Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The north flank casemates on the western outworks of the Citadel were built as defensible casemated barracks, their small arms galleries serving to prevent an enemy force from gaining offensive positions in the ditch and on the counterscarp. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• ABLUTIONS BLOCK (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1871 AD? to 1911 AD?)
• CASEMATE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1871 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• COOKHOUSE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1871 AD? to 1911 AD?)
• MAGAZINE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1871 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

The north flank casemates on the western outworks of the Citadel, positioned in the obtuse re-entrant where the North Flank meets the North Ditch, were built as defensible casemated barracks, their small arms galleries serving to prevent an enemy force from gaining offensive positions in the ditch and on the counterscarp. Systems of detached flank works like those in the Western Outworks were intended to close gaps in the defence of a trace, often with casemated artillery positions. They are constructed against the rock-cut scarp face of the ditch, forming its revetment, in two ranges. The building is two-storeyed, comprising a main barrack range orientated east-west, with a small arms gallery projecting north-eastwards from the eastern end. The casemated barrack rooms, numbered 9 to 14 (from east to west, bottom up) each housed nine men in 1897 and 1911. The access was via a stair descending through a gallery from the Parade Ground to the south-east, opening into the southern chamber of the small arms gallery. The small arms galleries doubled as a Cook House on the upper level, and Ablutions on the lower, the uses recorded in 1897, they were, however, disused by 1911. the northern room on the upper level may be some form. of drain connected with this later use. (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)

A plan dating to 1911, with annotations from 1929 and 1947 shows the casemates in great detail and inlcudes interior features and labels. (3)

<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.

<3> Unknown, 1911, Dover Western Heights, Citadel Barracks & Western Outworks Ground Floor Plan (Map). SKE51525.

Sources and further reading

Related records