The Canons Gate and Rokesley Tower, Western Outer Curtain Wall, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

The Canons Gateway, located at the southern end of the Western Outer Curtain Wall, is the vehicular entrance to Dover Castle:


(Click this Canons Gate of Dover Castle text link to see the largest size)

Western Outer Curtain Wall

The bridge entrance is accessible from Canons Gate Road, a turning off of Castle Hill Road not far from the Victoria Park junction. The pedestrian entrance to the castle is via Constable's Gateway to the north.

The tower on the left of the Canons Gate entrance is Rokesley's Tower, a D-type mural tower complete with Garderobe (a medieval latrine, or toilet).

Further to the left, Fulbert's Tower lies 80 yards north of Rokesley's Tower; out of view to the right is the Tudor Bulwark.

The photo was taken at 11.40 am on Easter Sunday, 12th of April, 2009.

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Abridged excerpt from a Georgian book published in 1828 (1)

The following account refers to the original and now demolished "Canon, or Monk's Gate", once located out-of-shot to the right, and to the "New Entrance" - the Canons Gateway shown in the photo:

At the Going Down of the Sun..., Dunkirk War Memorial, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

Soon to be completely wreathed in shadow as the sun continues to set behind the hills of the Western Heights, this is the Dunkirk War Memorial on Dover's seafront promenade in front of the Georgian Waterloo Crescent of Marine Parade:


(Click this Dunkirk War Memorial text link to see the largest size)

The front panel, or plaque, depicts a battle scene showing a British Army soldier carrying a wounded comrade towards a small rowing boat below which is inscribed:

Dunkirk Veterans Association East Kent (1). This memorial was erected on the 16th August 1975, the 35th anniversary of the battle of Dunkirk. During the period May 10th to 1st June 1940 202,306 British, British Commonwealth and allied troops were evacuated to Dover. The memorial not only pays tribute to the bravery and discipline of the servicemen, but to the courage of the crews of the armada of little ships which assisted, and the people of the port of Dover who received them.

But as Richard Overy of the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, noted in A very British defeat, a review of the 2006 book, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, 2006):

Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse Ruins on the White Cliffs below Dover Castle, Kent, UK

Originally built by King Henry VIII in 1539, this is the inner wall of the Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse viewed from the Upper Terrace at 10.59 am on Tuesday, 12th of April, 2011:


(Click this Mote's Bulwark text link to see the largest size)

In a posthumous account published in 1801 (1), the Welsh naturalist and antiquary Thomas Pennant describes how King Edward IV's expenditure of ten thousand pounds in improvements to Dover Castle led to a belief that no further defences were needed on the seaward side above the White Cliffs of Dover at East Cliff. Pennant then goes on to say:

King Henry VIII was of a different opinion; possibly to guard against a surprise by sea, he built at the foot of the cliff on the shore one of the many little castles he erected in the year 1539, it was called the Mote's Bulwark, and remains garrisoned.

(The "long s", or "f", has been replaced with the letter s for readability)

Originally Tudor, the "little castle" of Mote's Bulwark (alt. Moat's Bulwark) has been extensively modified over the years. The ruins now consist of a lower level semi-circular battery built of squared rubble with a revetted parapet (ie faced with masonry) at near sea-level, and an upper terrace set part-way up the cliff-side containing the West Gatehouse (or Guardroom) shown in the photo.

Charles Dickens and the Victorian Camden Crescent, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

Numbering from left to right, a post-sunrise view (the buildings are actually white) of 1 to 4 Camden Crescent at 6.34 am on Monday, 29th of August, 2011 (1):


(Click this Charles Dickens at Camden Crescent text link to see the largest size)

The photo was taken from Marine Parade on the seafront promenade above the beach of Dover Harbour.

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Camden Crescent Architecture (2) (3)

Camden Crescent is now a Listed Building and runs from the Indian Mutiny War Memorial in New Bridge (the buildings behind the tree on the left) to Wellesley Road (by the Gateway Flats, out-of-shot to the right).

The following extract is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence (PSI licence number C2010002016) (4):

Waterloo Crescent

Originally a complete crescent similar to Waterloo Crescent, but the other houses have been demolished.

Built in 1840. 4 storeys and basement with area. Yellow brick, the ground floor stuccoed and rusticated.

Parapet above 3rd floor, cornice above 2nd floor, stuccoed stringcourse above lst floor. Continuous iron balcony with hood on the 1st floor.

No 1 has a curved front. 3 windows to each house with restored glazing bars.

The full "Listed Building" entry for Victorian - or Georgian - Camden Crescent is appended below.

The Ghost of the North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover, Kent, UK

The North Centre Bastion is part of the extensive Napoleonic and Victorian "Forgotten Fortress" embedded into the Western Heights above the town of Dover, England. It is owned by English Heritage, but is not currently open to the public.

The photo was taken in the North/South tunnel (Tunnel 1) (West Gallery) running under the Detached Bastion along its western edge:



The area of interest is the lower half of the first arch which appears to show the 'smokey' outline of a child's profile whose arms are stretched out to the right. The smokiness extends to a further figure sat against the right-hand wall with drawn-up knees.

'Interesting' photos from the North Centre Bastion (alt. North Center Bastion, Dead Man's Island, The Smokey) and related locations are initially uploaded to these Ghost and Orb image webpages.

The above photo originally appeared on the Images of Dover website at the following url (contains Google Earth satellite map):

The Ghost of the North Centre Bastion, Dover, England (1a)

An enhanced version of the photo in which the 'white level' has been increased can be seen at:

The Ghost of the North Centre Bastion (Enhanced)

There's also a three-part video of the North Centre Bastion available on YouTube:

Part 1: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK
Part 2: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK
Part 3: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

Dover's 'Forgotten Fortress' on the Western Heights also includes the Drop Redoubt, the Grand Shaft, the North Entrance, the North Military Road, the Outer Bastion, the Pre-Napoleonic Earthworks, and St Martins Battery.

A Napoleonic Wars and Victorian British Army history photo.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

NAAFI, Regimental Institute and Hurst Tower, Knights Road, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

The Victorian Regimental Institute building in the grounds of Dover Castle houses the Naafi Restaurant ("Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes") and Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol. It also once housed a remnant of a Barnes Wallis 'bouncing bomb':


(Click this text link to see the largest size)

On the left is Knights Road and Hurst Tower on the Western Outer Curtain Wall; Queen Elizabeth Road lies between the viewer and the restaurant.

The ex-Regimental Institute is a Grade II Listed Building.

The following extracts are © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence (PSI licence number C2010002016):

Building Details:

Building Name: FORMER REGIMENTAL INSTITUTE; Parish: DOVER; District: DOVER; County: KENT; Postcode:

Details:

LBS Number: 469564; Grade: II ; Date Listed: 08/07/1998 ; Date Delisted: ; NGR: TR3253841699

Listing Text:

TR 3242 DOVER KNIGHT'S ROAD (north side), Dover Castle 685/1/10007 Former Regimental Institute

II

Regimental institute, now offices. Dated 1868, probably by G Arnold RE (Royal Engineeers), Clerk of Works; altered c 1994. Polygonal rubble, dressings, external and ridge stacks and slate roof. Tudor Gothic Revival style. Single-depth axial plan.

HISTORY: In a similar style to the nearby Officers Barracks by Salvin (alt. Officers New Barracks, Victorian Officers Mess). Institutes were introduced to provide improving pastimes in barracks and to reduce drinking. Used for education and training at the Castle garrison, and one of the oldest institutes in an English barracks.

Listing NGR: TR3253841699

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

Hurst's Tower and Naafi Restaurant of Dover Castle (UK)

Also see:

The Victorian Regimental Institute, Knights Road, Dover Castle

Small, but perfectly formed, the Victorian Bread and Meat Store of Dover Castle

A Dover history photo.

Links to the main Images of Dover website:

The English Heritage "Pastscape" entry for Dover Castle states:

"Medieval castle possibly originating as a pre-1066 motte and bailey castle, remodelled during the reign of Henry II (Curtmantle), to became a castle with concentric defences, one of the first examples of its kind in western Europe."

All castle photos first appear under the Dover Castle tag.

The castle is one of Dover's Grade I Listed Buildings and a Dover English Heritage site.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol in the Regimental Institute, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

This is the second of two photos (see below for link). The 'Description' given to the first image is - with one modification - equally applicable to this one:

As in many other instances concerning Dover Castle (eg the East Roman Pharos) it would seem that no two single internet or non-internet sources can completely agree in their descriptions of any of the castle's component parts. The basilisk ('long gun') now situated in the building housing the Naafi Restaurant (out-of-shot to the right) is no exception.



Despite Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol being an easily accessible object nearly 500 years old there are remarkable discrepancies between the current internet and non-internet sources regarding its characteristics. These include what the cannon's made of (bronze, brass), range of shot (1200 yards, 2000 yards, 7 miles, 21+ miles), size of shot (10 pounds, 12 pounds, 60 pounds), and much else besides!

The gun was made in 1544 in Utrecht (Netherlands) by Jan Tolhuys, and given to King Henry VIII (1491 -1547) by his friend, Maximilian of Egmont (1509-1548), Count of Buren and Leerdam and Stadtholder of Friesland.

Also known as Queen Anne's Pocket Pistol in the 19th Century. Gun carriage made in 1827, purportedly from French guns (cannons) captured by the Duke of Wellington's men in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

The Second World War prototype Barnes Wallis Bouncing Bomb fragment is out-of-shot to the left.

The above photo originally appeared at the following url:

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, Dover Castle UK (2)

The above link also gives background historical information and Google Earth satellite map location.

Also see:

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, the Long Gun of Dover Castle
Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, Naafi Restaurant, Knights Road, Dover Castle

Links to the main Images of Dover website:

A Dover Middle Ages history photo. The English Heritage "Pastscape" entry for Dover Castle states:

"Medieval castle possibly originating as a pre-1066 motte and bailey castle, remodelled during the reign of Henry II (Curtmantle), to became a castle with concentric defences, one of the first examples of its kind in western Europe."

All castle photos first appear under the Dover Castle tag.

The castle is one of Dover's Grade I Listed Buildings and English Heritage sites.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, Naafi Restaurant, Knights Road, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

As in many other instances concerning Dover Castle (eg the East Roman Pharos) it would seem that no two single internet or non-internet sources can completely agree in their descriptions of any of the castle's component parts. The basilisk ('long gun') now situated in the building housing the Naafi Restaurant (out-of-shot to the right) is no exception:



Despite Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol being an easily accessible object nearly 500 years old there are remarkable discrepancies between the current internet and non-internet sources regarding its characteristics. These include what the cannon's made of (bronze, brass), range of shot (1200 yards, 2000 yards, 7 miles, 21+ miles), size of shot (10 pounds, 12 pounds, 60 pounds), and much else besides!

The gun was made in 1544 in Utrecht (Netherlands) by Jan Tolhuys, and given to King Henry VIII (1491 -1547) by his friend, Maximilian of Egmont (1509-1548), Count of Buren and Leerdam and Stadtholder of Friesland.

Also known as Queen Anne's Pocket Pistol in the 19th Century. Gun carriage made in 1827, purportedly from French guns (cannons) captured by the Duke of Wellington's men in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

The Second World War prototype Barnes Wallis Bouncing Bomb fragment is partially visible behind the cannon near the left-hand wall.

This photo originally appeared at the following url:

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, Dover Castle UK (1)

The above link also gives background historical information and Google Earth satellite map location.

Also see:

Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, the Long Gun of Dover Castle
Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol in the Regimental Institute, Dover Castle

Links to the main Images of Dover website:

A Dover British Army Royal Artillery history photo. The English Heritage "Pastscape" entry for Dover Castle states:

"Medieval castle possibly originating as a pre-1066 motte and bailey castle, remodelled during the reign of Henry II (Curtmantle), to became a castle with concentric defences, one of the first examples of its kind in western Europe."

All castle photos first appear under the Dover Castle tag.

The castle is one of Dover's Grade I Listed Buildings and English Heritage sites.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town