The Grand Shaft, Western Heights, Dover UK (1)

John Latter, on March 26, 2007, said:

An image taken from the bottom of the Grand Shaft showing the windows of the three spiral staircases leading from the base of the cliffs to the Western Heights above. Built in 1806-1809.

Info on open days (free admission) can be found by clicking on the box in this wikimapia satellite photo

Image taken on June 5th, 2005. John Latter / Jorolat

Snipe, on April 1, 2007, said:

John a picture this interesting deserves 1000 views! Just thought I might help it on its way... Nice shot...

John Latter, on April 2, 2007, said:

Thank you Snipe - only 944 views to go! :)

I remember your "The Eagles Have Landed!" post - the photos reflected a world and lifestyle beyond my experience (one of the things I like about the forum).

John

John Latter, on April 3, 2007, said:

Other parts of Dover's "Hidden Fortress" include:

The Drop Redoubt

Annotated Satellite View: Location of entrances, caponniers, and brief details of surface structures, etc..

Other Drop Redoubt Images

The North Center (Centre) Bastion

Annotated Satellite View: Location of tunnel systems, drawbridges, caponnier, etc..

Other North Center Bastion Images (including the Ghost Photo)

Marco Ferrari, on April 12, 2007, said:

Similar place different light. :-)

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/339721

Hi! Marco

John Latter, on April 12, 2007, said:

"Similar place different light. :-)

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/339721"

They're remarkably similar!

I looked the location of your photo up on google and apparently its a well ("St Patrick's Well, Orvieto") with two spiral stairways.

It was built in the 16th Century - very impressive :)

Marco Ferrari, on April 13, 2007, said:

Yes it is. The history has always a remarkable fascination.

Hi!

rsyms, on April 13, 2007, said:

Nice shot, I feel as if I'm at the bottom of a pit and locked in. Love the hallway photos you have in your collection. Keep up the great work!

John Latter, on April 13, 2007, said:

Thank you rsyms :)

When I was a kid the Grand Shaft was derelict (no electricity, rubble-strewn stairs, etc.) and my friends and I used it as the quickest means of reaching the beach.

It was ok going down (unless some clot said "What was that??", whereupon things became 'exciting') but climbing up the steps at the end of a day's swimming and clambering over rocks was a different story entirely...

I'm pleased you like the hallway/tunnel shots too. I'll be going to the North Centre Bastion again soon. There are some photos I want (on the other side of the cave-in) of some windowless 'pits' - even more claustrophobic!

John Latter, on May 10, 2007, said:

Standard Info:

Legend has it that one staircase of the Grand Shaft was labelled "Officers and their Ladies", the second, "Senior NCO's and their Wives", and the third, "Other Ranks and their Women".

From a military point of view, however, it would make sense - particularly during an 'emergency' - to introduce a dynamically allocated 'one-way' system.

If troops needed to be quickly dispatched to the port area below, for example, then designating, say, two of the staircases to be 'down only' would result in an unimpeded descent.

Image/photo taken on 5th June, 2005.

Click for information on open days.

The Grand Shaft, built between 1806-1809, is only part of Dover's extensive Napoleonic defenses - click on Western Heights and then check the tag list for all the locations covered (eg Drop Redoubt, North Centre Bastion, North Entrance - more will be added as time goes on).

Also see St Martin's Battery

Work began on Dover's Western Heights fortifications in the 1770s and was intensified, first in the early 1800s because of Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte), and again in the mid-Nineteenth Century because of Napoleon III (originally known as Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte).

John Latter, on October 14, 2007, said:

The English Heritage Pastscape page for the Grand Shaft states:

Part of Dover's defensive works, built between 1805 and 1807, to the designs of Captain Hyde Page. The shaft links the Heights to the town below, and comprises three spiral staircases built around a vertical circular brick shaft which descends for 140 steps to a tunnel linking up with Snargate Street. It was constructed to quickly reinforce the harbour defences with troops, or to expedite speedy retreat to the Western Heights from the Harbour.

Note the discrepancy in the construction date with that given previously (see Google search results for the construction date - ignore my entries, of course!)

iiimagine, on May 14, 2008, said:

amazing photo~

unowho, on March 10, 2009, said:

i wish i had a penny for how many times i ran up and down those steps john when i was a kid too i remember tripping over those bricks many times hahaha still loved it i used to spend hours walking around those deep tunnels up the western heights too a great laugh p.s nice pic

John Latter, on March 14, 2009, said:

unowho said:

i wish i had a penny for how many times i ran up and down those steps john when i was a kid too i remember tripping over those bricks many times hahaha still loved it i used to spend hours walking around those deep tunnels up the western heights too a great laugh p.s nice pic

You're talking about old pennies of course, unowho :)

And with an internet name like that I can't help feeling curious as to whether I might know you or not!

I feel we were very, very lucky to have had such a large 'adventure playground' at our disposal as kids - if I had been brought up on a diet of video games and pop music I think I'ld have ended up more vegetable than animal.

It's been two years or so so I took the photos of the Drop Redoubt, North Centre Bastion, etc., and that was but the latest of a long line of visits I've made over the years. I'm definitely going again this year (especially as I've now got a go-faster camera) and the thing I like most about going around the tunnels is that it brings back the excitement of way back when - along with the cuts & bruises, too :)

Nice to hear from someone else you enjoyed the Western Heights as a kid - and thanks for the comment!