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Monument details
| HER Number: | TR 34 SW 2480 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Well and associated Norman waterworks within the Keep at Dover Castle, Kent |
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Summary
A deep well is located within the Keep of Dover castle in a small room (16ft X 8ft) within the wall between the upper landing of the grand staircase and the Banqueting Hall. The well is at least 85m deep, the upper c. 50m is lined with large Caen stone blocks while below this is roughly hewn chalk with clear evidence of tool marks. Evidence of a water circulation system was also located within this well room. This consisted of a series of lead pipes located within the walls of the keep and running from the well room to a mural chamber in the North Eastern wall and to a room below the banqueting hall. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)
| Grid Reference: | TR 3248 4195 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR34SW |
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| Parish: | DOVER, DOVER, KENT |
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Monument Types
- WATER PIPE (Disused, Medieval to Modern - 1181 AD to 2050 AD)
- WELL (Disused, Medieval to Modern - 1181 AD to 2050 AD)
Associated Finds
- COIN (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD to 1901 AD)
Full description
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A deep well is located within the Keep of Dover castle in a small room (16ft X 8ft) within the wall between the upper landing of the grand staircase and the Banqueting Hall. The well is at least 85m deep, the upper c. 50m is lined with large Caen stone blocks while below this is roughly hewn chalk with clear evidence of tool marks.
Evidence of a water circulation system was also located within this well room: within a a small recess 3ft fro the lip of the well the ends of two lead pipes were exposed each 3.5inches in diameter. These pipes ran through the walls of the keep down to one of the mural chambers in the north eastern wall, approximately 20ft beneath the top of the well where the end of one of the pipes was uncovered. The other was located beneath some later (C18th) steps on the north eastern side of the banqueting hall. (1)
The well was excavated in 1982 by a squadron of soldiers as an excersise to test breathing apparatus. A great deal of post medieval finds and a total of 118,869 victorian or later coins were uncovered. (2)
1994, List of Coin finds from Dover Castle Keep Well excavation 1982 (Unpublished document). SKE52129.
<1> E. G. J. Amos, 1931, Archaeologia Cantiana: Norman Waterworks in the Keep of Dover Castle (Article in serial). SKE52128.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | --- | Unpublished document: 1994. List of Coin finds from Dover Castle Keep Well excavation 1982. |
| <1>XY | Article in serial: E. G. J. Amos. 1931. Archaeologia Cantiana: Norman Waterworks in the Keep of Dover Castle. Vol 43 pp 167-172. [Mapped feature: #102038 Well, ] |
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