Queen Mary's Tower, Western Outer Curtain Wall, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

Queen Mary's Tower is located on Dover Castle's Western Outer Curtain Wall between Constable's Gateway, less than 15 yards to the right (north) and Peverell's Gate, less than 60 yards to the left (south):



This is a fairly typical D-type tower but the location within the garden grounds of Constable's Gateway (alt. Constable's Gate, Constable's Tower) prohibits getting any closer.

This view shows the internal arch and was taken looking over the garden wall from the raised ground between West Norman Road and Harold Road.

Queen Mary's Tower had its height reduced during the 18th Century in order to turn it into a gun platform (thereby removing the crenellations) like the other D-Type towers (eg Gatton's Tower, Say's Tower, Hurst's Tower).

Other names for Queen Mary's Tower: Port Tower, Porth Tower, Laswells Tower (Laswell's Tower?), and Gostling Tower.

As a rule of thumb, 'square' towers were built in the days of arrows, curved ones marked the advent of cannon.

More information (including sources used and a Google Earth satellite map) can be found on this photo's original webpage at:

Queen Mary's Tower, Western Outer Curtain Wall, Dover Castle

A Dover Middle Ages history photo.

Links to the main Images of Dover website:

All castle photos first appear under the Dover Castle tag.

The castle is a Dover Grade I Listed Buildings and an English Heritage site.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town