Dover Castle
 Castles |
One of England's largest and greatest castles, Dover has been in constant military use from Norman times until the mid-20 th century. In fact, few military sites anywhere are older, for it has been of strategic importance since the Iron Age. There is evidence for a Celtic hill fort, which predates the Roman occupation of the early 1 st century AD. A Roman pharos, or lighthouse still stands within the castle walls, serving as a bell tower for the 10 th century Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro. The first castle built on the site was probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, which was greatly improved upon by the new Norman masters in the late 11 th century. An earthen mound (motte) was established to support the castle, known today as Castle Hill.
The present Dover Castle dates from the rebuilding work undertaken during the reign of the first Angevin king, Henry II (1154-89). Henry was an innovator in military architecture, and in Maurice the Engineer, his leading expert, he had one of the finest craftsmen of his day. Under the latter's direction, a vast building programme was carried out through the 1180's, at a cost of over £6000 - a medieval fortune. The outstanding feature in this building blitz was the construction of the keep or Great Tower, the largest in Britain, approached through a forebuilding more substantial than any built before or since. The latter provides access via its main stairs, which lead directly into the second floor of the keep, the royal apartments. Four storeys high the keep has a buttress tower at each corner, and mid-way along each wall is a further pilaster buttress. All floors were connected by staircases set in the north and south corner turrets.
The fortifications were greatly enlarged and strengthened by the successors of Henry II, most notably Henry III (1216-72), the first Plantagenet king, after the French had successfully mined one of the towers. He carried out repair work to the gatehouse, and rebuilt the eastern wall. The outer curtain wall, incorporating fourteen square towers, was completed to create a large outer bailey that stretched to the edge of the famous White Cliffs. A second powerful gatehouse, the Constable's Gate, was constructed comprising a cluster of different sized round towers situated high above the defensive ditch. The cylindrical towers embrace each other over the entranceway, guarding the Constable's living quarters to the rear. By this time the enormous castle complex had extended to its full potential.
Dover can rightly be referred to as a ‘growth' castle, for the original 12 th century keep-and-curtain design has embraced improvements spanning four centuries. The last alterations to the castle defences were made by Henry VIII in the 16 th century, when three additional bulwarks were created as a part of his national defence system aimed at countering an expected French invasion.
During the Civil War (1642-9), Dover Castle was taken by the forces of Oliver Cromwell and kept under their protection for a number of years. Unusually, given the strength and supposed impregnability of Dover Castle, it was not ‘slighted' or despoiled to any great extent by the victorious Parliamentarians, as was their normal practice.
The drawback to a castle being in a constant state of military readiness is that succeeding generations make defensive alterations according to the needs of their day. So it is with Dover Castle, most especially in the late 18 th century when the diminutive shadow of Napoleon loomed large across the channel. Here, the medieval towers and battlements were truncated in the reign of George III in order to make the castle adaptable to the new artillery warfare of the late 1700's. This succeeded in rather spoiling the profile of Dover, leaving it with a ‘flatish' squat look so that the newly mounted guns had a clear field of fire. The huge brick shelters constructed to house the troops ready to repel Napoleon's pending invasion are still evident on the western heights.
Running deep within the interior of the famous White Cliffs, and particularly beneath Dover Castle, is a vast labyrinthine network of underground tunnels, initially constructed by French medieval miners. During the Napoleonic Wars, this network was made even more extensive to accommodate barracks for the large troop numbers gathered there to counter the expected invasion. These ‘secret' tunnels were again utilised during the Second World War when they housed control rooms and a hospital, now known as ‘Hellfire Corner'. As with the castle above, the underground complex is a popular tourist attraction with a fascinating history of its own.