Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Drop Redoubt was a key element of the Western Heights fortifications. The terreplein on the Dorp Redoubt fort is the level surface behind the parapet providing a platform for the artillery. The terreplein contains the remains of eleven emplacements for guns on traversing platforms, positioned at intervals around the northern half of the redoubt. In 1804 there were twelve terreplien guns arranged around the redoubt with a weighting towards the north (the southern side of the redoubt was covered by the batteries defending the harbour). Changes were made 1858-67, when the terreplein was reorganised to accommodate eleven 7-inchRBLguns on traversing carriages, once more concentrated to cover the land front. The parapet was heightened to 1.95m in yellow stock brick, embrasures were made through the rampart, and ready-use ammunition lockers were installed. Most of these arrangements survive. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• GUN EMPLACEMENT (Post Medieval to Modern - 1805 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The Drop Redoubt was a key element of the Western Heights fortifications. The terreplein on the Dorp Redoubt fort is the level surface behind the parapet providing a platform for the artillery. The terreplein contains the remains of eleven emplacements for guns on traversing platforms, positioned at intervals around the northern half of the redoubt. In 1804 there were twelve terreplien guns arranged around the redoubt with a weighting towards the north (the southern side of the redoubt was covered by the batteries defending the harbour). Changes were made 1858-67, when the terreplein was reorganised to accommodate eleven 7-inchRBLguns on traversing carriages, once more concentrated to cover the land front.

Each emplacement comprises a concrete gun floor set between retaining walls, up to 0.9m high, built perpendicular to the parapet and ramped down to the profile of the talus. Set within each gun floor are two racers secured into a coarse, pebble-based concrete. Each racer is 6cm wide and projects 1cm above the gun floor; those of guns no 4-11 are centred on the embrasures. The red brick which forms the lower part of the parapet dates from the first phase of construction at the fort (c1805) and its low height - no more than 0.92m - suggests that the guns fired over it. In 1858-67 The parapet was heightened to 1.95m in yellow stock brick, embrasures were made through the rampart, and ready-use ammunition lockers were installed. Most of these arrangements survive.

The surviving parapet is a brick wall with a slight batter, running around most of the internal faces of the rampart. It survives at different heights around the redoubt and reflects the two main structural phases: the lower part of at least 15 courses of red brick dates to 1804-15; above is the yellow stock brick, in English bond, of the period 1858-67. Along the southern face of the redoubt the parapet is lower than elsewhere, averaging 1.0m high, and it was probably never intended to support artillery, though it would have sheltered infantry. Adjacent to the south-west salient is an infantry step established c1858-67, butt-jointed and recessed into the parapet. Aflight of steps leads up 1.8m to its narrow firing platform, 0.5m wide, with the parapet wall in front, 1.1m high. This was sited to cover the approach to the main entrance and replaced an earlier emplacement for a traversing artillery piece in the south-west salient, fragments of which survive. North-west of the infantry step, there is no parapet wall along the south-west face for 38.0m. Instead, the earthwork talus, 1.7m high, slopes evenly to the interior. It could also have provided cover for infantry and may have been formed between 1815 and c1858, as this face of the redoubt appears to have been designed originally to support artillery. In the south-east corner of the terreplein is a raised platform, a, 0.6m high. Into it are set heavy granite and sandstone flagstones, now partially concealed, probably re-set along with the parapet to form a new saluting battery during the works of c1858-67. The terreplein contains the remains of all eleven emplacements for guns on traversing platforms, positioned at intervals around the northern half of the redoubt. (summarised from report)(1)

<1> English Heritage, 2000, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 3 The Drop Redoubt: A 19th-Century Artillery Fortification (Unpublished document). SKE13677.

Sources and further reading

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