Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

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

Monument Types

• STABLE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1889 AD? to 1997 AD?)

Full description

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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.

A troop stable occupied the top terrace in 1889. In 1899, it was re built for a new function in accordance with the Mobilization Centre Policy of the late 19th century, to aid the rapid deployment of troops in the event of an invasion. Identical buildings were provided at both South Front Barracks and the Citadel. The new building was a light construction of wood and some brick with a louvred slate roof, retaining a stable for eight draught horses at the north eastern end. The new elements comprised a wagon and machine gun shed in the centre and a general mobilization equipment store at the south-western end.

This building was demolished in 1997. Very little now remains: a short length of revetment wall against the scarp to Drop Redoubt Road that seems to have formed one side of a detached storage bay; and a patch of concrete floor. (1)

During an archaeological evaluation undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust at the site of the Grand Shaft Barracks in 2017 revealed a small number of features which relate to the former site of the The Troop Stable/Mobilization Equipment Store. These features include a concrete base, wall foundation and gutter. (2)

A plan dating to 1896 shows the additional buildings and improvements which were constructed under the 1860's scheme of works at the Grand Shaft Barracks site, including the Troop stables and mobilzation equipment store. (3)

Many of the buildings of Grand Shaft Barracks are recorded in detail on a set of plans which were probably prepared to accompany the alterations and new building resulting from the recommendations of the Commission. The plan/elevation for the Troop Stables and mobilzation equipment store shows the interior layout of the building and a number of external features, as well as notes of the dates of authorisation, commencement and completion, the estimated and actual costs and the materials used. (4)

<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> Royal Engineers, 1896, Grand Shaft Barracks Dover (Plan). SKE51570.

<4> Royal Engineers, 1903, Plan, sections and elevations of the troop stable and storage for mobilisation equipment vehicles at Grand Shaft Barracks (Plan). SKE51572.

Sources and further reading

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