Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Keep Yard 7, 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 C13th century as the Kitchen on the south eastern side of Arthurs Hall and its associated service rooms. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• KITCHEN (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1243 AD? to 1740 AD?)

Full description

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Keep Yard 7, 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 C13th century as the Kitchen on the south eastern side of Arthurs Hall and its associated service rooms.

The construction of the kitchen began in 1243, as part of the work undertaken by Henry III con a new complex of buildings including Arthurs Hall, The Kings’ Chamber, Old hall and the service rooms. The instruction stated that ‘Contrabreve to make a kitchen belonging to the King’s new hall in Dover castle’; therefore it was presumably located near the services of the new hall. A 1586 memo refers to a passage 80 feet long linking the hall and privy kitchen to the Great Tower and the porch or entrance to the queen’s lodgings. In 1284/5 there is also a reference to repairs to the kitchen and Old Hall next to the double door, as if they were adjacent in the south-east corner of the Inner Bailey. (1-2) Bereblock’s view, which was probably created shortly before this, shows the pentice between Arthur’s Hall and the Great Tower, again suggesting that the kitchen was probably to the south-east of the hall and its services. (3) In 1814 Lyon stated that: ‘The whole space between the old magazine and the eastern angle of the saxon keep, was occupied by a kitchen and offices, for the use of the King, when he visited the castle The catalogue entry to an 18th-century plan in the NMR suggests that one magazine was located in the building immediately to the north-west of Arthur’s Hall, which now houses the regimental museum. Therefore Lyon’s assertion safely locates the kitchen somewhere in the south-east corner of the Inner Bailey, if not with any great precision. (1-2)

There is an open space between the buildings in the far south eastern corner of the Inner Bailey. It is likely that remains of medieval walls once belonging to the 1243 kitchen exits below this open space as well as C18th remains as is has been occupied by at least one building dating from the mid-18th century (4)

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

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

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

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

Sources and further reading

Related records