Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Audio Visual (AV) Building is located at the south east end of Arthur’s Hall. It was largely constructed in the 1740s as part of the barracks complex. It is situated on top of the former service rooms and porch leading to the hall and incorporates some medieval building materials within its walls. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BARRACKS (Post Medieval - 1745 AD? to 1870 AD?)
• STOREHOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1870 AD to 1960 AD?)

Full description

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The Audio Visual (AV) Building is located at the south east end of Arthur’s Hall. It was largely constructed in the 1740s as part of the barracks complex. It is situated on top of the former service rooms and porch leading to the hall and incorporates some medieval building materials within its walls.

It appears to have originally been the site of the porch to Arthurs Hall and the service rooms. Its main façade, the south-west wall, has regular coursed stone, an indication that its surface dates from the mid-18th century phase of barrack construction. This type of wall wraps round onto its side walls where there are clear joints with the earlier rubble, indicating that it is substantially medieval in date. This variation in stonework does not mean that the main façade was entirely rebuilt, but that it was refaced in the 1740s. On the north-west wall of the former AV building the rubble continues up to the height of the buttress, the top part of the wall being finished in the larger, distinctive 18th century stonework. This building formed a part of the mid-18th century barracks in that it provided accommodation for enlisted men. (1-2)

Following the abandonment of the barracks in the late 19th cent. the room was left unused before being adapted as an AV Room, serving visitors to the castle, in the later 20th century. (1)

<1> English Heritage, 2010, Inner Bailey, Dover Castle, Kent; Historic Buildings Report (Unpublished document). SKE31743.

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 English Heritage, 2014, Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer (Unpublished document).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

Sources and further reading

Related records