West Gallery Tunnel, Caponier, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover, Kent, UK

An image of the northern end of Tunnel 1 where it meets the Caponnier complex.

The ramp with handrail leads to the 2nd level of the Caponnier with rooms directly above the viewer and on the opposite side of the Caponnier.

Click to see the 2nd level balcony and Caponnier interior.

Through the arch on the lefthand side of the above image:

Turn right for the Ammunition Room/Gunpowder Store

Turn left for the Caponnier ground floor.

Tunnel 1 also contains a drawbridge, the 'Ghost Photo', and 'Blue Orb 1'

The North Center Bastion is part of Dover's "Hidden Fortress" built during the Napoleonic era.

Also see the Drop Redoubt, Grand Shaft, North Entrance - click on Western Heights and check the tags for an up-to-date list of locations.

Also see: Satellite view of the North Center Bastion annotated with tunnel system locations, surface features, drawbridges, etc.

Click to see a view of the ramp taken from the rooms above this section of Tunnel 1

Click to see a view of the top of the ramp (including the steps leading to a three-room gallery directly above this part of Tunnel 1).

Standard Info

Also see St Martin's Battery

There's now a three-part video of the North Centre Bastion available on YouTube:

Part 1: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

Part 2: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

Part 3: The Smokey, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

John Latter / Jorolat

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The correct name for Tunnel 1 is the West Gallery

The English Heritage Pastscape entry for the North Centre Bastion and Detached Bastion reads (1):

TR 3110 4083 North Centre and Detached Bastions

North Centre Bastion was begun in 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars, as part of the Western Heights fortress in Dover. It remained unfinished at the end of the war in 1815 but was completed to a revised design between 1859 and 1867; this resulted in two linked bastions known as North Centre Bastion and Detached Bastion (2).

Both were surveyed and researched by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England between 1998 and 2001 as part of the Dover Western Heights Survey Project (event UID 1316220 and monument UID 467989). See the archive report and plans for full details: Pattison P The Western Heights, Dover, Kent; Report no 5 North Centre and Detached Bastions.

An English Heritage site and Scheduled Monument; the Detached Baastion is also known as "Dead Man's Island".

Photos of the Detached Bastion are included under the North Centre Bastion tag.

(1) Pastscape: North Centre Bastion

(2) The bastions are linked by the South Caponier (see South Caponier interior; South Caponier exterior).

John Latter / Jorolat