Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Before its alteration and completing in the 1850's the North centre and Detached bastion had an earlier phase of work with a different layout. It early plan resembled a triangle with a truncated tip, with longer east and west flanks tapering to a shorter northern face. It was an unrevetted earthwork which had incorporated an earlier linear fieldwork, dating probably from the American war of the 1770-1780s. the huge ditch and rampart of the bastion were constructed across this older work, producing two tiers of defence. (location accurate to the nearest 50m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BASTION (Post Medieval - 1803 AD? to 1850 AD?)
• DITCH (Post Medieval - 1803 AD? to 1850 AD?)

Full description

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The first hint if the North centre bastion occurs in a scheme dating to 1803. Work began in 1804 for a bastion to support six 24-pdr carronades. By 1805 the earthworks were almost complete although it remained unfinished in 1815. The extent and nature of this Napoleonic construction is shown on several plans dating to 1810, 1811 and 1830. The plan of the bastion, which projected from the linear defences (the north lines) along a short natural spur, resembled a triangle with a truncated tip, with longer east and west flanks tapering to a shorter northern face. Its purpose was defence of the land front, particularly to provide flanking fire along the north slope of the Heights. In form it was an unrevetted earthwork which had incorporated an earlier linear fieldwork, dating probably from the American war of the 1770-1780s. the huge ditch and rampart of the bastion were constructed across this older work, producing two tiers of defence. The outer bastion was closed off from the inner by the modified rampart and ditch of the earlier linear work and connected to it by what appears to be an underground gallery. The inner bastion contained two traverses, projecting inwards at right angles from the west flank, while the gorge incorporated a dog leg such that the entrance could be flanked from inside the Heights. (1)

<1> RCHME, 2001, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 7: North Centre and Detached Bastions: 19th-century fortifications (Unpublished document). SKE17503.

<2> E B Metcalf, Royal Military Surveyor and Draughtsman, 1810, Kent: Dover. Map showing fortifications. At the Western Heights
Kent: Dover. Map showing fortifications. (Map). SKE51587.

Sources and further reading

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