Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Plans for a battery west of the Drop Redoubt were being drawn up in 1892. A design of August of 1893 shows positions for five 64-pdr RML. It was not a battery in its own right but rather, formed part of the Drop Redoubt defences, occupying the ridge between the Drop Redoubt and the North Entrance and commanding the valley to the north. Four gun emplacements stood on a terreplein behind a rampart, the emplacements are set into a rampart along the southern side of the North Lines, with the

terreplein forming a 10.0m wide terrace behind the rampart. (location Accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• GUN EMPLACEMENT (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1893 AD? to 1903 AD?)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Plans for a battery west of the Drop Redoubt were being drawn up in 1892. A design of August of 1893 shows positions for five 64-pdr RML. It was not a battery in its own right but rather, formed part of the Drop Redoubt defences, occupying the ridge between the Drop Redoubt and the North Entrance and commanding the valley to the north. These guns were short-lived and were removed in 1903. The ridge west of the Drop Redoubt is flattened into a broad top, along the north side of which four gun emplacements stood on a terreplein behind a rampart: three emplacements survive along with a side arms store towards the centre; a fourth emplacement and expense magazine at the western end were destroyed during construction of the modern course of the North Military Road. The emplacements are set into a rampart along the southern side of the North Lines, with the terreplein forming a 10.0m wide terrace behind the rampart. The emplacements are for guns mounted en barbette and traversing on a ‘C’ type pivot: they are identical and of a single phase: there are no signs of any alterations to accommodate new weapons. No 1 is the best preserved, while nos 2 and 3 have been damaged by tree roots and vegetation growth. Each emplacement is built in concrete formed into a high barbette, incorporating two ready-use ammunition lockers, one on each side of the gun position; that to the east for shells and that to the west for cartridges. The concrete gun floor is circular and recessed slightly into the barbette, with a shallow drainage gully around the front and three others radiating from the centre. A circular steel racer, 8cm wide and projecting 4cm above the floor, enabled the heavy RML guns to traverse on a central steel pivot. The gun floors were originally ramped down to the south and part of the ramp for no 3 gun survives; the others have been cut away. (1)

Two plans dating to 1892 and 1893 show detail of the features constructed at the North Lines Battery. (2-3)

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

<2> Unknown, 1893, Dover, North Lines, Plan Shewing proposed Bank and Hedge, to secure Guns from Sea View (Plan). SKE51539.

<3> Unknown., 1892, Dover, Drop Redoubt, Details of Gun Emplacements & Side Arms Store – North Lines (Plan). SKE51540.

Sources and further reading

Related records