Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During a watching brief undertaken as part of the works associated with the A20 road and sewer scheme, remains of the 17th century fort entrance and fort wall were revealed. (location accurate to the nearest 100m based on available information).

Monument Types

• WALL (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1900 AD?)

Full description

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This project consisted of a major archaeological watching brief and excavation programme, conducted across an extensive part of the maritime and water-front areas of this important historic town, ahead of major road construction and sewer trenching, between the summer of 1991 and the spring of 1993. There were 21 areas of archaeological investigation: the second was Archcliffe Fort; an 17th-19th century artillery fort. An extended watching brief; limited excavation; salvage recording; building recording and palaeo-environmental sampling was undertaken, ahead of, and during, road-building and sewer trenching. Features uncovered and investigated included the 17th-19th century fort entrance structure and 17th century fort wall.

This important fort, situated on the western outskirts of the town, above the Pier District, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the surviving defences dating from the seventeenth tonineteenth centuries. The construction of the new A20 required the partial demolition of a nineteenth century brick 'barbican'-type structure protecting the main entrance to the fort, 43 together with the relining of the north-west moat. Preliminary surveys of the threatened entrance structure were undertaken by English Heritage ahead of the road building phase (Brian Kerr pers comm.). A considerable amount of further interesting information was recorded by C.A.T. during the course of the road works. Detailed archaeological examination demonstrated the existence of an entrance structure rather more complicated in development than an initial study indicated. Four phases of development were identified: simple double-span bridge, first built of stone (and perhaps timber = Period I), then partially rebuilt in brick (Period II). Period III represents a major nineteenth century expansion of the bridge structure into a projecting barbican entrance fronting the main gate into the fort. This new building incorporated a series of rooms, at two levels, together with an enclosure wall equipped with musket loops. Documentary evidence suggests that these Period III additions date to 1809. A plan of 1884 indicates that the Period III rooms included messenger's quarters and a guard-room. The Period IV remains, consist of subsequent additions to the Period III structure, principally in the form of a square room built towards the northern end of the barbican. The Period IV remains are dateable to the twentieth century and most probably relate to the occupation of the site during World War 2. Road works adjacent to the North-East Bastion of the fort demonstrated that the bastion was partly built on a series of sand deposits apparently blown by the wind from the in-filling of the adjacent harbour basin. Outside the main fort to the north, a length of mortared greensand and flint wall with flint galletting, fronting Bulwark Hill, was recorded. This so closely resembled the seventeenth century walls of the Fort opposite, that it may well indicate a related military structure. Indeed, the north wall of the fort is on a broadly similar axis to that of part of the wall and, added to their general proximity, possibly suggest a connection. The wall may have related to some sort of detached out-work of the fort, perhaps an outer gateway. More critical consideration to this notion will be required in due course.(1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, Dover Sewers/A20 Project 1991–3, Assessment Report and Updated Project Design (Unpublished document). SKE31815.

Sources and further reading