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Monument details

HER Number:TR 33 NW 1
Type of record:Monument
Name:Admiralty Pier Fort, Dover (Dover Turret)

Summary

Admiralty Pier Armstrong 16" Turret Guns. A circular armoured turret containing a pair of 80 ton, 16 inch R.M.L.(Rifled mussel loading) Armstrong guns, built on the 'Frazer' system in 1873 in response to a sudden increase in the arms' race. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)


Grid Reference:TR 3240 3994
Map Sheet:TR33NW
Parish:DOVER, DOVER, KENT

Monument Types

  • COASTAL BATTERY (Turret gun battery, Post Medieval to Modern - 1872 AD to 1956 AD)
  • MAGAZINE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1872 AD to 1956 AD)
  • ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (Bofors Light AA gun, Modern - 1940 AD? to 1945 AD)
  • GRAFFITI (Modern - 1940 AD? to 2050 AD)

Associated Finds

  • Gun (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Protected Status:Scheduled Monument 1004209: Armstrong twin guns and turret, Admiralty Pier

Full description

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After the completion of Admiralty pier in 1871 a circular armoured turret containing a pair of 80 ton, 16 inch R.M.L. Armstrong guns was constructed at its end. The turret was built on the 'Frazer' system in 1873 in response to a sudden increase in the arms' race. The new design for the Turret was produced by Captain English and was an iron-plated circular rotating structure weighing over 700 tons. It was the only one of its type to be built and within it there were several levels. The Turret’s frame was of wrought iron clad with three layers of 7 inches armour with 2-inch layers of iron and wood between them. Originally steam driven; they were the only steam powered guns ever possessed by the coastal artillery in Britain although similar to turrets fitted to warships of the time. The machinery space below the turret remains, but the steam engine and boilers are missing. Apart from the turret itself, the rest of the installation is massively constructed of stone, brick and concrete. The turret revolves on a heavy iron base. Completed by 1882 it remained little altered until declared obsolete in 1902. The guns are the second largest Armstrong guns ever made and the last in the United Kingdom still in their original carriages and in their original setting. A Bofors light AA gun was mounted on the top of the turret in 1940-41. The Pier Turret Battery was discontinued in 1956 and part of it demolished in 1958. Remains of ammunition lifts in the Admirality Pier Fort survive below. In the attached accommodation block are the remains of graffiti drawings of Popeye, Mickey Mouse and Jane.(1-5)


From the Register of Scheduled Monuments:

Circular armoured turret containing pair of 80 ton RML Armstrong guns, built on the 'Frazer' system. Constructed in 1873. Originally steam driven. Machinery space below turret remains but steam engine and boilers are missing. Apart from the turret itself, the rest of the installation is massively constructed of stone, brick and concrete. These are the second largest armstrong guns ever made and the last in the UK still on their original carriages and in their original setting.(6)

The two gun emplacements had overhead cover added to them during World War Two. The searchlight positions were built into the sides of the breakwater.There were barracks, engine room, searchlights and a battery observation post with magazines below in the workings of the old turret, two 16 inch RML's. The 6 inch guns were removed in April 1947
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey : The pier is used by anglers who charge a small fee for others to walk along the pier.
Tourism Potential :
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit : 09/06/07 (7)

The superintendent of the Royal Naval Gun Factory was asked to design a gun which would be capable of penetrating 20 inches of iron at a range of 1000 yards. It took eighteen months to build, but by 1875 the gun had been tested and was ready, weighing 81 tons and with a 16-inch chamber. A second was also built and on the 25th of June 1881 the Dover Chronicle noted that the 80 ton guns ordered for the defence of Dover Harbour are nearly finished, at Woolwich, and will be sent to proof butts in a few days’. Work on the fort itself started in January 1872 and a report printed in 1973 stated ‘a foundation for a new battery has now been commenced at the existing end of the pier by widening the further extension of it sufficiently for that purpose’. By January 1874 the superstructure of the fort was complete at a total cost of £19,718 and further work commenced on the construction of the part of the fort above the high-water mark, and by July of that year the work was up to the level of the quay. The question of transporting and mounting the guns was referred to the Special Committee on the Working of Heavy Guns and it was decided to transport the guns by sea. A large set of sheer legs were devised for the purpose of landing the guns, these were sent to Dover by rail and erected in 1881. The first gun arrived in Dover in December of 1881, though installation was held up by a number of factors including the weather. Mounting of the second gun was finally completed in May 12th, 1882. On July the 20th 1883 shots were fired from the gun, first with a 250 pound charge, the second with a 337 pound charge and finally three with the full 450 pound charge, all into the sea. As first built, the Admiralty Pier Fort was approximately square in plan, as was the pier head in which it stood. At quay level was the entrance leading to a wide passage which ran through the pier head from landward to seaward with, it seems, another opening at the seaward end.

By the end of 1885 the pier head had been extended to landward, becoming half as large again and included a new shell store, a coal bunker and a new cartridge store. Out on the quay side were built a fitter’s shop, an artillery store and a guard room together with toilets for officers and men. The lighthouse was also moved from the edge of the pier (where it prevented the guns from being fired towards Folkestone) to the top of the fort. During the first half of 1886 the Turret was visited twice by the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers Works Committee, first to try working it with compressed air and then give it a final testing before its handover in the Royal Artillery. In 1909 a new battery control post was built on top of the lighthouse after this had become redundant with the completion of another lighthouse at the end the pier extension. Apart from the addition of a new searchlight, little work was completed on the for during the years of the first world war. It was in the years between the wars that the battery underwent the strangest transfiguration, becoming for several years a family home. The guard room was converted into a living room, bedrooms and entrance hall, the old artillery store had become a cook house and laundry room. With the start of the second world war the accommodation was no where near adequate but by 1940, however, proper accommodation had been built and conditions were much improved. The additional accommodation consisted of further single storey buildings within the batteries parameters for sergeants sleeping quarters and mess, and workshop and gun-store; officers’ sleeping quarters and mess and workshops and gun store; officers’ sleeping, and servants’ quarters were built on top of the original guard room and artillery store and a battery office and store were built on top of the new fitter’s shop, which became a canteen. Men’s sleeping quarters, absolutions and rest room were built just outside the battery perimeter on the extension. A two storey building was also built within the battery perimeter with accommodations for a Bofors gun crew, the gun being mounted on its roof. In 1958/59, all of the remaining buildings of the Admiralty Pier Fort and Pier turret Battery were demolished by the Dover Harbour Board. Much of it may have been removed during the second world war and used as scrap. (8)


<1> Lorraine Sencicle, 2015, The Dover Historian - Admiralty Pier Gun Turret (Website). SKE32111.

<1> Lorraine Sencicle, 2015, The Dover Historian - Richard Tilden Smith and the Aerial Ropeway (Website). SKE52207.

<2> Hogg, I. V., 1974, Coast Defences of England and Wales 1856 - 1974, Coast Defences of Eng and Wales 1856-1956 1974 (IV Hogg) 221-228 (Monograph). SKE7822.

<3> Coad, J. G. and Lewis, P. N., 1982, Article, Post Md Arch 16 1982 192-196 (JG Coad and PN Lewis) (Article in serial). SKE7823.

<4> Bennett, D., 1977, A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945, Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-45 1977 17-24 (D Bennett) (Monograph). SKE7811.

<5> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage, KD 108 (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<6> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<7> Verbal Communication (Verbal communication). SKE14124.

<8> Coad, J. G. and Lewis, P. N., 1982, Article on the later fortifications of Dover (Unpublished document). SKE51976.

<9> Kent Defence Research Group, c. 1993, Kent Defence Research Group 'Fort Logs' (Unpublished document). SKE52251.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Website: Lorraine Sencicle. 2015. The Dover Historian - Admiralty Pier Gun Turret.
<1>Website: Lorraine Sencicle. 2015. The Dover Historian - Richard Tilden Smith and the Aerial Ropeway.
<2>Monograph: Hogg, I. V.. 1974. Coast Defences of England and Wales 1856 - 1974. Coast Defences of Eng and Wales 1856-1956 1974 (IV Hogg) 221-228.
<3>Article in serial: Coad, J. G. and Lewis, P. N.. 1982. Article. Post Md Arch 16 1982 192-196 (JG Coad and PN Lewis).
<4>Monograph: Bennett, D.. 1977. A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945. Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-45 1977 17-24 (D Bennett).
<5>XYUnpublished document: Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders. 2001. Kent's Defence Heritage. KD 108. [Mapped feature: #907 Dover turret, ]
<6>Scheduling record: English Heritage. Register of Scheduled Monuments.
<7>Verbal communication: Verbal Communication.
<8>Unpublished document: Coad, J. G. and Lewis, P. N.. 1982. Article on the later fortifications of Dover.
<9>Unpublished document: Kent Defence Research Group. c. 1993. Kent Defence Research Group 'Fort Logs'.

Related records

TR 33 NW 62Part of: ADMIRALTY PIER AND ASSOCIATED STRUCTURES, INCLUDING ADMIRALTY PIER LIGHTHOUSE, DOVER WESTERN DOCKS (Listed Building)

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