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Monument details

HER Number:TR 34 SW 2522
Type of record:Monument
Name:Four Gun Battery, Middle Bailey, Dover Castle.

Summary

Four gun battery, located just to the north of St. Marys Church, is one of two substantial gun batteries constructed in the 18th century to cover the high ground located on the northern side of the castle (the other being Bell Battery). The battery was made obsolete in the mid C19th and the bank was reformed burying the gun positions. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)


Grid Reference:TR 3260 4184
Map Sheet:TR34SW
Parish:DOVER, DOVER, KENT

Monument Types

  • BATTERY (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1756 AD to 2050 AD)
  • GUN EMPLACEMENT (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1756 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Four gun battery, located just to the north of St. Marys Church, is one of two substantial gun batteries constructed in the 18th century to cover the high ground located on the northern side of the castle (the other being Bell Battery). The battery was made obsolete in the mid C19th and the bank was reformed burying the gun positions.

The 1786 engineer’s plan shows the four emplacements (slightly to the east of the present
remains) between the Church and the remains of Clinton’s Tower. Now there is a zig-zag brick wall in the embankment north of the Pharos and the west end of the church (a wall of the Napoleonic 5-gun battery), but with a reduced bank above it, and partly obscured by bushes. Above it to the east is the higher end of the medieval rampart, but both that and the outer part of the battery have been lost to the garrison Drying Ground, which lies in a small hollow to the north (complete with iron posts to hold washing lines), while the 1858 Garrison School has removed the western part. (summarised from sources) (1-2)


<1> English Heritage, 2014, Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer (Unpublished document). SKE52105.

<2> Johnathan Coad, 1995, English Heritage Book of Dover Castle and the Defences of Dover (Monograph). SKE52106.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>XYUnpublished document: English Heritage. 2014. Dover Castle Conservation Management Plan Volume 2 Gazetteer. [Mapped feature: #102245 gun battery, ]
<2>Monograph: Johnathan Coad. 1995. English Heritage Book of Dover Castle and the Defences of Dover.

Related records

TR 34 SW 5Part of: Dover Castle (Monument)