Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Most of the original ancillary structures, comprising stores, canteens, workshops, gardens etc. stood on terraces to the west of the main steps. Included within this group of ancillery buildings was the Barracks Stores and the Barracks Wardens Quarters, located towards the north western side of the complex. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• STOREHOUSE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1805 AD? to 1960 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

Most of the original ancillary structures, comprising stores, canteens, workshops, gardens etc. stood on terraces to the west of the main steps. Included within this group of ancillary buildings was the Barracks Stores and the Barracks Wardens Quarters, located towards the north western side of the complex. This was a single pile, two storey building within a three quarter basement, of 6 by 2 fenestrated bays with a pitched slate roof. The northern half comprised living accommodation on two floors. The principal remains comprise parts of the south western and south eastern walls, in red brick laid to English bond, much of the north western end is obscured by rubble. The terrace revetment wall is battered and refaced in concrete with circular ceramic drainpipes. A gap in this wall leads to a small brick chamber, 1.55m by 1.24m wide, on the terrace above. (1)

The earliest plan which shows the completed Napoleonic works which were undertaken at the Grand Shaft Barracks dates to 1810. (2) A later plan which dates to 1861, immediately prior to the 1860's scheme of works which were undertaken at the barracks site, gives further detail of the buildings constructed during the Napoleonic works, including lables of specific buildings. (3)


Many of the buildings of Grand Shaft Barracks are recorded in detail on a set of plans, mainly of the 1860s and 1870s, which were probably prepared to accompany the alterations and new building resulting from the recommendations of the Commission. The plan/elevation for the Stores and wardens quarters shows the interior layout of the building and a number of external features. (4)

<1> RCHME, 2000, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 4: The Grand Shaft Barracks, 19th and 20th-century infantry barracks (Unpublished document). SKE17499.

<2> Major W H Ford, Royal Engineers, 1811, Plan Shewing the Appropriation of the Ordnance Lands on the Western Heights Dover 1811 (Map). SKE51523.

<3> Unknown, 1861, Dover, General Plan of the Western Heights Barracks (Plan). SKE51541.

<4> Royal Engineers, 1856, Basement, ground- and first-floor plans plus sections and elevations for the proposed alterations to Barrack Stores at Western Heights (Plan). SKE51568.

Sources and further reading

Related records