Dover Castle

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Dover Castle

• A virtual tour

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Dover Castle

• Through the keyhole
• Besiege the castle!
• Whats my job?

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Dover Castle

• Through the keyhole

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Dover Castle

• Besiege the Castle!

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Mission Impossible!

• In 1216 Prince Louis of France invaded England.
  All of south east England fell to his armies,
  only Dover and Windsor held out. Imagine you are
  a spy working for the Prince. Disguised as a
  medieval tradesman you manage to penetrate the
  Castles outer defences. Your mission is to find
  out how Dover Castle is defended and report back
  to Prince Louis without being captured by its
  constable Hubert de Burgh. Good luck!

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Coltons Gateway
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Coltons Gateway
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Coltons Gateway arrow loop
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Palace Gateway
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Palace Gateway drawbridge
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Palace Gateway drawbridge
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Henry IIs Keep
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Keep stairs into forebuilding
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Entrance to the forebuilding
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Wall at the entrance to the forebuilding
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Looking down the stairs from the entrance to the
forebuilding
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Inside the entrance to the forebuilding
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Detail of the arch above the lower chapel
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Detail of zig-zag stonework inside the chapel
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Steps to the drawbridge
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Detail of wall alongside the steps
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Stairs over drawbridge pit
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Top of main staircase looking down into
forebuilding
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Supports for the drawbridge and slots for the
counter-weights
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Bottom of the drawbridge pit
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Top of the stairs at the entrance to the well room
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Well
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Inside the well
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Lead pipes
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The Great Hall
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Windows inside the Great Hall
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Doorway to spiral staircase
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Spiral staircase to the roof
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Roof
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View from the roof top
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Dover Castle

• Mission completed!
• Now you have to get out again!

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Portcullis
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Portcullis
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Portcullis groove
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Murder holes
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? Factoids

• Draw-bar hole deep hole cut into the sides (or
  jambs) of the door into which a stout wooden beam
  could be thrust to secure the door.

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Draw bar slots
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? Factoids

• Drawbridges were heavy wooden platforms that
  spanned a pit or moat between the approach and
  the gateway. They were lifted using winding gear
  known as a windlass or massive counter-weights.

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? Factoids

• Arrow Loops
• The only holes in the outer walls were arrow
  loops. They were too small for soldiers to climb
  through (especially in chain mail).
• There were three types the single slit, the
  cross slit and the gun loop. The cross slit was
  designed for crossbows.

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? Factoids

• Defending the gateway
• The gateway would have been defended with a
  drawbridge and/or a portcullis. Look for grooves
  in the walls to show where they descended.
• Inside the gateway, above the heads of the enemy
  murder holes could be unplugged and stones or hot
  liquids such as tar poured down on the
  unfortunate attackers.

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? Factoids

• Henry IIs Keep
• The keep was begun in 1180 by the kings
  architect, Maurice the Engineer. The total cost
  was 7,000 (nearly ¾ of the kings annual
  income!)
• In 1185 work begun on the walls around the
  castle. There are two rings of curtain walls and
  this was the first time such imposing defences
  had been used in the West.

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? Factoids

• Draw-bars
• Look out for square shaped holes either side of
  doorways. This one is at the entrance to the
  forebuilding and there are more inside the
  entrance to the keep itself.
• Graffiti
• The Keep is covered with Graffiti. Much of it
  was carved by French prisoners of war when the
  Keep was used as a prison during the Napoleonic
  Wars.

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? Factoids

• The forebuilding
• The forebuilding comprises three massive towers.
  Inside it used to be open to the sky so the
  defending soldiers could rain arrows and missiles
  on their attackers from above.

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Plan of the keep at Dover
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? Factoids

• Walls
• The massive width of the walls in Dover Castle
  can be judged by measuring the distance between
  the inner and outer wall surfaces (or skins).
• The walls at Dover are between 5.2 and 6.4 metres
  thick!

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? Factoids

• Spiral stairs
• Spiral stairs were deliberately turned in a
  clockwise direction. This meant it was easier for
  the defender to wield a sword or axe in his right
  hand as he came down the stairs towards his enemy.

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? Factoids

• Well shaft
• The well shaft is 122 metres deep!
• The opening to the shaft is on the second floor
  to keep the water supply away from attackers in
  the lower areas of the castle. Besieging armies
  tended to put dead animals down wells to pollute
  the water supply.
• Two lead pipes can still be seen, taking water to
  other parts of the castle. Funnily enough lead is
  also poisonous!

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? Factoids

• Hubert de Burgh
• A man who had many roles civil servant, soldier
  and guardian of Dover Castle. He served under
  Richard I, John and Henry III. In 1215 he became
  justiciar (chief minister) to the king and was
  one of the most powerful men in Britain after the
  king. When the French began to besiege Dover, he
  reportedly cried, I beseech you by the blood of
  Christ allow me to hang, rather than give up the
  castle to any Frenchman, for it is the key of
  England!

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Examples of Castle Graffiti
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Graffiti
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Graffiti
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Graffiti
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Graffiti
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? Factoids

• Stone
• There were several types of stone used for the
  castle. The best quality was Caen stone, a pure
  white sandstone brought especially from Normandy.
• Flint and Kentish ragstone were used for general
  building work and may have been dressed with lime
  mortar.

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? Factoids
Caen stone
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? Factoids
Flint Ragstone
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? Factoids

• Stairs into the keep
• Originally the stairs were slightly higher. You
  can see evidence along the side of the walls.The
  wooden stairs you see today over the drawbridge
  pit are modern.

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? Factoids

• Forebuilding stairs
• Originally these stairs went straight down to
  the ground and didnt turn a right angle as they
  do now.

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? Factoids

• Roof
• The roof was strengthened to take the weight of
  heavy artillery placed here during the Napoleonic
  Wars.
• The crenellations you can see are sections of
  masonry approximately the height of a man with
  spaces in between (merlons) for shooting arrows
  (crenels)

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? Factoids

• Maurice the Engineer
• Maurice the Engineer (or mason) was responsible
  for designing the Keep and concentric walls. He
  worked directly for Henry II and was commissioned
  to work on numerous buildings, including the keep
  at Newcastle upon Tyne which is similar in some
  respects to Dover.

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? Factoids

• Prince Louis of France
• Son of the fabled French king, Philip Augstus
  and eventual Louis VIII, he came to England in
  1216 following the sudden death of King John in
  the hope of claiming the crown for his father.

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? Factoids

• Henry II (1154-1189)
• Father of Richard the Lionheart and King John,
  and husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine, he was the
  first of the Plantagenet Kings and one of
  medieval Englands most able rulers. During his
  reign he built or improved nearly 90 castles!

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Henry II
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Newcastle upon Tyne Castle
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Dover Castle

• Whats my job?

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At work in Dover Castle

• Can you identify the trades and professions of
  these medieval people from the tools and objects
  theyve left behind?

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A barber-surgeons work bench.Can you spot the
fingers?
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Ouch!
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A glaziers work bench.Where would you have seen
stained glass like this?
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A carpenters workbench. What are each of the
tools for?
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A masons work bench. Where might this stone have
gone?
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Not a workbench a medieval loo or garderobe!
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Dover Castle

• Well done!

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Through the keyhole!
Level One
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garderobe
Level One
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Through the keyhole!
Level Two
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Chapel of Thomas Becket
Level Two
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Through the keyhole!
Level Three
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Great Chamber
Level Three
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Through the keyhole!
Level Four
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The Royal Bedchamber
Level Four
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Through the keyhole!
Level Five
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The Keep oven
Level Five