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Dover
Dover, Kent, England

The inner bailey of the castle
Type Norman
Built 12th Century Saxon / Norman
Under Henry II. Dover is a town and major ferry port in the county of Kent, England. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland For other buildings in Normandy see Architecture of Normandy. [1]
In use
Current
condition		 Survives
Events First Barons' War

Dover Castle is situated at Dover, Kent and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. The First Barons' War ( 1215 &ndash 1217) was a combination of a Civil war in the Kingdom of England between on the one hand the forces of Dover is a town and major ferry port in the county of Kent, England. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format

Contents

History

Roman

The Roman lighthouse at Dover Castle
The Roman lighthouse at Dover Castle

This is suggested on the basis of the unusual pattern of the earthworks which don't seem to be a perfect fit for the medieval castle, although archaeological excavation at the Castle has found no evidence of prehistoric activity.

The site also contained one of Dover's two 80 foot (24 m) high Roman lighthouses (or Pharoses), one of which still survives. Dubris or Portus Dubris was the original name of the town of Dover, Kent, England given to it by its Roman founders The lighthouse of Alexandria (or The Pharos of Alexandria, Greek:) was a tower built in the 3rd century BC (between 285 and 247 BC on the Island On the site is a classic montrol (campsite) where the Normans landed after their victorious conquest.

Saxon and early Norman

The view down from the Castle to the Church, possible Saxon burgh, and Harbour beyond.
The view down from the Castle to the Church, possible Saxon burgh, and Harbour beyond.

After the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, William the Conqueror and his forces marched to Westminster Abbey for his coronation. The Battle of Hastings was the decisive Norman victory in the Norman Conquest of England. William I of England ( 1027 His reign which brought Norman culture to England had an enormous impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church They took a roundabout route, via Romney, Dover, Canterbury, Surrey and Berkshire. From the Cinque Ports's foundation in 1050, Dover has always been a chief member - it may also have been this that first attracted William's attention, and got Kent the motto of Invicta. Cinque Ports is also the name of a 1703 Galleon (ship The Confederation of Cinque Ports (sɪŋk pɔrts is a historic series of coastal In the words of William of Poitiers:

Then he marched to Dover, which had been reported impregnable and held by a large force. For the child of Henry II of England, see William Count of Poitiers. The English, stricken with fear at his approach had confidence neither in their ramparts nor in the numbers of their troops . . . While the inhabitants were preparing to surrender unconditionally, [the Normans], greedy for booty, set fire to the castle and the great part of it was soon enveloped in flames. . . [William then paid for the repair and] having taken possession of the castle, the Duke spent eight days adding new fortifications to it'.

This may have been repairs and improvements to an existing Saxon fort or burgh, centred on the Saxon church of St Mary de Castro, although archaeological evidence suggests that it was actually a new motte and bailey design castle built from scratch nearby. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south A Burgh (ˈbʌʀə is an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland, usually a Town. St Mary in Castro, or St Mary de Castro, is a church in the grounds of Dover Castle, Kent, south-east England. nA motte-and-bailey is a form of Castle. Many were built in Britain, Ireland and France in the 11th and 12th centuries favored as a relatively

Henry II to early modern times

Section of the western curtain wall leading to Peverell's Gateway
Section of the western curtain wall leading to Peverell's Gateway

It was during the reign of Henry II that the castle began to take recognisable shape. The inner and outer baileys and the great Keep belong to this time. Maurice the Engineer was responsible for building the keep. The keep was one of the last rectangular keeps ever built.

In 1216, a group of rebel barons invited Louis VIII of France to come and take the English crown. Louis VIII the Lion ( 5 September 1187 – 8 November 1226) reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226 He had some success breaching the walls but was unable ultimately to take the castle (see here)

The vulnerable north gate that had been breached in the siege was converted into an underground forward-defence complex (including St John's Tower), and new gates built into the outer curtain wall on the western (Fitzwilliam's Gate) and eastern (Constable's Gate) sides. The First Barons' War ( 1215 &ndash 1217) was a combination of a Civil war in the Kingdom of England between on the one hand the forces of

By the Tudor age, the defences themselves had been superseded by gunpowder. They were improved by Henry VIII, who made a personal visit, and added to with the Moat Bulwark.

During the English Civil War it was held for the king but then taken by a parliamentarian trick without a shot being fired (hence it avoided being ravaged and survives far better than most castles) in 1642. The English Civil War (1642-1651 was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The Parliament of England was the Legislature of the Kingdom of England.

Napoleonic

Massive rebuilding took place at the end of the eighteenth century during the Napoleonic Wars. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions William Twiss, the Commanding Engineer of the Southern District, as part of his brief to improve the towns defences, completed the remodelling of the outer defences of Dover Castle adding the huge Horseshoe, Hudson's, East Arrow and East Demi-Bastions to provide extra gun positions on the eastern side, and constructing the Constable's Bastion for additional protection on the west. General William Twiss, (1745 &ndash 14 March 1827) was a British Army Royal Engineer, responsible for the design of many military defenses A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a Fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall (termed curtain with the shape Twiss further strengthened the Spur at the northern end of the castle, adding a redan, or raised gun platform. Redan (a French word for "projection" "salient" is a term related to Fortifications. By taking the roof off the keep and replacing it with massive brick vaults he was able to mount heavy artillery on the top. Twiss also constructed Canon's Gateway to link the defences of the castle with those of the town.

With Dover becoming a garrison town, there was a need for barracks and storerooms for the additional troops and their equipment. Dover is a town and major ferry port in the county of Kent, England. Barracks are living quarters for personnel on a Military post The solution adopted by Twiss and the Royal Engineers was to create a complex of barracks tunnels about 15 metres below the cliff top and the first troops were accommodated in 1803. General William Twiss, (1745 &ndash 14 March 1827) was a British Army Royal Engineer, responsible for the design of many military defenses The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers ( RE) and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps Barracks are living quarters for personnel on a Military post At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels housed more than 2000 men and to date are the only underground barracks ever built in Britain. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels were partly converted and used by the Coast Blockade Service to combat smuggling. Smuggling, also known as trafficking, is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons past a point where prohibited such as out of a building into a Prison This was a short term endeavour though and in 1826 the headquarters were moved closer to shore. The tunnels then remained abandoned for more than a century.

The secret wartime tunnels

The World War II Coastal Artillery Operations Room in the Secret Wartime Tunnels
The World War II Coastal Artillery Operations Room in the Secret Wartime Tunnels

The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 saw the tunnels converted first into an air-raid shelter and then later into a military command centre and underground hospital. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In May 1940, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey directed the evacuation of French and British soldiers from Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, from his headquarters in the cliff tunnels. Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB, KBE, MVO ( January 20, 1883 - January 2, 1945) was a British Dunkirk ( French: Dunkerque, dœ̃kɛʀk or; Dutch:; is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British was the Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk

A military telephone exchange in the tunnels, recreated as it would have looked in 1941
A military telephone exchange in the tunnels, recreated as it would have looked in 1941

A military telephone exchange was installed in 1941 and served the underground headquarters. In the field of Telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls The switchboards were constantly in use and had to have a new tunnel created alongside it to house the batteries and chargers necessary to keep them functioning. In electronics a battery is a combination of two or more Electrochemical cells which store chemical Energy which can be converted into electrical energy The navy used the exchange to enable direct communication with vessels, as well as using it to direct air-sea rescue craft to pick up pilots shot down in the Straits of Dover. The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait ( French: Pas de Calais, pɑdə kalɛ "Strait of Calais " Dutch: Nauw van

Later the tunnels were to be used as a shelter for the Regional Seats of Government in the event of a nuclear attack. This plan was abandoned for various reasons, including the realisation that the chalk of the cliffs would not provide significant protection from radiation, and because of the inconvenient form of the tunnels and their generally poor condition. Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite.

Tunnel levels are denoted as A - Annexe, B - Bastion, C - Casemate, D - DUMPY and E - Esplanade. Annexe and Casemate levels are open to the public, Bastion is 'lost' but investigations continue to gain access, DUMPY (converted from WWII use to serve as a Regional Seat of Government in event of an atomic war) is closed, as is Esplanade (last used as air raid tunnel shelters in WWII). World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including DUMPY is an acronym for Deep Underground Military Position Yellow. Acronyms, initialisms, and alphabetisms are Abbreviations that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name

A statue of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was erected in November 2000 outside the tunnels in honour of his work on the Dunkirk evacuation and protecting Dover during World War II. The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British was the Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk [2]

The castle today

The castle, secret tunnels and surrounding land are now owned by English Heritage and the site is a major tourist attraction. English Heritage is a Non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government ( Department for Culture Media and Sport) with a broad remit of The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is officially head of the castle, in his conjoint position of Constable of Dover Castle, and the Deputy Constable has his residence in Constable's Gate. The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom.

In film and TV

Film

Churches and chapels within its walls

Royal chapel

Within the keep, dedicated to Thomas Becket

St Mary de Castro

Main article: St Mary de Castro (Dover)

Saxon church, rebuilt in the Victorian era. The Wind in the Willows, released on video in the US as Mr Toad's Wild Ride, is a 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame 's classic novel St Thomas Becket (c 1118 &ndash December 29, 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170 St Mary in Castro, or St Mary de Castro, is a church in the grounds of Dover Castle, Kent, south-east England.

References

  1. ^ English Castles - Dover Castle
  2. ^ Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay at www. dover-kent. co. uk

See also

External links


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