According to English Heritage, "No fortress in England boasts a longer history than Dover Castle." That's reinforced by the large Roman lighthouse still standing next to a Norman church which retains many of its original features. According to TomTom, we even parked in the "Roman Ditch" inside the fortress.
Situated high above the Dover harbor and on a stretch of land closest to France, Dover Castle has always been in a very strategic position. Carlisle Castle was all about defense (click on this link for the archived post), but Dover takes it to the extreme. I won't try to capture all of the defensive features, but just imagine a series of earthwork defenses, deep ditches, drawbridges, soaring walls, magazines, and a whole network of tunnels built to defend it all.
Check out that gun...
No matter how you approach this hilltop fort, it's intimidating and steep. You'd have to be pretty fit to storm this baby.
It also has the biggest keep I think I've seen, including the Tower of London.
Jeff enjoying the medieval facilities in the guarderobe. Random fact we learned—Henry VIII's entourage of 800, like other royal courts, often moved between castles out of necessity. That is, the stench became unbearable to the royal nostrils.
The defenses span some mighty big wars including the Napoleonic Wars, WWII, and the Cold War. Many strategies during these times involved digging underground tunnels into the chalk cliffs for extra barracks, defense, hospitals, communication, etc. Dover Castle is especially well known for the secret WWII wartime tunnels that you can now tour. There are 5 levels and only stopped digging when they got close to the water table. We were able to see two or so on the tour and they're set up as they were left in WWII—telephone exchanges, artillery-plotting rooms, and operating suites. I think the thing that made the biggest impact on me were the working conditions in the tunnels. Because of security issues, female civilian telephone operators would do 12 hour shifts locked in a dank, moldy hole. Ventilation wasn't great and most people smoked. On top of that, it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer with moisture condensing on the ceiling and raining down. Besides being uncomfortable, it caused frequent shorts in the electronics. Lung diseases and infections were common. The tour was really informative and I highly recommend it.
Older medieval tunnel complex (can't take pictures of the WWII stuff).
Artillery, accessed by tunnels, covers an outer ditch.
Overall, the castle was very impressive... and beautiful (sun and sea help). There's a LOT to see and explore. We spent more time at this castle than any other.
When we were finally done, we went next door to the White Cliffs of Dover to see them in person. It was amazing—it gets a "must see" in my book. Dramatic shear cliffs glowing in the sun, beautiful rolling grassland, great views, and even a steep descent to an abandoned lookout and rocky beach. I was surprised that the beach was mostly black rocks and was an interesting contrast to the white cliffs.
From here, you can even see the cliffs of the French coast off in the distance. Just to remind you of the proximity, you can also pick up French radio stations when driving around Dover. When you're in an airplane, you can actually see both shores at the same time as you fly over the Channel. And, yes, the chalky cliffs really are chalky—Pat used a piece to write "France" on his hand.
France is really there, I promise—it's just barely visible below the cloud line.
2 comments:
and i thought "cliffs of dover" was a weird name for a cool song without any words in it. turns out it's a pretty cool place too!
I'm going to miss the tour of England when you guys come home. I feel I have seen things that you would never see on some travel channel and your presentations have been great.
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