Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Grand Shaft, which was designed to connect the barracks on the Western Heights with the harbour, can be accessed at the base of the cliffs through a courtyard off Snargate Street. There have been numerous stages of development of the buildings occupying the courtyard; changes to the guard room occupying the north-east side of the courtyard are part of the third phase (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)..

Monument Types

• GUARDHOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1900 AD? to 1969 AD? (between))

Full description

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The Grand Shaft, which was designed to connect the barracks on the Western Heights with the harbour, can be accessed at the base of the cliffs through a courtyard off Snargate Street. There have been numerous stages of development of the buildings occupying the courtyard, changes to the ancillary buildings occupying the north-east side of the courtyard are part of the third phase.

When first developed, the courtyard would have consisted of only a boundary wall and a small guard chamber. The extension to the guard room along the north-eastern boundary of the courtyard was part of a later phase of construction, originally built in the mid-19th century (plans of these buildings appear in c.1859). Most of the structures occupying this courtyard were demolished in about 1969 and the entire monument remained derelict until it was largely restored by Dover District Council in the 1970's (1).

On a later plan dating to 1947 (2) changes appear to have been made to the north-east range of buildings including the dividing of the large guard room into three smaller rooms.

Excavation of the site by CAT in 1993 revealed evidence of three phases of development of the site; this change may have been part of the third. The report notes a date of between 1900-1969 for the third phase of the development, and the consultation of later mapping may narrow this down to between 1900 and 1947 for the alteration of the south-west range. Other changes made in this period noted in the report include an insertion of a wooden floor to the existing buildings and the replacement of the arched outer entrance from the previous period by a pair of simple upright, square brick piers supporting wrought iron gates. (3)

<1> 1859, Historic Plan: Plan, elevation and section of proposed extensions to the (Grand Shaft) entrance structures (Cartographic materials). SKE31699.

<2> 1947, Grand Shaft guard rooms etc. c.1947 (Cartographic materials). SKE31701.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1993, The Dover Grand Shaft Project: Report on Archaeological Work at the Snargate Street Entrance (Unpublished document). SKE6833.

Sources and further reading