Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Keep Yard 9, located on the south eastern side of the inner bailey, is one of the buildings within the inner bailey that appear as a group of mid-18th-century barrack blocks with a reasonably homogenous character and has one of the best surviving C18th interiors of all the buildings within this complex. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

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

Full description

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Keep Yard 9, located on the south eastern side of the inner bailey, is one of the buildings within the inner bailey that appear as a group of mid-18th-century barrack blocks with a reasonably homogenous character. It is likely however that this building originated in the medieval period as the Duke of Suffolk’s lodgings, immediately north of the Palace Gate. In the mid- 18th century this became officers’ quarters and the form of the windows influenced the fenestration used elsewhere in the Inner Bailey, establishing the round-headed window as a symbol to distinguish officers’ accommodation from that of ordinary soldiers in the barracks blocks created in reused medieval buildings and new buildings put up around the Inner Bailey. (1-2)

The building retains most of its original 18th century detail and is a fine example of a barrack building. It has one room extending into the eastern of the Palace Gate towers to the east. The only significant alteration here since construction has been the addition in the 19th century of a small projecting latrine block at the eastern end. Because of the cramped interiors here, this is the least altered of all the inner bailey barracks, retaining its early fireplaces and original staircase, partitions and plasterwork. The floors in tower space are in very poor repair and are propped up by scaffolding. The building is in poor repair and in need of restoration. (2)

<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 English Heritage, 2010, Inner Bailey, Dover Castle, Kent; Historic Buildings Report (Unpublished document).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 English Heritage, 2014, Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer (Unpublished document).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