Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The two-storeyed Double Caponier located at the western end of the Western Outworks Ditch provided a powerful defence at this location. It was constructed at the same time as the ditch and, but was converted into barrack accommodation 1911 after the after the Citadel Battery was constructed. They were destroyed when the western end of the ditch was in-filled in the 1960's. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CAPONIER (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• CASEMATE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• MAGAZINE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• BARRACKS (Demolished, Modern - 1911 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

The two-storeyed Double Caponier located at the western end of the Western Outworks Ditch provided a powerful defence at this location. The double form allowed each caponier to flank one principal face of the main ditch with carronade and small arms fire, while loops for small arms also covered the ditch between and around the two caponiers. The revetment of the caponiers was protected by a drop ditch, which prevented an attacker getting close to the embrasures and loops. It was constructed alongside the ditch and the earliest plan detailing its interior features dates to 1863. In spite of its singular form, the Double Caponier has features in common with the contemporary caponiers on the Western Heights at Drop Redoubt and North Centre Detached Bastion. It was reached via a long stair descending in a gallery from the Parade Ground. The caponiers were irregular on plan, with pointed ends, and were each divided into two heated rooms by a thick wall. On either side were the small arms galleries extending behind the ditch scarp revetment. Each consisted of two casemates, linked through entrances towards the rear of the thick party walls. On the lower level, two expense magazines were positioned one on each side of the stair and entered via small lobbies opening off the small arms galleries. Following the construction of the Citadel Battery outside the Western Outworks to the west in 1898-1900, the Double Caponier was adopted as the War Quarters for the battery, with barrack accommodation for 46 men in 1911 and 1929. It was probably for this purpose that the alterations were made in the northernmost and southernmost casemates of the small arms galleries to provide Ablutions and WCs. (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

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