Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Godsfoe Tower is one of the series of towers in the western defences of Dover Castle, originating in the reign of King John (1199-1216), and unusually of square plan, possibly being used as a chamber tower with an adjacent hall. This tower is in the northern length of King John’s building campaign on the outer curtain early in the 13th century. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• TOWER (Disused, Medieval to Modern - 1204 AD? to 2050 AD?)

Full description

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Godsfoe Tower is one of the series of towers in the western defences of Dover Castle, originating in the reign of King John (1199-1216), and unusually of square plan, possibly being used as a chamber tower with an adjacent hall. This tower is in the northern length of King John’s building campaign on the outer curtain early in the 13th century.

The tower is different from the others being rectangular in plan with a battered base (offset slightly to the south inside the curtain wall). It has a loop in the lower stage and a brick-lined casement window above of 18th/19th-cent. date. On the ground floor is a broader pointed arch with a narrower recessed doorway within it. On the first floor is a relatively modern door with rubble jambs and a timber lintel, set in a large patch of distinct masonry (presumably a repair). This is next to a straight joint on a vertical line of jambs seeming to imply that the rear of the tower was originally open at this level. However, the large arched recess of a blocked window and other features in the adjacent curtain wall (N) suggest that there was a building (i.e. hall or chamber) here, built against the curtain wall. (summarised from sources) (1-2)

<1> English Heritage, 2014, Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer (Unpublished document). SKE52105.

<2> Johnathan Coad, 1995, English Heritage Book of Dover Castle and the Defences of Dover (Monograph). SKE52106.

Sources and further reading

Related records