Dover castle in england. Dover Castle: Keys to Foggy Albion

Large and inaccessible Dover Castle, England

Dover Castle is one of the largest and most impregnable castles in England. Located in Dover, Kent, on the coast of the Pas-de-Calais between France and the UK. Due to its strategically important location, it has always been considered the "Key to England".

In the 1st century A.D. The Romans came to the British Isles, they founded a settlement on the site of modern Dover and built two lighthouses, one of which still stands on the territory of the castle.

In 1066, during the Norman conquest of England, William I the Conqueror captured the castle. According to historians, after the capture of the castle, Wilhelm spent a week building new fortifications.

During the reign of King Henry II Plantagenet, the castle was significantly rebuilt. In 1179-1188, under the direction of the architect Maurice the Engineer, a huge donjon and external fortifications around it were built.

On May 22, 1216, the castle at Dover is besieged by Louis VIII. After 3 months of siege, the castle receives only minor damage and on October 14, 1216, Louis signs a peace treaty and returns to London.

In 1642, during the English Revolution, Dover Castle was in the hands of the king, but was captured by deception without firing a shot. This is what allowed the castle to survive so well to this day.

In the 18th century, during the Napoleonic Wars, the castle undergoes another reconstruction. William Twiss created a system of external fortifications, and tunnels were built at a depth of 15 meters, in which soldiers' barracks were built. At the height of the war, more than 2,000 soldiers lived in the tunnels.

In 1939, the tunnels were converted into a bomb shelter, and then into an underground hospital and command post.

The castle at Dover is a huge keep, surrounded by two rows of fortified walls. Donjon Dover was the largest building in England for a long time, its height is 25.3 m.

Near the southeastern and northeastern walls there are annexes, from which there are steps leading to the donjon, passing through three pylons. The roof over the steps was built in the 15th century.

The courtyard is surrounded by a wall with 14 powerful towers. You can enter the courtyard through the Royal (northern) or Palace (southern) gates. All gates are flanked by towers. The modern gates and swing bridges were built in the 18th century.

After the siege of the castle in 1216, the northern gate, which was damaged during the assault, was repaired. The main entrance to Dover Castle was the Castellan Gate.

In the 18th century, huge semi-bastions were built to provide the castle with additional firing positions on the east side. The Connetable Bastion was erected on the west side.

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Dover Castle is located on the banks of the Pas-de-Calais, between Great Britain and France, in Dover (Kent). Dover Castle is one of the oldest and largest English castles. It has long been considered the "Key to England" due to its strategically important position on the island.

The castle owes its appearance to the Romans, who came to the islands and founded in the 1st century. AD fortress and installed two lighthouses, one of which has survived to this day. The fortress was based on white rocks, which also went down in the history of Great Britain and gave it the name Albion, from the Roman "albus", which means white.

By 600 AD, when the power of the Roman Empire was lost, the city and fortifications began to fall into desolation. For more than 400 years Dover continued to exist, but nothing significant, from a historical point of view, happened here until this area was noticed by Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

By his order, new fortifications of the castle were built within a week, as well as the church of St. Mary Castro, which has survived to our time. In 1066, during the invasion of England, William I the Conqueror captured the castle. Between 1179 and 1188, Dover Castle was completely rebuilt by order of Henry II. The large-scale reconstruction and rebuilding of the castle cost the king 6,300 pounds sterling, at that time a colossal amount of money, almost equal to the annual income.

At the same time, the castle was equipped in a royal way. The architect placed fourteen towers around the castle, two of which were intended to protect the gates of the palace or, as they were also called, the King's Gate. Henry II did not manage to survive until the completion of construction work, and his sons - Richard (known as Richard the Lionheart) and John Landless (known as Prince John), who became one of the heroes of the legend of Robin Hood, continued his business.

Most of the construction work was carried out during the reign of John, as evidenced by government expense reports. Although the first years, John was indifferent to Dover Castle and remembered about it only in 1204, when, as a result of constant wars, he lost most of his possessions in continental Europe.

From Normandy, John moved to Dover and, on his order, additional defensive and economic structures were erected inside the castle. During the reign of Henry III, a fortress wall was erected around the castle, church and the surviving Roman lighthouse. On May 22, 1216, the castle was besieged by Louis VIII. The siege lasted for several months, but the castle received only minor damage. October 14, 1216 Louis VIII signs an armistice and returns to London.

During the reign of Henry VIII, when the strength of the fortress walls was threatened by the increased power of the cannons by that time, Henry VIII ordered the strengthening of the fortress walls of Dover Castle. During the English Revolution, in 1642, the castle was in the hands of the king's supporters, but by deception, without a single shot, it was captured by parliamentarians. Thanks to this circumstance, the castle was not damaged.

In the 18th century, during the Napoleonic Wars, the castle underwent a major reconstruction, a system of external fortifications of Dover Castle was created, which was carried out under the leadership of William Twiss. Also, at a depth of 15 meters, inside the rocky rock, special tunnels were cut, in which the soldiers' barracks were placed.

In 1803, at the height of this war, there were more than 2,000 soldiers in the tunnels, as well as French prisoners of war. After the end of the war, the tunnels were used less and less, and by 1826 they were practically abandoned.

More than a century passed and the tunnels became in demand again. In 1939, the tunnels were first converted into a bomb shelter and an underground hospital, and in 1940 the underground tunnel also turned into the headquarters of Admiral Ramsey, from which he managed the evacuation of a 300 thousandth army of British and French troops from under Dunker (Operation Dynamo).

The castle has now been turned into a museum. Inside the castle, the atmosphere of that time has been recreated in many rooms. Wherever you find yourself - in the Big Tower, which is a real palace in which kings once lived, in tunnels, in an underground hospital, or among the stained glass windows of the restored 11th century church of Saint Mary in Castro - you will be welcomed everywhere with history. If you are lucky with the weather, you can see the coast of France from the walls of the castle.

The castle has also been used for filming many times, for example, in the fantasy film Avengers: Age of Ultron or the film drama The Other Boleyn Girl, about the times of Henry XVIII.

View across the Pas-de-Calais from France to Albion and Dover Castle

England, Castle Hill Rd, Dover, Kent CT16 1HU, United Kingdom

general information

We can say about Dover Castle that it is "the best". Dover Castle is one of the largest English castles in terms of area. One of the most famous in Europe. One of the oldest and most important in the history of the country.

The castle began to exist before the beginning of our era on the high bank of the Pas-de-Calais. Behind its fortress walls, there are still ancient historical artifacts - the ancient Roman lighthouse and the Anglo-Saxon Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the 11th century.

For a long time, the fortress was the residence of kings. The important strategic position of the castle made it necessary to constantly modernize and improve it.

By order of King Henry II, the Guardian was erected in the fortress - a monumental square tower. Fourteen mighty towers rose above the castle to defend the city.

The reconstruction of the castle cost the country an annual income. Plumbing, sewerage and heating systems were installed in the rooms. The construction of the castle was continued by Henry's son, Richard the Lionheart.

Very few medieval fortresses have such a long and eventful history. The fate of Dover Castle is closely intertwined with the fate of Great Britain. No wonder it is called "The Key to England".

Dover's main attraction has been involved in numerous European wars. From the invasion of William the Conqueror to the war with Napoleon, from the English bourgeois revolution to World War II. At all times, the fortress was the most important guardian of the country.

Nowadays, the castle opens its King's Gate to museum visitors. You can almost look into any corner of the castle and join a tour of the underground tunnels. Only a small part of the bunker tunnels are still classified.

The castle is visible from anywhere in the city, just raise your head up.

Dover can be reached by any means of transportation from Canterbury. For private cars, there is free parking in the castle grounds and in the city center.

Working hours

• April 1 - September 30, daily 10: 00-18: 00
• October 1 - October 31, daily 10: 00-17: 00

Among the huge number of castles in Great Britain, Dover Castle Museum is especially popular with tourists. This is facilitated by the honorary title of the most ancient castle in Great Britain, and numerous legends associated with the history of the castle, because for a long time it was the residence of the royal families.

History

A giant fortification appeared on the banks of the Pas-de-Calais before the beginning of our era, in the pre-Roman era of these lands. Subsequently, such a strategically advantageous location of Dover Castle between France and England secured its symbolic name - "the key to England".

From the previous prehistoric buildings of the castle to the present day, too little has survived, but even from these remains, historians can judge that the castle originally stood on an ancient promontory, located much higher than the level of urban buildings. A vivid confirmation of this fact is the moat that protected the Dover Castle from the enemy and was created in the Iron Age. In the middle of the first century AD, the lands of Dover were inhabited by the Romans, who began the systematic development of the city as a Roman port. For these purposes, two lighthouses were erected during that period, one of which has survived to this day.

By 600 AD, when the power of the Roman Empire was finally lost, the city and fortifications were empty and began to come to desolation.

For more than four centuries, Dover continued its historically unremarkable existence. Until this area attracted the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II, on whose orders new fortifications of the castle were built in a week, as well as the church of St. Mary Castro was built, which has survived to our time.

In the period from 1179 to 1188, Dover Castle was completely rebuilt by order of Henry II, the architect Maurice supervised the construction work. The large-scale reconstruction and rebuilding of the castle cost the monarch 6,300 pounds, which at that time was equal to the whole annual income. However, the funds were not spent in vain, the castle by the standards of that era was really equipped in a royal manner. There was running water and sewerage, each of the royal bedrooms was heated by its own fireplace, and two large spiral staircases could be accessed from floor to floor. Within the walls of the castle there were two chapels, one of which was the person of the king.

The number and scale of the towers of Dover Castle surpassed any English castle.

The architect with great skill was able to place as many as fourteen towers around the castle, two of which were intended to protect the gates of the palace or, as they were also called, the King's Gate.

Henry II did not manage to survive until the completion of construction work, and his sons - Richard (known by the nickname Lionheart) and John Landless (known as Prince John), who became one of the key heroes of the legend of the valiant Robin Hood, continued his business. Most of the construction work was carried out during the reign of John, as evidenced by government expense reports. Although the first years, John was indifferent to Dover Castle and remembered about it only in 1204, when, as a result of hostilities, he lost most of his possessions on the continent. From Normandy, John moved to Dover and, on his order, additional economic and defensive structures were erected inside the castle.

During the reign of Henry III, a fortress wall was erected around the castle, church and the surviving Roman lighthouse. Later, when the strength of the fortress walls was threatened by the increased power of the cannons by that time, Henry VIII ordered the strengthening of the fortress walls of Dover Castle. In the middle of the 17th century, a revolution broke out in England, Dover at that time was in the hands of the monarchists, but was soon captured by fraudulent means by supporters of a parliamentary republic, and without a single shot being fired. Thanks to this circumstance, the castle was not damaged and has been perfectly preserved to our time.

In the 18th century, during the Napoleonic Wars, the issue of the location of soldiers, as well as weapons and provisions in the castle, was resolved in a very original way. It was decided to place the soldiers' barracks under the castle, for which special tunnels were cut down in the rocks, extending up to 15 meters deep. In 1803, when the war with Napoleon reached its climax, there were more than two thousand soldiers in the tunnels.

After the end of the war, they began to be used less and less, and by 1826 they were completely abandoned. But it turned out that after a little over a century, the tunnels will be used again. The Second World War turned the underground tunnels first into a bomb shelter and then into a hospital. In 1940, the underground tunnels became the headquarters of Admiral Ramsey, from which he directed the evacuation of British and French soldiers from Dunker.

Dover Castle is one of the largest not only in England, but throughout Europe. Moreover, it is preserved in excellent condition - even now it is possible to study the history of European castle architecture using it. Actually, now its function is exactly this: a museum, a textbook, a film set ... And once the citadel of Dover was called the keys to England.
English archaeologists and historians believe that people have settled in Dover since time immemorial. It is a painfully convenient place for settlement: a hill, convenient for defense, next to the Strait of Pas-de-Calais the Douai River flows into. The bay is well sheltered from winds and waves by natural breakwaters.
Ghost settlement
Many objects of both the Stone Age and the Bronze Age are found in the vicinity. At the entrance to Dover Bay, scuba divers found the oldest ship in English waters, more than four thousand years old. But no traces of settlements or fortifications erected before the Roman conquest have been found.
In 43 BC, a Roman legionary first set foot on the land of Foggy Albion. So, by the way, it was the Latins who called England - for the white color of the chalk rocks, which make up the hill on which the castle stands. The Romans landed, most likely, somewhere nearby, since this is the closest place to the continent of the British Isles, it can be seen from the French coast in clear weather.
It was on the territory of the future fortress that the Romans probably erected their first building in Britain. These were two lighthouses, and one of them can still be seen inside the fortress. Gradually, a small settlement and a kind of transit point arose around the lighthouses. They named him Dubris.
The port, warehouses, barracks, a kind of hotel for important travelers on their way from Rome were quickly equipped. According to Roman rule, all this was surrounded by a moat and a wall.
Dover was not only an important port, but also the base of a fleet that opposed the Frisian pirates. But in 410, the Roman emperor Honorius announced the end of the Roman protectorate over Britain, and she was left to her own devices. The Latin raid quickly disappeared from the local population, the descendants of the Romans for the most part moved to the continent, and No one needed Dover. By about 600 the last inhabitants had left it.
New conquerors
400 years passed, and the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold became interested in the well-preserved fortress. England then suffered from the constant raids of the Vikings, and the fortress on the seashore, and even with a good harbor, seemed to him a valuable property.
In 1064, some buildings were repaired, the Roman wall was restored, and a moat was dug anew. In the center of the fort, the Church of St. Mary Castro was erected (it has survived to this day), and the role of the donjon at first was supposed to be played by a Roman lighthouse. But Harold did not have time to really strengthen the citadel.
Duke of Normandy Wilhelm Bastard, who had not yet managed to become the Conqueror, landed in England without a clear plan, and if the British sat outside the walls of castles and fortresses, the uninvited guests would most likely have to get out. But William imposed on Harold the battle at Hastings, during which the Anglo-Saxon king was killed and his army defeated.
William went to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. His path led past Dover Fort. In addition to diggers and artisans, his garrison consisted of three knights and two dozen warriors. Even with such a small force, they repulsed several assaults before the Normans did not think to inform them that Harold was dead, and there was no point in resisting. The garrison immediately surrendered, and Wilhelm stayed at Dover for a whole week. He gave instructions regarding the necessary work to improve, expand and strengthen the existing fort.
William left a commandant in Dover and ordered that the taxes received from the surrounding lands be spent only to maintain the citadel in order. Later, when compiling the "Book of the Last Judgment" (the first in the history of England census of population, land, and settlements), Dover Castle was estimated at 40 pounds - a huge amount at that time.
Despite the elements
Close to the modern look, the castle was adopted during the reign of William's grandson, Henry II. In 1179, he embarked on a large-scale restructuring, on which he spent almost 7,000 pounds in eight years, most of it on a huge donjon. This roughly corresponded to the income of the British crown for the year. But during the life of Henry, they did not have time to complete the construction.
Henry's sons, Richard I the Lionheart and John the Landless, brought the matter to an end. The first, however, limited himself to financing the work, but the second, having lost part of his possessions, even moved to Dover in 1204. Additional buildings were erected inside the castle and the walls of the castle were fortified.
In 1216, the First War of the Barons broke out - the aristocracy rebelled against King John. The battles went on with varying success, and the barons invited the French Prince Louis (the future King of France Louis VIII) to take the throne. On May 22, 2016, he laid siege to Dover, the most powerful fortress remaining in the hands of John.
Once the besiegers succeeded in making such a skillful tunnel that part of the wall collapsed and the gate collapsed. They went on a desperate attack, but the garrison was able to repulse the attack and close the gap. On October 19, Prince Louis was forced to lift the siege. A year later, he tried again, but again without success.
In 1256, during the reign of John's son, Henry III, an outer wall was erected, expanding the boundaries of the castle to the white cliffs, that is, the current limit. The inner chambers were also slightly rebuilt: now they were more in line with the ideas of the crowned persons about everyday amenities.
Over time, the power of the artillery began to exceed the strength of the fortress walls, and almost every subsequent British monarch contributed to the strengthening and modernization of the castle. Ultimately, the structure became so powerful that it withstood the devastating earthquake of 1580, which destroyed more than one English citadel.
Dungeons of the castle
With the fortification of the castle, it became necessary to place a large number of soldiers and their ammunition somewhere. An original solution was found: at a depth of 15 meters inside the rocky rock, special tunnels were cut, in which the soldiers' barracks were placed. The first soldiers were quartered in them in 1803, and at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, more than two thousand soldiers lived in the tunnels. By that time, these were the only underground barracks in the UK. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels housed an anti-smuggling service. In 1826, the tunnels were abandoned for almost 100 years.
In 1939, the tunnels were converted, first into a bomb shelter, then into a command center and an underground hospital. In 1941, the command center was equipped with special telephone communications. Later, the tunnels were planned to be used as shelters in the event of a nuclear strike.

Donjon of Dover Castle

1 - entrance staircase

2 - spiral staircase in the corner tower

3 - buttress

4 - storage basement

5 - main floor

6 - watchtower

7 - transverse wall dividing the keep

8 - roof with double slope

9 - pedestrian parapet

10 - rooms in the walls

11 - lower chapel

For the king and his entourage
The castle, as before, consists of two rows of thick defensive walls, in the center of which is the main tower - the donjon. The thickness of its walls is 6.5-7 meters. The tower itself has an almost cubic shape: the length and width are 30 meters, and the height is 29 meters. The entrance to the donjon is located in an unusual way - on the second floor. In addition, an external staircase leads to it.

There are four floors in total. The first and fourth were intended for utility rooms. The second and third, which have practically the same plan, served as living quarters for the kings and their retinue. These are three large rooms, a huge bedroom, six smaller rooms and restrooms.
Command post
In 1642, Dover Castle was again under siege. The city remained loyal to King Charles I, and a powerful garrison settled in the citadel. For a long time, the troops of parliament trampled on the walls, not knowing how to approach. As a result, the assault was not needed - the castle was taken by deception without a single shot.
During the Napoleonic Wars, when England was threatened with invasion, the Dover Citadel was turned into an impregnable outpost against aggression. The foundations of the walls were once again fortified, and casemates were knocked out in the rocky foundation, which became barracks for two thousand soldiers. By the way, in good weather from the donjon one could see the Boulogne camp of the enemy invading army.
In the 1830s, the casemates were abandoned for almost a hundred years. They were remembered during the First World War, when the castle became a key point of coastal defense. Here the headquarters of the British squadron was located, which blocked the way for the Germans to the English Channel. In addition, it was the main port for sending troops and goods to France. The city and the castle were repeatedly raided by German airships.
During World War II, the Citadel of Dover played an even more important role. An underground hospital and command post were equipped there, from which Admiral Ramsay coordinated the evacuation of the Anglo-French troops from Dunkirk. The castle retained its significance for some time after the war - it was planned to equip bomb shelters there in case of a nuclear war. But in the 1950s, the Dover Citadel was "demobilized": now there is only a museum.