bailey, constructing a defensive wall around the
church and adding to the outer curtain on the northern side of the castle,
where the mural towers are `D'-shaped rather than the characteristically
rectangular examples from Henry II's reign. The end of King John's reign was
marked by the rebellion of a large part of his baronage, who invited Louis,
son of the King of France to be their leader and take the Crown of England.
Louis therefore laid siege to Dover, then held for the King by Hubert de
Burgh. Work during John's reign had also included the construction of a gate
at the northern apex of the curtain, and it was from a piece of high ground
immediately north of this gate that Louis chose to make his assault. Engineers
under Louis mined underneath the gate causing its eastern tower to collapse,
an occurrence confirmed by excavation. As a result the castle almost fell, but
de Burgh managed to hold and following the accession of Henry III in 1217
Louis was eventually forced to withdraw.
Between 1217 and 1256 Henry III spent 7500 pounds on improving the castle's
defences. A great spur or outwork was dug to the north of the damaged
gateway, which was blocked off. The spur was remodelled between 1801-03 to
include a brick redan which survives today. In an effort to further improve
defences on this side, St John's Tower, which was built in the ditch between
the redan and castle in the 13th century was modified and the tower, castle
and spur were linked by an underground passage. Fitzwilliam gateway was added
on the north east side of curtain with a covered passageway leading across the
ditch. The outer western curtain was further extended and the wall around the
lighthouse and St Mary in Castro was replaced by a horseshoe-shaped earthwork
surmounted by a palisade, and a masonry wall. A new set of buildings for the
King and his entourage were constructed along the eastern wall of the inner
bailey, including Arthur's Hall, finished in 1240, and chambers, a kitchen and
chapel.
The ruinous buildings were converted into barrack blocks in the mid-18th
century but their medieval origins have always been visible in surviving
architectural features, and their plans have been revealed by excavation. By
1256 the medieval castle had achieved its maximum size and an appearance
similar to that of today.
In around 1540 Henry VIII built three artillery fortifications at Dover to
protect the newly constructed harbour. One of these, Moat's Bulwark, was
situated at the foot of the cliff beneath the castle, and provided additional
protection to its southern flank. The battery was probably completed in around
March 1539. A 16th century plan depicts it as a timber revetted platform
approached by tunnels in the cliff, although it was remodelled as a large
semi-circular battery in around 1750, and in 1856 linked with the castle by a
spiral stairway tunnelled into the cliff.
Little further building took place at the castle until the Austrian Wars of
succession between 1742 and 1748 when the derelict domestic buildings lining
the inner bailey were converted into new barracks. In 1756 two new batteries
were constructed to improve landward defence. One was situated to the south
east of the inner bailey and mounted six guns. The other, with four guns, was
built immediately north of the church. A further outbreak of war with France
in 1779 led to the construction of a large powder magazine within the castle.
However, the most sustained period of building activity took place during the
Napoleonic wars, particularly between 1794 and 1803 under the direction of Lt
Col William Twiss. Heavier artillery saw a switch from reliance on masonry for
protection to earthen banks, which absorbed shock better. The eastern
approaches to the castle were considered the most vulnerable and Horseshoe
Bastion was constructed beyond the ditch. Hudson's Bastion was placed in the
middle of the eastern side, and East Demi-Bastion at the south, on the cliff
edge. In 1797, faced with the problem of finding additional barrack
accommodation for soldiers within the castle, four parallel tunnels were
constructed within the southern cliff. The following year a further series of
tunnels were constructed to the east to provide accommodation for officers.
The two barracks were linked by communication tunnels and had latrines, a well
and vertical ventilation shafts. The seaward ends opened out onto the cliff
face and had brick frontages. As a consequence of rock falls the tunnels were
brick-lined, the work being completed in 1810. Throughout the 19th century the
defences were gradually improved and updated. The three eastern bastions were
subsequently connected by passages beneath the ditch, which were adapted in
the 1860s to lead to musketry galleries behind the scarp and counterscarp
banks. In 1853 Hudson's battery had a covered gallery or caponier added with
provision for artillery to cover the ditch bottom.
In 1905 the obsolete hospital battery above the southern cliff was converted
to a fire command post by the Army, and in 1914 the Admiralty moved its Port
War Signal Station to new quarters immediately above it. The station played a
fundamental role in controlling the traffic entering the new 610 acre
Admiralty harbour below the castle, and following the threat of air attack,
had a concrete protective roof installed above it in 1941.
During World War II provision was made for the anti-tank defence of the castle
by building a gun emplacement within the north western curtain, a Type 28
Pillbox at the foot of Horseshoe Bastion, and a series of anti-tank obstacles
and a concrete wall for an infantry position on the counterscarp bank
immediately west of the spur. In 1940, the Napoleonic barrack tunnels were
used by Vice Admiral Ramsay for the planning and direction of Operation
Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France. A
further two complexes of tunnels named Annexe and Dumpy Levels were built
beneath the castle between 1941 and 1942. The tunnels were lined with
corrugated iron or concrete and fulfilled a variety of roles from Combined
Headquarters and gunnery control to a military hospital. During the Cold War
period they were adapted for use as a regional seat of Government in the event
of a nuclear war.
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling; these are, within the
outer bailey, the Church of St Mary in Castro, the constable's tower, the
garrison commander's stables, the married quarters, the officers' mess, the
regimental institute, the Royal Garrison Artillery barracks, the Cinque Ports
prison, the bread and meat store, the guardroom, the education centre, public
lavatories, the barracks, the regimental museum, the film centre, restaurant
and souvenir shop all fences, display, security and custodial fittings and
facilities, and the surfaces of all paths, roads and hard standings. The
ground beneath all these features is included.
The outer face of the Spur Casemates and the earth surface and embrasures on
top of the Spur are included in the scheduling, but the remainder of the
structure is excluded.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
