Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Education/AV building located on the north eastern side of the inner bailey, to the east of Arthurs Hall 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 C13th century as the porch to Arthurs Hall and associated service rooms and there are several areas of medieval masonry visible within the structure that reveal this former use. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• SERVICE WING (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1216 AD? to 1740 AD)

Full description

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The Education/AV building located on the north eastern side of the inner bailey, to the east of Arthurs Hall 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 C13th century as the porch to Arthurs Hall and associated service rooms.

This building now contains and education room and the former AV building. 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.

This building was originally constructed as part of the new complex of buildings on the northern and eastern side of the Inner Bailey created by Henry III which also included the Great Hall, Arthur’s Hall and one or two chambers. In 1238/9 reference was made to an oratory over the porch of the New Hall, and the King’s Chamber at the end of the New Hall is mentioned. In 1246 a chamber at the end of the great hall was being constructed, presumably a second chamber, as the previous example was only a few years old. This reference refers to ‘a chamber’ whereas previous references used the term ’King’s Chamber’, suggesting two separate rooms. Both chambers could have been at the upper end of the hall, but an alternative is that the upper end was the location of the earlier chamber, with the later second chamber situated at the low end, above the services and convenient for the oratory above the porch, an arrangement used in Westminster Palace.

In documentary sources, in addition to Arthur’s Hall and ancillary buildings, there are references to ‘a Larder House’, which may have been in the services at the lower end of Arthur’s Hall. There was the Bakehouse near the Kitchen and Larder House and a Brewhouse may have been beside it. (1-3)

A building in this location appears on the c.1570 drawing of Dover Castle by John Bereblock. (4)

<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.

<3> Johnathan Coad, 1995, English Heritage Book of Dover Castle and the Defences of Dover (Monograph). SKE52106.

<4> John Bereblock, 1570, John Bereblock's view of Dover Castle (Cartographic materials). SKE52107.

Sources and further reading

Related records