Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A group of now demolished soldiers and officers accomodation blocks and associated buildings were arranged around the parade ground at the Western Heights (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information).

Monument Types

• OFFICERS QUARTERS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1805 AD? to 1960 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

The accomodation blocks were arranged around and overlooking the parade ground, as far as was possible, conforming to the accepted plan of the period. All of these were built as part of the original Napoleonic design and comprised large austere blocks of double-pile plan. Construction was of brick, laid to English-bond with flat arch window heads, deep sashes and half hipped slate roof concealing a central valley.

The officers' quarters range B was a structure of 9 by 2 fenestrated bays, in three storeys and a half basement. It was sub divided into heated one room quarters reached from axial corridors running from a central lobby and stair well. Access was gained from the ground floor in the rear elevation and via the basement in the front elevation. This appears to be the standard plan for the period.

Today only a scarp, 1.2m high, marks the change in level between the half basement on the south-east and the ground floor on the north-west. Additionally, a low bank which presently flanks a modern path, may conceal part of the south-western end wall. A flight of steps survives on the northern side of what was the yard and gave access to the alley alongside the rear elevation. The site of the eastern corner of the building, near its junction to the officers' mess, is a mass of confused mounds and hollows, indicating considerable disturbance. (1)

Remains relating to the former site of this building were uncovered during an archaeological evaluation undertaken at the site in 2017 by Canterbury Archaeological Trust. The remains included red brick wall foundations and demolition deposits. (2)

The earliest plan which shows the completed Napoleonic works which were undertaken at the Grand Shaft Barracks dates to 1810. (3) A later plan which dates to 1861, immediately prior to the 1860's scheme of works which were undertaken at the barracks site, gives further detail of the buildings constructed during the Napoleonic works, including lables of specific buildings. (4)

Many of the buildings of Grand Shaft Barracks are recorded in detail on a set of plans, mainly of the 1860s and 1870s, which were probably prepared to accompany the alterations and new building resulting from the recommendations of the Commission. The plan/elevation for the Officers Quarters Range B shows the interior layout of the building and a number of external features. (5)

<1> RCHME, 2000, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 4: The Grand Shaft Barracks, 19th and 20th-century infantry barracks (Unpublished document). SKE17499.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2018, Grand Shaft Barracks, Western Heights, Dover, Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE51431.

<3> Major W H Ford, Royal Engineers, 1811, Plan Shewing the Appropriation of the Ordnance Lands on the Western Heights Dover 1811 (Map). SKE51523.

<4> Unknown, 1861, Dover, General Plan of the Western Heights Barracks (Plan). SKE51541.

<5> Royal Engineers, 1860, Front elevation, a section and floor plans of officers quarters, range B, Western Heights, as executed (Map). SKE51564.

Sources and further reading

Related records