Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

In April 1860 that the Defence Committee considered the construction of casemated barracks in the South Lines, to provide bombproof accommodation for 400 men. The new barracks were a three storey casemated range forming a truncated L-shape, abutting the gun rooms of the extended south lines casemates. These gun rooms continued to cover the south lines ditch while the extension formed a caponier which projected into the north eastern extension of the South Lines ditch, thereby providing flanking fire along the barracks, whose south east elevation formed the escarp of the ditch. They were situated around the sides and ends of a long rectangular gorge, in this case effectively a protected courtyard, created by cutting deeply into the chalk rock of the hillside. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• ABLUTIONS BLOCK (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• BARRACKS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• CASEMATE (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• COOKHOUSE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• OFFICERS QUARTERS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• OFFICERS QUARTERS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• STOREHOUSE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

In 1860, the Defence Committee was of the opinion that the vicinity of the South Lines was the best site for new barracks. New work on the South Front of the Western Heights began around 1858 as part of a larger design and construction programme to upgrade all of the defences. It was in April 1860 that the Defence Committee considered the construction of casemated barracks in the South Lines, to provide bombproof accommodation for 400 men. This was to bring the Western Heights garrison up to the recommended strength of 91 officers and 2437 men. The construction of the barracks involved the modification of the pre-existing South Lines Casemates, the Napoleonic gun rooms which are shown on a plan of 1810. (1) The new barracks were a three storey casemated range forming a truncated L-shape, abutting the gun rooms of the extended south lines casemates. These gun rooms continued to cover the south lines ditch while the extension formed a caponier which projected into the north eastern extension of the South Lines ditch, thereby providing flanking fire along the barracks, whose south east elevation formed the escarp of the ditch. They were situated around the sides and ends of a long rectangular gorge, in this case effectively a protected courtyard, created by cutting deeply into the chalk rock of the hillside. All of the rooms faced onto the courtyard. Communication between the casemated rooms of the south east range and across the courtyards to the north west range was made possible by elaborate steel companionways.

The casemates of the north-west range were built into the chalk bedrock which had been stepped so that terraces could be left for lateral communication, each terrace partially over the casemates of the floor below. In the north west range, the ground floor rooms comprised the latrines and stores, the first floor artisan shops, latrines, cookhouses, ablutions, stores and pantries. The south east range was almost entirely for accommodation, mostly for soldiers and sergeants but with some room for officers at the north western end. A short north eastern range housed a guardroom at ground level. By the end of the C19th century the gunrooms of the caponier and South lines Casemates had been converted to provide extra accommodation. (2)

The location of these new barracks is plotted on a proposal plan dating to 1860 which also shows the extension of the ditch and other defences which were constructed at this time, alsongside the location of the married soldiers quarters on the terrace above. (3) Another plan dating to 1898 shows the South Lines barracks after most of the ancillery buildings had been constructed on the terrace above the casemates, this plan shows detail of the interior layout of all the structures within the complex. (4)

<1> E B Metcalf, Royal Military Surveyor and Draughtsman, 1810, Kent: Dover. Map showing fortifications.
Kent: Dover. Map showing fortifications. (Map). SKE51587.

<2> RCHME, 2001, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 9: South Front Barracks. Later 19th and 20th-century barracks complex (Unpublished document). SKE17505.

<3> Captain E F Du Cane, 1860, Plans and Sections of fortifications at the Western Heights: proposals for the South Front (Plan). SKE51595.

<4> Colonel Kirkwood, 1898, Ordnance Survey town plan of Dover: map showing South Front barracks and a nearby hospital. (Plan). SKE51596.

Sources and further reading

Related records