Dover Castle, the mightiest castle in Britain, defending our shores from the Middle Ages to the Cold War!
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If you only have time to see one castle, then Dover is the one to see. Eighteen hundred years of history is something to boast about. A visit to Dover Castle is a day well spent and will leave an everlasting impression on you. If you love history, you will love this place. It has it all. I first visited Dover Castle as a ten year old on a school trip and it had such an effect on me that I bullied my father into hiring a car and taking me back there during the summer holidays. As an adult with a family, Dover was one of the first castles we took them to and they can still remember many years later dressing up in chainmail and firing arrows at targets. It is only 21 miles from France and has long been considered to be the gateway to England. If Dover fell, then the rest of the country would be wide open for conquest. It is a brilliant example of a medieval castle but it also has a complex of underground tunnels that, during the second World War, was where the evacuation of Dunkirk was masterminded. You can go back in time and see amazing sections of the “Great Tower” set out in the style of Henry II’s court. Your first impression will be of bold medieval colours everywhere, not the usual stark stone walls of a cold interior. In the tunnels, you can see displays and artefacts illustrating just how important Dover was to Britain’s survival in World War Two. Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay’s headquarters were in these bomb-proof tunnels and here he successfully organised Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of 338 000 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk against all the odds. It was here that he helped facilitate the invasion of Nazi controlled France, four years later known as Operation Overlord or D Day. Elsewhere in the tunnels an underground hospital was created for the victims of this cross channel warfare. Even the Romans considered Dover an important place and left their mark in the form of the “Pharos’, an octagonal lighthouse built in the first half of the second century to safely guide ships into the Roman port.
In the Great Tower English Heritage have created a stunning and vibrant recreation of Henry II’s court based on meticulous research of the period. On published days, the tower is further brought to life by costumed actors who recreate life under Henry II.
Go back to the 12th century meet Henry II in holographic form.
Visit the King’s chambers, something only the chosen few would have been able to do in the late 12th century.
On the ground floor of the Great Tower, English Heritage have created Henry’s kitchen to show how it was made ready for a royal visit.
An area sometimes called a buttery, butts being barrels.
A quern for grinding corn into flour.
Giant cauldrons
What had William the Conqueror to do with Dover Castle?
In 1066 the king of England , Edward the Confessor died without an heir. Four people originally claimed the throne but eventually, in October 1066 it came down to two, Harold Godwinson from Wessex in southern England and Duke William of Normandy. Both claimed that they were promised the throne by Edward and at the Battle of Hastings William defeated the English claimant Harold. Being from Normandy, William was seen as an invading foreigner by the 2.5 million Anglo-saxons (English) and as a consequence many rebellions took place. William was very aware of his perilous position from the start and, as a consequence, one of his first moves was to defeat the defensive fortress at Dover and then build it up again by creating massive earthworks and ditches with a wooden stockaded castle. This meant that if he had to retreat, he had a safe refuge before his escape to Normandy. It would also, of course, be useful against any possible invasion on these southern shores close to France.
Why did Henry II transform Dover Castle into a mighty fortress , with 14 defensive towers in its bailey walls and a massive central tower, the ultimate symbol of supremacy and power?
Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle for a variety of reasons. Firstly, England had been immersed in a terrible civil war, often known as the anarchy, between the years 1135 and 1153. When Henry I died in 1135, his nephew, Stephen of Blois, raced over to England from France to claim the throne of England. Barons supported him and within a month Stephen seemed secure on the throne despite this act going against an earlier promise to support Henry’s daughter, Matilda to become queen. Four years later Matilda invaded England to claim what she felt was her rightful throne. Civil war then ensued with barons changing sides regularly for the next nineteen years. Royal authority was at its lowest ebb and thus barons built castles and took power into their own hands. Eventually peace was restored when Stephen was allowed to be king but Matilda’s son Henry would be his heir. Thus, when Henry II acceded to the throne, his first mission was to restore royal authority and loyalty. Authority would be partly, and symbolically, established by building huge and impressive royal castles as well as destroying illegal castles built by the nobility in the period of the anarchy. Dover was one such example of re-establishing royal authority.
Henry II and the murder of Thomas Becket
In 1170, four knights took it upon themselves to ruthlessly murder Archbishop Thomas Becket in CanterburyCathedral. They had responded to the drunken words of Henry II ”Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?”. The four knights seeking fame and fortune interpreted Henry’s words as an order and acted upon it. Henry had to accept blame and do penance which involved being publicly flogged by bishops and monks as well as an all night vigil. Becket’s tomb in Canterbury Cathedral soon saw thousands of visitors and associated with their visits miracles apparently occurred. in due course Becket became a saint and pilgrims came from all over Britain and Europe to ask for his help and guidance. Henry’s guilt was such that he created a chapel dedicated to Becket inside Dover’s Great Tower for himself and his guests to use. In 1179, the son of King Louis VII of France was seriously ill and so he decided to pay a visit to Becket’s tomb in Canterbury to ask for help. This can be seen as the first state visit in English History and as a consequence, Henry II had to put on a show but according to Dan Jones, nowhere was suitable for such a show. As a consequence, , Dan suggests that, only two months later, Henry set about developing Dover Castle. He even concludes that Dover was developed to “show his legacy would never be overshadowed by the murder of Thomas Becket”. He goes on to say that it was “built to remind pilgrims of the wealth and authority of Henry II”.
Henry II and war against his own family!
At various points in his reign Henry fought against his rebellious sons, who were often encouraged by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the French King Louis . Owning virtually half of France as well as England meant that he was always going to be vulnerable to attack, even from his own ambitious sons. As early as 1173 Henry was at war with his heir, Henry, as well as two of his other sons, Richard (later “Lionheart”) and Geoffrey, supported by Queen Eleanor. Their rebellious offspring had further support from France, Scotland, Brittany, Flanders and Boulogne. This so called “Great Revolt” was later followed by other revolts. It was therefore vital to maintain strong castles at places such as Dover, London and Windsor.
Has Dover ever been successfully attacked?
In 1215, the barons of England had had enough of what they considered to be, King John’s tyrannical ways and so embarked on civil war to bring him to terms. They were successful, when, in 1215, John agreed to and sealed, the famous “Magna Carta”. Within weeks, John had rejected Magna Carta and even got the Pope to support his act. War broke out again and this time, the barons invited the heir to the French throne, Prince Louis, to join them. In May 1216, Louis’ large army set foot on English soil and Louis was proclaimed King of England in a ceremony at St Paul’s cathedra!. Dover Castle, however, refused to acknowledge Louis and steadfastly held out for 15 weeks for King John. It suffered ten months of bombardment by siege engines, tunnelling and hand to hand conflict but it never fell.
One of John’s chief officials (Justiciar) Hubert de Burgh managed to hold out with 140 knights a a few hundred foot soldiers. The walls and gatehouse were ponded by a large siege engine catapult known as a perrier as well as some smaller, less powerful, mangonels. A large siege tower was constructed allowing the besieging crossbowmen to shoot down on the defenders standing on the battlements. The most successful operation was carried out however, when miners, protected by a wooden hut on wheels, were able to dig into the gatehouse (barbican) ditch and eventually undermine one of the towers of the twin-towered gatehouse. The tower came crashing down but the defenders were able to use the rubble and large pieces of wood to create a barrier that stopped the attackers’ advance. Louis even threatened to hang any defender who refused to give in but, this too, proved unsuccessful.
Today’s view of where the tunnelling took place. It has been altered very dramatically in oder that no such attack would ever get that close to success.
In October King John died and was succeeded by his young son, Henry III. Louis the abandoned the siege temporarily only to come back in May 1217 to have another go. This time he also had to deal with a squire from Kent with the name Williken of the Weald. He made things worse for Louis by ambushing French supply convoys and setting alight French lodges used for housing Louis’ troops surrounding the castle. Louis now played what he thought was his “trump card”, a giant trebuchet that was brought over from France that was given the name “Malvoisin”, which meant, “evil neighbour”! Even Malvoisin proved ineffective against Dover’s defences and with Willikin on land and English ships now cutting off French supplies, Louis dismantled Malvoisin and decided to “call it a day” . At Lincoln, Louis’ main army and his allies, various barons, were defeated by William Marshall, the regent for the nine year old, Henry III. To complete the job, Hubert de Burgh then destroyed the French fleet off the coast of Dover. Dover Castle had survived undefeated.
Trebuchet
Look how hard it is to get into the outer bailey and attackers have still got to get into the inner bailey and then the Great Tower.
Look how high attackers would have to scale to get near the inner bailey and all the time they could be picked off with arrows coming at them at a rate of over ten per minute from long bows or four permute from crossbows.
How many times has Dover been attacked?
Three. For a third time Dover was put under siege. In 1264, during a period known as the “Second Barons’War”, barons began to feel that Henry III was acting like his much loathed father, King John. This eventually resulted in conflict with Simon de Montfort, sixth earl of Leicester capturing Dover castle in 1263. The following year, the barons, led by De Montfort, won the Battle of Lewes and held Henry III and his son , Edward, prisoner. De Montford now ruled England. In May 1265 Prince Edward escaped and so, in the following month, De Montford’s wife Eleanor, went to Dover Castle for her own safety. This was short-lived because on August 4th, De Montford and his eldest son, were killed at the Battle of Evesham. Things were no better for Eleanor because fourteen of her prisoners now escaped and boarded themselves up in the Great Tower. At the same time, Prince Edward arrived to besiege the castle. Eleanor faced with hostile troops outside and within had no choice but to surrender. Prince Edward was her nephew and accepted her terms of surrender which resulted in her going into exile and becoming a nun, whilst her supporters gained pardons.
Constable’s Gate
Peverill’s Gate
Hellfire Corner, the secret tunnels of World War Two.
In 1938, tunnels that had been dug into the cliff during the threat of an invasion by Emperor Napoleon now found a new use. They became the bombproof secret naval headquarters which was responsible for the channel coastline and shipping. In 1940, the British army found itself surrounded on the coast at Dunkirk and it looked like over 300 000 men would be slaughtered or become Nazi prisoners of war. In his Dover HQ, Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay devised a plan to get as many as possible home despite all the odds! There was no harbour available at Dunkirk to get the men onto the rescue ships and so the man had to be taken from a wooden breakwater not really suited for embarkation of soldiers. Part two of his plan was to use small Royal Navy ships as well as civilian vessels, the so called, “Little Ships”, to rescue the beleaguered troops from the beaches. Despite being mercilessly attacked from the air, 338 000 soldiers from the British and French armies were rescued. This “miracle”, as it was known, was masterminded from the tunnels that you can visit.
During the remainder of the war, the original level of tunnels was enhanced by three more levels of which one was turned into a underground hospital.
You can visit the hospital by joining one queue and the armed forces HQ by joining another queue, with guided tours every 20 minutes.
Dover Castle and the Cold War
After the war, the Home Office took over the tunnels and they became one of the twelve emergency “Regional Seats of Government” which would run the country if Britain was embroiled in nuclear war! During the Cuban Missile Crisis, in October 1962, Britain was very close to being involved in nuclear war with the USSR, illustrating the importance of the Dover tunnels once more.
A TIP - after having bought your castle entrance tickets, double back down the hill and get in the queues for the tunnels as quickly as possible to avoid a long wait or even disappointment.
Does Dover Castle have any ghosts?
Dover Castle according to ghost experts is one of the most haunted castles in Britain!
There are numerous websites dealing with haunted castle but one of the best researchers is Richard Jones. According to Richard Jones in his book, “Haunted Castles”, several ghosts haunt various parts of the castle.
Dover Castle is haunted by a “headless Drummer boy”
When England was faced Napoleon and the southern coast was put on alert for an invasion, a drummer boy was beheaded in one of the tunnels and as a consequence wanders the battlements headless. Added to this, people have heard a relentless, slow, methodical beat symbolising that his army is about to commence battle. Other sources suggest that he was carrying “ a substantial sum of money “.
Dover Castle is haunted by a couple from the English Civil period.
A woman in a flowing red/crimson dress accompanies a Cavalier in the Great Tower. Apparently, she is not always accompanied by the Cavalier and as yet no-one has come up with a name for her or a reason for her being there!
Dover Castle is haunted a screaming ghost
In the daytime, either two TV researchers or a camera crew, according to different sources, heard screams from the top of the Great Tower and believed that someone was committing suicide. Their reaction was to run from the scene to avoid impact but there was no sign of a body on the ground. Apparently, they did not hear the body land yet were convinced from the sounds they heard that someone jumped!
Dover Castle and the mystery footsteps
Dover has numerous staircases and apparently is is not uncommon to hear footsteps in the stairwells. One member of staff reported a pair of feet without a body walking up a spiral staircase in the Great Tower!
Find out more;
👉 Guide for when visiting castles
👉 Why did people build castles?
Essential information
Getting there
By Car;
The entrance is on Castle Hill Road (the A258). We recommend travelling via the A2 towards Dover. SAT NAV Postcode : CT16 1HU
By bus;
Stagecoach in East Kent buses numbers 15, 15X, 80, 80A, 93
By Train;
Dover Priory 1 mile train services operated by Southeastern.
Ticket prices
ENTRY TITLE WITHOUT GIFT AID WITH GIFT AID
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Adult £20.90 £23.00
Child (5-17 years) £12.50 £13.80
Concession £18.80 £20.70
Family (2 adults, up to 3 children) £54.30 £59.80
Overseas Visitor Pass (9 or 16 days unlimited) Buy now
Please note;
The Gift Aid admission price includes a voluntary donation of 10%. Provided you have paid enough UK Income or Capital Gains Tax * (to cover all of your Gift Aid donations in this tax year), English Heritage is able to reclaim tax on the whole amount you have paid - that's 25p on every £1. This extra money enables us to undertake vital conservation and education projects and ensure that many of England's most important historic sites can continue to be enjoyed by future generations.
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