Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A set of six casemates were constructed in the re-entrant angles where the ditches of the North-West Bastion met those of the Citadel proper. These appear to have been completed by aeround 1815, though had alterations, including the addition of an expense magazine, in 1853-55. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CASEMATE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1813 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

A set of six casemates, arranged in two sets of three, were constructed in the re-entrant angles where the ditches of the North-West Bastion met those of the Citadel proper. Both groups are absent from surveys of the Western Heights produced as late as 1811, but they were sufficiently far advanced (either in planning or in execution) to appear on a survey of 1813. It is likely, that they were among the last works to commence, to a different design than originally intended, and when funding ran out in 1816 were more or less incomplete. By 1887 there were eleven 24-pdr carronades in these casemates, divided six in the Right Flanking Casemates and five in the Left though by 1902, all armament was withdrawn.


An undated plan indicates that there were differences between the left and right flanking casemates. On the left, first, the gallery from the stair shaft divided to give independent access to each set, thereby removing the need for separate magazine galleries. Second, there was no other means of communication within and between the casemates of each set. Third, the rear walls are straight, and
not segmental on plan. Finally, in the eastern set only, fireplaces were positioned in one of the rear corners of each casemate, not in the long wall as elsewhere. Otherwise they were of a similar form with characteristic angled inner face to the ditch wall, and the concave segmental rear wall. The floors are flagged, except in the passages, which are paved with brick. (1)

A plan dating to 1911, with annotations from 1929 and 1947 shows the casemates in great detail and inlcudes interior features and labels. (2)

<1> English Heritage, 2004, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent: Report No. 2: The Citadel (Unpublished document). SKE17690.

<2> Unknown, 1911, Dover Western Heights, Citadel Barracks & Western Outworks Ground Floor Plan (Map). SKE51525.

Sources and further reading

Related records