Drop Redoubt Satellite View, Western Heights, Dover, Kent, UK

An annotated plan view - courtesy of Google Earth - of the Drop Redoubt on Dover's Western Heights, built during the Napoleonic era. Click on any of the blue links for more info and/or images:

Entrances

E1: Southeastern Entrance.

E2: South Entrance.

E3: Southwestern Entrance.

Lines/Moats

L1: Southeast Lines (or 'run-off' moat) leading to the cliff edge.

L2: North Lines leading to the twin bridges and tunnel of the North Entrance to the Wastern Heights fortifications.

Drop Redoubt Surface Features

A: Main Magazine.

B: Soldiers Quarters (1 to 5 from left to right). The front aspect of these 5 blocks gave rise to one local name for the Drop Redoubt of "The Pyramids".

C: Married Quarters, Washrooms etc..

D: A 'sunken road' with offices and Officer Quarters on the righthand side. The Guardroom and cells are on the left - nb there was once a bridge from the southern side of the sunken road to the opposite side of the moat.

E: The letter 'E' on the above image covers the remains of the Bredenstone.

Drop Redoubt Underground Features

1: The underground tunnel complex of Caponnier No.1 is accessed from the surface of Drop Redoubt via a tunnel just to the right of 'A' on the image.

2: Surface access to Caponnier No.2 is via a tunnel at the back (northern end) of Soldiers Quarters No.1

3: Access to Caponnier No.3 is via a tunnel at the back of Soldiers Quarters No.4

4: Access to Caponnier No.4 is via a tunnel at the top of the steps on the northern end of the sunken road.

Gun Rooms

G1: Gun Rooms covering the North Lines, part of Capponier No.2 complex.

G2: Gun Rooms (external view) covering the Southeast Lines, part of Caponnier No.4 complex.

Details of when the surface structures and insides of Drop Redoubt are open to the public can be found here.

Standard Info:

The Drop Redoubt 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 North Centre Bastion, Grand Shaft, 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).

Click to see a photo of the Bredenstone ('E' on the above map) which also shows the Soldiers Quarters ('B') in the background.

[Originally Posted October 10, 2007]

John,

Very interesting pictures of Western Heights - As a boy used to explore and some of the cantilevered doors still worked!

lenny111, 20 minutes ago, said:

John,

Very interesting pictures of Western Heights - As a boy used to explore and some of the cantilevered doors still worked!

Hi Lenny,

Do you mean the underground drawbridges (such as this one) by "cantilevered doors"?

I don't know which photos you've looked at but there's a whole section on "Dead Man's Island" (aka the North Centre Bastion) above Belgrave Road.

Also, how long ago was it that you explored the Western Heights? My period was roughly from the mid-50s to the mid-60s.

It's always nice to hear from someone who knows these places :)

John