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Monument details
| HER Number: | TR 34 SW 2793 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Possible former site of a Tudor Bulwarke, Dover |
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Summary
The precise location of this Bulwarke is unknown but it would have been set somewhere on the cliff above Snargate Street/below the Western Heights. There are a series of three drawings dated c. 1539-41 showing three Tudor artillery bulwarks at Dover – all of the same style one shows a gun platform with three cannons, titled ‘The Bulwerck in the Clyff’. (location accurate to the nearest 100m based on available information)
| Grid Reference: | TR 3166 4094 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR34SW |
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| Parish: | DOVER, DOVER, KENT |
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Monument Types
- BATTERY (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1539 AD to 1700 AD?)
Full description
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The precise location of this Bulwarke is unknown but it would have been set somewhere on the cliff above Snargate Street/below the Western Heights, made of earth revetted with timber, provided by the harbour works. . There are a series of three drawings dated c. 1539-41 showing three Tudor artillery bulwarks at Dover – all of the same style one shows a gun platform with three cannons, titled ‘The Bulwerck in the Clyff’. The other drawing depict Archcliffe Fort and Moats Bulwarke. They were constructed to defend the new western harbour which was being developed throughout the 16th century and and to protect the expanding town. All three are referred to in a book of payments dated 15 January 1541 “Bulwark under Dover Castle: - 12 Jan. Thomas Vaughan (Captain); Under the cliff going to the Wyke: - Robert Nethersall (Captain); and Upon the hill beyond the pier: - Edmund Mody (Captain)”. In the previous year a document is compiled giving the number of men garrisoning Henry VIII’s fortifications: “The bulwark under Dover Castle.—A captain and 3 others. The bulwark in the Cliff.—A captain and 2 others. The bulwark of earth upon the hill beyond the pier at Dover.—Edmond Moody, captain, and 11 others.” The Bulwarke is not shown on historic mapping dating to the 17th century so it is likely that it had been removed by this time. (1)
a rectangular structure is shown on a plan of the harbour dating to 1541 which may represent the location of this bulwarke but that is not certain. (2)
<1> Unknown, 1541, Bulwark in the Clyff (Map). SKE31977.
<2> Richard Cavendish, 1541-44, A grounde platt for Dovour (Map). SKE31978.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <1>XY | Map: Unknown. 1541. Bulwark in the Clyff. [Mapped feature: #106046 Tudor Bulwark, ] |
| <2> | Map: Richard Cavendish. 1541-44. A grounde platt for Dovour. Photocopy. |
