Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The excavation of the ditch surrounding the western outworks was underway in 1860 and was completed by at least 1871. The western end of the ditch, in the area between the North and South flank casemates was infilled in the 1960’s but its course can be seen due to subsidence of the fill. It defends area of flat ground on the Heights as far as a very narrow point on the ridge, thereby providing for more complete and effective defence of the western approaches to the fortress. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• DITCH (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• RAMPART (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• SCARP (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

The excavation of the ditch surrounding the western outworks was underway in 1860 and was completed by at least 1871. The western end of the ditch, in the area between the North and South flank casemates was infilled in the 1960’s but its course can be seen due to subsidence of the fill. The remaining sections of ditch are thickly overgrown though sections of the revet which consists of a flint facing with interspersed red brick string courses is visible at some locations within the North and East ditches. The couterscarp was not completed and consists of unrevetted chalk bedrock interspersed with chalk block walling and concrete facing. Only a few small sections of the scarp revetment are visible in the North and East ditch, these are in concrete, but this is a likely replacement of an original brick construction. The South Ditch is mainly unrevetted bedrock, with patches of chalk blockwork. Much of the south rampart is intact, including the South Demi-Bastion, as is the precipitous scarping of the slope between the rampart and the South Ditch. In contrast the western rampart and west bastion are lost to infilling, while the north rampart has been levelled to produce a flat area inside the present security compound. The southern part of the east rampart is also extant; it follows the main trace of the Citadel and was probably created by remodelling of the Citadel counterscarp bank; as such it is a reformed section of the early work laid out during the American War. (1)

Detail of the Western Outworks appears on a plan dating to 1871 which shows all of the works which were undertaken under the reccomendations of the Royal Commission. (2)

<1> English Heritage, 2004, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent: Report No. 2: The Citadel (Unpublished document). SKE17690.

<2> Captain H S Palmer (?), 1871, War Department OS 1:2500 Sheet LXVIII.15, revision of 1871, annotated with positions of magazines in the Citadel in 1877 (Map). SKE51524.

Sources and further reading

Related records