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:

The Keep and Western Outer Curtain Wall of Dover Castle from the Harbour, Kent, UK

A panoramic view of Dover Castle taken from the lighthouse and Harbour View cafe end of the Prince of Wales Pier:


(Click this Keep and Western Outer Curtain Wall text link to see the largest size)

Dover Castle Keep

Distance to the White Cliffs of Dover above East Cliff at bottom-right is about 1450 yards; to the Keep, or Great Tower, about 1850 yards.

The Keep is 83 feet (25.3m) high and just under 100 feet (30m) square, with walls up to 21 feet (6.5m) thick.

This massive edifice was designed by the architect, 'Maurice the Engineer' (ie Mason) and built between 1180 and 1185 during the reign of Henry II (Curtmantle).

The interior of the Norman Keep was "re-furbished" by English Heritage in 2010 to show how a medieval royal palace, or royal court, may have looked in the 12th Century:

The Throne of Henry II in King's Hall, Great Tower of Dover Castle

The King's Chamber of Henry II in the Great Tower of Dover Castle

Guest Hall of King Henry II in the Great Tower of Dover Castle

Guest Chamber of King Henry II, Great Tower of Dover Castle

The Keep, with the Union Flag, or Union Jack, flying above its South Tower, was also once known as Palace Tower.

Below the Keep are the uncrenellated (ie flat-topped) towers of the Inner Bailey wall, or Inner Curtain Wall. The two higher towers close together below the Keep's right-hand tower flank the Palace Gateway, an entrance into the Keepyard. The other entrance is the King's Gateway, or King's Gate, on the northern side.

Furthest on the left of the photo is the stand alone grouping of the Constable's Gateway with the Queen Mary Tower indistinguishable in front.

The Western Outer Curtain Wall then extends from Queen Mary's Tower to the cliff-edge, featuring (from left to right):

The Napoleonic Spur Raised Gun Platform of Dover Castle - Redan or Ravelin? Kent, UK

The Napoleonic Ravelin, also known as the Redan, at the northern end of Dover Castle is an irregular triangle in plan view. The north-eastern face (in shadow on the right) is about 44 yards long, the western face on the far side is about 46 yards along, and the straight-line distance across the sunlit sawtooth-shaped base (not all of which is visible) is about 41 yards:


(Click this Dover Castle Ravelin text link to see the largest size)

The Ravelin, a raised artillery gun platform surrounded by its own ditch (moat), is embedded within the elongated and larger triangle, or "arrow", of the Spur earthwork. Part of the inside of Spur's western perimeter wall can be seen halfway down the left-hand side of the photo.

The Spur, originally teardrop-shaped, was constructed after the 1216 Great Siege of Dover Castle (First Barons War) along with St John's Tower and the Norfolk Towers, both out-of-shot to the left.

The Norfolk Towers (flank view) replaced and sealed off the previous Northern Entrance (or Northgate) that had been damaged during the siege by the the engineers of the Dauphin (Prince Louis, later Louis VIII of France); new gateways were made by Hubert de Burgh (Constable of Dover Castle) under Henry III at Fitzwilliam's Gate (in the east) and at Constable's Gateway (in the west).

The Grand Shaft Underground Triple Stairway, Western Heights, Dover, Kent, UK

Looking up from the bottom of the Grand Shaft to the open sky above the Western Heights:


(Click this Grand Shaft text link to see the largest size)

The Grand Shaft, part of Dover's "Forgotten Fortress", is built of brick and cast-iron and consists of three interleaved spiral stairways winding around an open shaft. It once linked the Grand Shaft Barracks (now demolished) on top of the White Cliffs of Dover to Snargate Street on the seafront below.

Two of the three staircases have their entrances within the shaft, the third entrance is at the beginning of the access tunnel leading to Snargate Street.

Dates vary a little, but the English Heritage Pastscape entry for the Grand Shaft states it was built between 1805 and 1807 as part of Dover's Napoleonic (and subsequently Victorian) defensive works on the Western Heights.

Legend has it that one staircase was labelled "Officers and their Ladies", the second, "Senior NCO's and their Wives", and the third, "Other Ranks and their Women".

The Bredenstone, West Roman Pharos, Drop Redoubt, Western Heights, Dover, Kent, UK

The Bredenstone, or "Devil's Drop of Mortar", is all that visibly remains of the Roman West Pharos located on the Drop Redoubt:


(Click this Bredenstone text link to see the largest size)

The Drop Redoubt is a 5-sided polygonal fortress embedded into the Western Heights above the town of Dover, England.

The basic structure, with sides between 70 and 100 yards long, was completed by the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Four caponiers were subsequently added in Victorian times. The Drop Redoubt caponiers (alt. caponier) are two-storey chambers extending into the moat that surrounds the fortress.

In the background of the photo are the five bomb-proof arches of the Soldiers Quarters. The lefthand arch has a tunnel and steps at the back leading down to Caponnier 2. Access to Caponier 3 is via the 2nd arch from the right; the rightmost arch itself originally housed a cookhouse. Access to Caponier 4 is via an opening set in the wall approaching the right of cookhouse.

Between the Bredenstone (alt. Bredon-stone) and the Soldiers Quarters is a "sunken road" leading to the bridge entrance to the redoubt (out-of-shot to the left). The Bredenstone sits above the Officers Quarters on one side of the road; on the far side are a guardroom and prison cells.

The photo was taken on the Drop Redoubt Open Day of June 10th, 2007.

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The Bredenstone (1)

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