Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A small building, located between barrack huts 4 and 5, was the original Cook House serving the barrack huts. It consists of a gabled main block with a corrugated asbestos roof, and a 20th-century flat-roofed addition against the east gable. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BATH HOUSE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1891 AD? to 1947 AD?)
• COOKHOUSE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1891 AD? to 1947 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

A small building, located between barrack huts 4 and 5, was the original Cook House serving the
barrack huts. It consists of a gabled main block with a corrugated asbestos roof, and a 20th-century flat-roofed addition against the east gable. The original Cook House of c1890, now heavily altered, corresponds to the eastern two-thirds of the main block. It was a square single cell on plan, with a timber verandah to the south front. The verandah sheltered a central entrance flanked by two windows, and there were a further two windows in each of the east and west elevations. Drawings dated 1899 record two variant proposals to add a Bath House for an NCO and three men to the rear of the Cook House. This involved extending the terrace, producing a scarp which, though softened subsequently, is extant. The Bath House had a shallow-pitched lean-to roof and a rear wall pierced by four small arched windows, each lighting a bath cubicle. One cubicle, for the use of NCOs, was entered from the west via a lobby, while the remaining three, for other ranks, were entered from the east end via a passage. By 1947 The former Cook House contained a series of baths and showers, the former Bath House contained further shower cubicles and the Preparation Room had become a Drying Room. The Bath House was demolished in the 20th century and the original Cook House entrance seems to have been replaced by another to the west. What remains today is the Cook House and the later Preparation Room, both much-remodelled and currently used as a Canoe Shed. (1)

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 English Heritage, 2004, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent: Report No. 2: The Citadel (Unpublished document).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

Sources and further reading

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