Roger Rabbit
06-12-2004, 04:04 PM
I was here http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/AWDS_castle009.jpg far left handside of the castle outer walls nearest to the cliff edge. This would be Dover Castle. If anyone is around the south-east of England or in Calais i advised taking a trip to see Dover Castle its well worth it and has at least a days worth of stuff to do there. Obviously if you're in Calais you need to catch the ferry/train over/under the channel.
Anyway for the rest of the photos heres some background infomation.
At the end of the eighteenth century, during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, Colonel William Twiss continued the modernisation of the castle. Twiss completed the remodelling of the outer defences adding the huge Horseshoe, Hudson's, East Arrow and East Demi-Bastions to provide extra gun positions on the eastern side, and constructing Constable's Bastion for additional protection on the west. Twiss further strengthened the Spur at the northern end of the castle, adding a redan or raised gun platform. By taking the roof of the keep and replacing it with massive brick vaults he was able to mount heavy artillery on the top. To help troop movements between castle and town defences, Twiss constructed Canon's Gateway. He filled every available space within the castle with barracks and storerooms, and even constructed underground cliff barracks.
The 1850s saw an extensive programme of barrack building, including Salvin's Officers' New Barracks which still dominate the southern part of the castle. The last major rearming was undertaken in the 1870s when a series of gun batteries was built along the cliff edge to protect the harbour below.
In the twentieth century the castle played an important role in both world wars. The castle was armed with anti-aircraft guns and searchlights, supplemented during the Second World War with Radar.
In May 1940, the evacuation of 338,000 allied soldiers from Dunkirk was directed from a command centre in the converted Georgian underground barracks, at Dover Castle. New tunnels were built to house an underground hospital and the combined headquarters for the three services.
There far too much to be said about the history of the castle so i'm keeping it brief for now. The parts highlight are the most relevent bits for the following photos. Heres an edited photo making things a bit clearer i hope. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/AWDS_castle009e.jpg
The castle
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_048.jpg
I'm not going to show how we got into the grounds because basically your not meant to be able to get there. Anyway people had been before us and we follow the path they had made. You have to pay to get into the castle but its well worth the money. For these photos we were going into an area which is not accessible to the public. Naughty of us i suppose. Anyway... we came accross this which is literally right on the cliff edge and is a gun battery over looked the harbour below. See the bold text above for some more info. The blank white bit is my brother who is 6ft 4 which should give you some indication of the size of the battery. There were two postions for guns, this one and another to the right.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_024e.jpg
Inside what i presume to have been an ammunition store was a lot of grafiti, i had to hunt around to find some which wasn't post 1960s though but i found this.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_027.jpg
I presume this was written by one of the last soldiers to be station at Dover Castle as in 1958 the castle was handed over to the Preservation Society and later English Heritige.
A wider view of the battery
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_019.jpg
The writing on the wall has been written by some twunts and says something rude about Kent Police.
A view inside one of the ammo stores. The pieces of metal are all that remain of the shelves. There was one shelf intact and the shelf was made of slate.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_025.jpg
If you scroll up to the photo i have written on then you will see the wall i describe as being a honey-comb of tunnels. This is a picture of the only entrance which leads into the wall and out into the moat of the castle. Its visible in the photo, if you went 2 metres into the entrance then the passage turned left at a 90 degree angle. The wall facing the entrance had gun holes in it so the defenders could fire at anyone trying to come into the entrance.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_023.jpg
This is the exit
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_017.jpg
This lead us into the moat, from here we walked up the moat and found another entrance.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_016.jpg
Blocked up so i don't know what was down there. However we did find our way into another entrance.
This lead us into a series of tunnels which lead to various positions looking out on to the harbour and also some passages that looked out onto the moat and the ground beyond the castle, these passages were covered with gun holes so defenders could shoot any of them.
This is a view of the moat, the far end is the cliff edge, a long drop
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_015.jpg
A tunnel, judge the height and width by my brother who is 6ft 4. The hand rail was about waist height. He's been cut out of the photo because we're identical. The pipe above him was where all the wires for the lights were. The whole set of tunnels would have been lit up at one point. When we were there they were pitch black but we had torches and camera flashes :D
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_031e.jpg
A some what narrower and short(heightwise) tunnel which lead to a dead end. I presume these were being dug into the cliff and then stopped when it was decieded they weren't needed.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_028.jpg There were several of these tunnels.
We found this in one of the passage ways, i wonder what used to be in the room behind it
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_013.jpg
Obviously this is WW2. The defenses at Dover Castle were upgraded and turned into Anti-Aircraft defences for WW2.
Another tunnel
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_011.jpg
The level of work which has gone into these tunnels is impressive. All the chalk was dug out and then they've been bricked up. Lots of grafiti but no pictures i'm afraid. On the left hand side of the photos you can see the gun holes which over looked the moat
An old stair case leading aproximately 25 metres downwards, we found a couple of these
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_010.jpg
At the bottom were more rooms and what not.
One of the tunnels which lead to a dead end. In the picture is a friend who is about 5ft 6/7 so it was quite uncomfortable for myself and my brother to go down these. Note the lines of flint in the cliff. Thats some thing geological but i can't remember what i learnt at a-level geography last year :(
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_008.jpg
Ahh yes by one of the windows in the cliff over looking the harbour we found 2 baby pigeons. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_007.jpg
On reflection probably shouldn't have taken a picture with the flash because it probably scared the crap out of the poor thing. Sorry my bad.
One of the windows in the cliff
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_001.jpg
And the view downwards from another window
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_003.jpg
Another view of the moat.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_042.jpg
This is a view from inside the castle(yes i went back there another day and paid to get into the castle. Been visiting the castle for years since i was a young child and know my way around it like the back of my hand. Reason i went there a lot was because my dad was a history teacher who did lots of school trips there and also becuse they held all these event days where people came dressed in armour and hit each other with swords. Good weekends. This was many moons ago when i was a wee youngest but the memorys are still good. I have know idea what the building on the cliff face was but if i ever manage to get to it then i'll tell you.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_041.jpg
WW2 guns
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_039.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_038.jpg
A 40mm Bofors and a 25 pounder i beleive. Edit not sure the first one is a 40mm Bofors now. Anyone know what it is?
Beneath the castle there are another series of tunnels and they are huge. There was even a hospital down there where it was planned the casualties from D-Day would be taken. Lucky D-Day was a bit more successful and they didn't need to use the hospital as i recall. As well as the hospital was a series of Command Positions. Admiral Ramsey conducted the Dunkirk evacuations from thewse tunnels. Below is a picture of a diagram showing the routes taken. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_040.jpg
The next photos are all taken from the outer defense at Dover. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_037.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_027.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_022.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_020.jpg
Thats all for now. If anyones interested i can turn up further infomation in far more detail. The Castle was part of a range of defenses called the Western Heights. These stretched for several miles on the cliffs and were a series of forts, batterys, tunnels and barracks. There is far more to see at Dover Castle than what i've just posted, i've barely scraped the surface. Theres Roman lighthouses, 18th century Officers Mess, King Arthers Hall(not really King Arthurs but i digress) and a rather nice siege which took place in 1216 and theres quite a bit of info about it at the castle. Oh and the Queen vists it once in a while.
This has taken me a while to type up so negative comments to be kept to yourself :P Positive comments welcomed :D
Anyway for the rest of the photos heres some background infomation.
At the end of the eighteenth century, during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, Colonel William Twiss continued the modernisation of the castle. Twiss completed the remodelling of the outer defences adding the huge Horseshoe, Hudson's, East Arrow and East Demi-Bastions to provide extra gun positions on the eastern side, and constructing Constable's Bastion for additional protection on the west. Twiss further strengthened the Spur at the northern end of the castle, adding a redan or raised gun platform. By taking the roof of the keep and replacing it with massive brick vaults he was able to mount heavy artillery on the top. To help troop movements between castle and town defences, Twiss constructed Canon's Gateway. He filled every available space within the castle with barracks and storerooms, and even constructed underground cliff barracks.
The 1850s saw an extensive programme of barrack building, including Salvin's Officers' New Barracks which still dominate the southern part of the castle. The last major rearming was undertaken in the 1870s when a series of gun batteries was built along the cliff edge to protect the harbour below.
In the twentieth century the castle played an important role in both world wars. The castle was armed with anti-aircraft guns and searchlights, supplemented during the Second World War with Radar.
In May 1940, the evacuation of 338,000 allied soldiers from Dunkirk was directed from a command centre in the converted Georgian underground barracks, at Dover Castle. New tunnels were built to house an underground hospital and the combined headquarters for the three services.
There far too much to be said about the history of the castle so i'm keeping it brief for now. The parts highlight are the most relevent bits for the following photos. Heres an edited photo making things a bit clearer i hope. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/AWDS_castle009e.jpg
The castle
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_048.jpg
I'm not going to show how we got into the grounds because basically your not meant to be able to get there. Anyway people had been before us and we follow the path they had made. You have to pay to get into the castle but its well worth the money. For these photos we were going into an area which is not accessible to the public. Naughty of us i suppose. Anyway... we came accross this which is literally right on the cliff edge and is a gun battery over looked the harbour below. See the bold text above for some more info. The blank white bit is my brother who is 6ft 4 which should give you some indication of the size of the battery. There were two postions for guns, this one and another to the right.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_024e.jpg
Inside what i presume to have been an ammunition store was a lot of grafiti, i had to hunt around to find some which wasn't post 1960s though but i found this.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_027.jpg
I presume this was written by one of the last soldiers to be station at Dover Castle as in 1958 the castle was handed over to the Preservation Society and later English Heritige.
A wider view of the battery
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_019.jpg
The writing on the wall has been written by some twunts and says something rude about Kent Police.
A view inside one of the ammo stores. The pieces of metal are all that remain of the shelves. There was one shelf intact and the shelf was made of slate.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_025.jpg
If you scroll up to the photo i have written on then you will see the wall i describe as being a honey-comb of tunnels. This is a picture of the only entrance which leads into the wall and out into the moat of the castle. Its visible in the photo, if you went 2 metres into the entrance then the passage turned left at a 90 degree angle. The wall facing the entrance had gun holes in it so the defenders could fire at anyone trying to come into the entrance.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_023.jpg
This is the exit
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_017.jpg
This lead us into the moat, from here we walked up the moat and found another entrance.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_016.jpg
Blocked up so i don't know what was down there. However we did find our way into another entrance.
This lead us into a series of tunnels which lead to various positions looking out on to the harbour and also some passages that looked out onto the moat and the ground beyond the castle, these passages were covered with gun holes so defenders could shoot any of them.
This is a view of the moat, the far end is the cliff edge, a long drop
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_015.jpg
A tunnel, judge the height and width by my brother who is 6ft 4. The hand rail was about waist height. He's been cut out of the photo because we're identical. The pipe above him was where all the wires for the lights were. The whole set of tunnels would have been lit up at one point. When we were there they were pitch black but we had torches and camera flashes :D
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_031e.jpg
A some what narrower and short(heightwise) tunnel which lead to a dead end. I presume these were being dug into the cliff and then stopped when it was decieded they weren't needed.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_028.jpg There were several of these tunnels.
We found this in one of the passage ways, i wonder what used to be in the room behind it
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_013.jpg
Obviously this is WW2. The defenses at Dover Castle were upgraded and turned into Anti-Aircraft defences for WW2.
Another tunnel
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_011.jpg
The level of work which has gone into these tunnels is impressive. All the chalk was dug out and then they've been bricked up. Lots of grafiti but no pictures i'm afraid. On the left hand side of the photos you can see the gun holes which over looked the moat
An old stair case leading aproximately 25 metres downwards, we found a couple of these
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_010.jpg
At the bottom were more rooms and what not.
One of the tunnels which lead to a dead end. In the picture is a friend who is about 5ft 6/7 so it was quite uncomfortable for myself and my brother to go down these. Note the lines of flint in the cliff. Thats some thing geological but i can't remember what i learnt at a-level geography last year :(
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_008.jpg
Ahh yes by one of the windows in the cliff over looking the harbour we found 2 baby pigeons. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_007.jpg
On reflection probably shouldn't have taken a picture with the flash because it probably scared the crap out of the poor thing. Sorry my bad.
One of the windows in the cliff
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_001.jpg
And the view downwards from another window
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/guns_and_dover_003.jpg
Another view of the moat.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_042.jpg
This is a view from inside the castle(yes i went back there another day and paid to get into the castle. Been visiting the castle for years since i was a young child and know my way around it like the back of my hand. Reason i went there a lot was because my dad was a history teacher who did lots of school trips there and also becuse they held all these event days where people came dressed in armour and hit each other with swords. Good weekends. This was many moons ago when i was a wee youngest but the memorys are still good. I have know idea what the building on the cliff face was but if i ever manage to get to it then i'll tell you.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_041.jpg
WW2 guns
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_039.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_038.jpg
A 40mm Bofors and a 25 pounder i beleive. Edit not sure the first one is a 40mm Bofors now. Anyone know what it is?
Beneath the castle there are another series of tunnels and they are huge. There was even a hospital down there where it was planned the casualties from D-Day would be taken. Lucky D-Day was a bit more successful and they didn't need to use the hospital as i recall. As well as the hospital was a series of Command Positions. Admiral Ramsey conducted the Dunkirk evacuations from thewse tunnels. Below is a picture of a diagram showing the routes taken. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_040.jpg
The next photos are all taken from the outer defense at Dover. http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_037.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_027.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_022.jpg
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/chrisoutlet/fires_and_castle_020.jpg
Thats all for now. If anyones interested i can turn up further infomation in far more detail. The Castle was part of a range of defenses called the Western Heights. These stretched for several miles on the cliffs and were a series of forts, batterys, tunnels and barracks. There is far more to see at Dover Castle than what i've just posted, i've barely scraped the surface. Theres Roman lighthouses, 18th century Officers Mess, King Arthers Hall(not really King Arthurs but i digress) and a rather nice siege which took place in 1216 and theres quite a bit of info about it at the castle. Oh and the Queen vists it once in a while.
This has taken me a while to type up so negative comments to be kept to yourself :P Positive comments welcomed :D