Dover Castle

“ Dover Castle is in most respects, with its pierced and honeycombed cliffs, an up-to-date fortress, but it was realised over a hundred years280 ago that the corresponding cliffs on the other side of the town required to be fortified; and thus the gun-galleries, the barracks, and the many military developments of the “Western Heights” came into being. One reaches these lofty altitudes most conveniently, but up infinite staircases, by that extremely dirty and dismal specimen of engineering skill, “the Shaft,” in Snargate Street. ”

“ The ground plan is nearly a square, and the building, in its general appearance, bears a great resemblance to Rochester Castle, which was erected according to the designs of Bishop Gundulph—the architect of the White Tower in the Tower of London—in the early part of the reign of William Rufus. The walls of the keep of Dover Castle are from eighteen to twenty feet thick, and are traversed by galleries communicating with the principal apartments. ”

“ Beyond, the coast rises up from the low sandy level, and rounding the South Foreland, on which is a fine electric lighthouse of modern construction, we come to the chalk-cliffs, on top of which are the dark towers of Dover Castle, from whose battlements the road descends to the town along the water's edge and in the valley of the little stream that gives the place its name—the Dour, which the Celts called the Dwr or "water," and the Romans the Dubræ. The great keep of Dover dates from William Rufus's reign, and is one of the many badges left in England of the Norman Conquest. ”

“ During this tedious siege of Dover castle, where Lewis and many of his barons were sure to be maintained, K. John, who had been dodging up and down, took this opportunity of making a terrible inroad into the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, where he made his usual progress northward; as if he had taken up a resolution to live and die in his calling. ”

“ Dover Castle.
The castle is the strongest place in the world, of old fortification; it takes up thirty acres of ground: it is an amazing congeries of walls, ditches, arches, embattlements, mounts, and all imaginable contrivances to render it impregnable after the old mode: but with highest regret I beheld this most noble and memorable fortress, once thought the key of Britain, and that has divers times had the honour to save the kingdom from conquest and slavery, now become a common prey to the people that belong to it: in the late wars with France they kept 1500 prisoners in the great castle ”

“ One of the most shameful events in connexion with the story of the Castle is that of King John’s submission there to Pandulph, the Pope’s legate. Three years after this event, in the spring of 1216, Louis VIII of France, who had come over convoyed and supported by a powerful fleet under the command of Eustace the Monk, was before Dover Castle to besiege it after having landed at Stonor and captured Hastings and Rye. ”

“ Coming across from France, they do indeed gleam milk-white, and the Castle and the Roman pharos beside it seem to be neighbours almost with the clouds. But, examined close at hand, the cliffs of Dover have been plentifully smirched, and I think, from personal observation, that the chalk cliffs of the South Coast are actually at their natural whitest at Seaford, in Sussex.
COLTON’S TOWER, DOVER CASTLE.
Dover Castle, that “great fortress, reverend and worshipful,” sits regally on the lofty cliffs and looks (what it has several times proved not to be) impregnable. ”

“ In quest of the "Marston Hall" of "The Leech of Folkestone," and of traces of Master Marsh we must leave Dover, and, climbing the steep and winding Castle Hill, come, under the frowning keep and warder towers of that great fortress, to the high, bare, chalky table-land that stretches from this point to Deal and Sandwich. It is an open, unfenced road at the beginning, and so shadeless that a very striking elm solitary by the wayside is known far and wide as the "Lone Tree." ”

“ Dover is in the county of Kent, and lies about seventy-two miles south-south-east of London. The town is situated in a valley, having on one side the cliffs on which Dover Castle is built, and on the other the eminence called the Heights; these are strongly fortified, and form the principal defence of the town and harbour. The greater part of the town lies on the western side of a small stream, called the Dour, which there discharges itself into the sea. The view in the Engraving is taken from the beach, on the eastern side of the harbour, looking towards the north-east. ”

“ On the 23rd of June the report of ordnance wafted over from Boulogne announced the embarkation; and on Sunday evening the queen landed at Dover, after a stormy passage. Mr. Tyrwhitt, a gentleman of the household, rode post haste to Canterbury to inform Charles, who was at Dover Castle by ten o'clock the next morning to greet his bride. Henrietta Maria was at breakfast when the king was announced, and instantly rose, and hastened downstairs to meet him. ”

“ At last the cortége of the bride approached Boulogne. Charles I. came to [169] Dover Castle to meet and welcome his queen. Her passage was dangerous. The king had that Sunday retired to Canterbury, thinking the bride could not embark in the storm. However, she landed at Dover, June 23, 1625, at seven in the evening. At ten, next day, the king arrived while she was at breakfast; he wished to wait, for she had been very ill with sea-sickness. Yet the bride rose hastily from table, hasted down a pair of stairs to meet the king, then offered to kneel and kiss his hand ”

“ For when we turn to the story of the attack on Dover Castle in 1067, we find Hugh de Montfort “the immediate commander of the castle”; [569] and are thus able to trace the “Warda Constabularii” back to the Conquest itself.
Thus the legend of John de Fiennes and his heirs, constables of the castle, together with its “constitutional significance,” is blown, as it were, into space, and should never, henceforth, be heard.
The “Honour of the Constable” passed to the Crown on the forfeiture of Henry of Essex (1163) ”

“ We saw the castle of Dover, and the sea beyond, four or five miles before we reached it. We looked at it through a long vale, the castle being upon an eminence, as it seemed, at the end of this vale, which opened to the sea. The country now became less fertile, but near Dover it seemed more rich again. Many buildings [Pg 146] stand on the flat fields, sheltered with tall trees. There is one old chapel that might have been there just in the same state in which it now is when this vale was as retired, and as little known to travellers as our own Cumberland mountain wilds thirty years ago. ”

“ Dover, Tuesday, July 11th.—We walked to the Castle before breakfast. The building, when you are [Pg 164] close to it, appears even sublime, from its immense height and bulk; but it is not rich or beautiful in architecture. The old warder stood in waiting upon the hill to lead us forward. After ascending above a hundred stone steps, we were greeted by the slender tinkling of a bell, a delicately wild sound in that place. It is fixed at the top of a pillar, on which is inscribed a poetical petition in behalf of the prisoners confined above in the Castle. ”

“ We never are told by English chroniclers that Harold built any castles, though we do hear of his fortifying towns. The present [Pg 139] writer would answer this question, tentatively indeed, and under correction, by the theory that the castrum constructed or repaired by Harold was the present outer rampart of Dover Castle, which encloses an area of about 34 acres, and may have enclosed more, if it was formerly complete on the side towards the sea. ”

“ So that, as already foreseen, the charging of the mine with the Dynamite would be prevented; and the embrasures and portholes of Dover Castle and Fort, or of any other Forts that might be built instead of them, commanded, as shewn, by French Riflemen, engaged in picking off our few Artillerymen, commencing with the zealous superior officers! And this more quickly than might by some be supposed! The morning hour of changing Guard would be known. What if a single bullet were sent, at a given signal, into each casemate and battery of both Dover Castle and Fort at that time? ”

“ This entry is followed by a very large expenditure on Dover Castle (amounting to at least £6000) , sufficient to cover the cost of a stone wall and towers round the outer circuit. The orders of planks for joists must be for the towers, and the large quantities of lead, for roofing them. The order for timber “ad palum et alia facienda” in 1225 may refer to a stockade on the advanced work called the Spur, which is said to be Hubert’s work. ”

“ Placed at a sufficient elevation to enable him to embrace a wide extent of land and water, he is still sufficiently near the town to secure that distinctness of detail which adds so much to the effect of a landscape. One of the chief points of attraction in Dover must always be the Castle, but as we shall have another opportunity of referring to that structure, in connection with our view of Dover from the Beach, we purpose now to devote our attention to the town itself. ”

“ The “pharos” or lighthouse, near the church within Dover Castle (Bloxam’s Gothic Eccles. Architect.) . The building is hexagonal externally, and square within. The lower part is composed of flints and rubble, with bonding courses of Roman tiles. The upper part of the tower belongs to the Tudor period. ”

“ It is an exceptionally healthy locality, and the steep shore and open downs make it an agreeable summer resort. The better residential quarters lie along the seaboard and on the higher ground, notably on a western spur of the Castle Hill. The dominant object of the place is the castle, on the east height, 375 ft. above sea-level, between which and the batteries on the western heights lies the old town. The castle occupies a space of 35 acres. Within its precincts are a Roman pharos or lighthouse, still exhibiting the Roman masonry; the ancient fortress church (St Mary in Castro) ”

“ That this keep was the work of Henry II. there can be no manner of doubt; the Pipe Rolls show that he spent more than £2000 on the turris or keep of Dover Castle between the years 1181 and 1187, and Benedict of Peterborough mentions the building of the keep at this date. [404] The curtain around the motte may also be reckoned to be his work originally, as the cingulum is spoken of along with the turris in the accounts. Modern alterations have left little of Norman character in this curtain which shows at a glance, and the gateways (one of which remains) belong to a later period. ”

“ It lies smutched with smoke, along the shore, and it is as commonplace as some worthy town of our own which has grown to like effect in as many decades as Dover has taken centuries. The difference in favor of Dover is that when at last you get outside of it, you are upon the same circle of downs that backs Folkestone, and on the top of one of them you are overawed by the very noble castle, which too few people, who know the place as the landing of the Calais boat, ever think of. ”

“ It is not improbable that it was for the repair of this wooden wall that so much timber was sent to Dover in the reigns of Richard I. and John. [398] Dering, who was lieutenant of the castle in 1629, records the tradition that the tower in the outer enceinte, called Canons’ Gate, dates from Saxon times (of course this could only be true of a wooden predecessor of the stone tower) , and that Godwin’s Tower, on [Pg 141] the east side of the outer vallum, existed as a postern before the Conquest. ”

“ Finally, although the stern necessities of war did not admit of the banded shafts, lofty vault, or woven window-tracery of Tintern, or Fountains, or many a less distinguished church, the ornamentation of the richer castles, as Dover, Rochester, Hedingham, Newcastle, Knaresborough, Castle Rising, and Coningsborough, is marked by a chastened fitness peculiar to such works; and of the ruder and less ornate castles, the ruins of very many present a savage grandeur which few who have visited Caerphilly, Harlech, or Scarborough, can fail to appreciate ”

“ Very extensive harbour improvements, begun in 1893, were carried out in subsequent years. The celebrated castle stands on a high chalk cliff. Dover is the chief of the Cinque Ports, and has extensive barracks. A parliamentary borough till 1918, Dover now gives its name to a parliamentary division of Kent. Dover was frequently raided by German aviators during the European War. ”

“ It often relieves your mind to tell a Frenchman or a German what you think of him or his country in English, but it doesn’t cause him any discomfort.
Dover is a most interesting town, with a castle, a harbor, a garrison, and a history. It is the closest English port to France, and on a clear day with good eyes and a vivid imagination you can see Calais in France, 21 miles away. Ever since William the Conqueror came over and did his conquering, the English have kept Dover fortified in such a [164] way that it would be difficult for another conqueror to follow his example. ”

“ In the Castle and town of Dover there are several interesting old buildings and churches. The Castle Church of St Mary is of the greatest interest, more especially to architects and antiquarians, as it is undoubtedly one of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings in the country. It is thought to stand on the site of the Roman Prætorium, and by some authorities is stated to incorporate within its walls some portions of that ancient structure, which was converted to the uses of a Christian church in the third century. ”