Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The north Lines battery which is located on to the west of the Drop Redoubt was constructed in 1893. 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. 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. The terreplien is located on the north-western side of the fort while the rampart is located on the North-West, North-Eastern and South-Eastern sides of the fort. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

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

Full description

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The north Lines battery which is located on to the west of the Drop Redoubt was constructed in 1893. 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. 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. The terreplien is located on the north-western side of the fort while the rampart is located on the North-West, North-Eastern and South-Eastern sides of the fort. The edge of the platform is demarcated by a sharply defined earth screen bank, 1.9m high, designed to conceal the battery from the south. The bank was surmounted by a hedge and along its southern side there was formerly a narrow berm and a screen of trees. The berm is no longer extant and the southern face of the bank gives straight onto the steeply and artificially scarped fall of the ridge itself. The bank has two breaks in its length. The western break, some 5.5m wide, is roughly central to the original battery and was its principal entrance on the 1893 plan; there are remains of a metal fence on its fringes. The second break in the screen bank, a, only 1.2m wide, is near the south-eastern corner of the battery. It is not shown on the 1893 plan but a path led up onto the berm towards its position at that time. The break was made later and may be concerned with access to trenches and possible AA battery site at the eastern end of the battery. (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

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