Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Three Counterscarp casemates and two Small-arms casemates were located within the outer scarp of the main ditch of the Citadel, at the point where the ditch abuts the eastern side of the North West Bastion. These casemates were proposed as part of the original works at the fort but were not started until the 1953-55 scheme of improvements, and were never completely finished. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CASEMATE (Disused, Post Medieval - 1853 AD? to 1892 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

These casemates are situated behind the east counterscarp of the North-West Bastion, formed part of the Napoleonic design, but construction did not take place until 1853-55. The two casemated gunrooms provided flanking fire with small arms along the cross ditches of the North-West Bastion. Their construction required the removal of lengths of the Napoleonic counterscarp revetment and the inserted walling is clearly demarcated by straight joints on the ditch face. It respects the batter of the revetment externally, but rises vertically inside, giving a tapered cross-section. Each casemate, which opened off the counterscarp gallery through an arched doorway (the doors were not fitted), is a rectangular chamber with a flagged floor and an axial segmental brick vault. The ditch face contains six regularly spaced, splayed loopholes, now blocked, but without the baffles found in the cross-ditch casemates.

At the end of the gallery, three Counterscarp Casemates each contained a 24pdr carronade in 1887: only two remained in 1892, when a reduction to one had been approved. Despite being armed, the casemates were not completed. Otherwise, they are similar in form to the Right Flanking
Casemates. (1)

Detail of this structure appears on a plan dating to 1871 which shows all of the works which were undertaken under the reccomendations of the Royal Commission, though these casemates likley pre date this plan by about 20 years. (2)

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 English Heritage, 2004, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent: Report No. 2: The Citadel (Unpublished document).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

<2> Captain H S Palmer (?), 1871, War Department OS 1:2500 Sheet LXVIII.15, revision of 1871, annotated with positions of magazines in the Citadel in 1877 (Map). SKE51524.

Sources and further reading

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