Photos by John Latter : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

The Sergeant Major's house, just south of Peverell`s Gate on the western Outer Curtain Wall, was once the home of the Battery Sergeant Majors who were garrisoned at Dover Castle. It is now an English Heritage "Holiday Cottage":

This is an elegant and spacious four-storey Georgian house standing in its own grounds with expansive views to the English Channel, one of the busiest waterways in the world. On one side of the house are the inner fortified battlement walls reaching to the Castle above and, on the other side, the outer walls sweeping down to the moat and town below. Just behind is the 13th-century Peverell’s Gateway. Once home to the Battery Sergeant Majors garrisoned at the Castle, the house was more recently lived in by the Custodian of the Castle.

The house has three bedrooms; two doubles and one twin. There is a bathroom with shower over the bath and a further separate shower room and cloakroom. There is a very large kitchen/ diner and a cosy sitting room. In the basement there is a games room and further sitting room with plasma TV.

As well as its stunning location right in the heart of Dover Castle, Sergeant Major’s House itself offers something for all the family. Enjoy the magnificent Keep views from the sitting room while the kids wear themselves out at the table tennis table and at the end of the day gather the whole family together for meals around the generous dining table and plan your next day of fun!

I would love to stay in the Sergeant Major's House, not least because of having the Castle grounds all to myself first thing in the morning and last thing at night - taking photographs at those times would be brilliant :)

Unfortunately, I'll have to win the Lottery first: the price for 7 nights between the 16th of July and the 2nd of September in 2010 (the most expensive period) is currently scheduled to be GBP1486! (click to see the full price list).

Peverell's Gate (or Peverell's Tower) is on the left-hand side of the photo; the Keep, or Great Tower, is above and behind the Sergeant Major's House; the west flanking tower of Palace Gate on the Inner Bailey walls is at top right.

This view was taken from Gatton's Tower.

Extract from "The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle (With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports)", Volume 2. Dedicated by the Reverend John Lyon, Minister of "Saint Mary`s", on April 21st, 1814, and published the same year:

Gatton Tower

This tower was built by William Peverell, to strengthen the curtain (wall) between his own and Arsick's Tower (now Say's Tower); and he granted the manor of Throwley, to one William le Dane, knight, and he held it on castle-guard tenure.

Robert de Gatton held of the same Lord, and by the same service, the town of Gatton, in Surrey; and he gave his name to this tower. There was originally a house for the officer, near this building.

A person, of the name of Copeley, was also appointed to this tower; but as we do not find that the historians have recorded any thing memorable in their lives, they probably never stepped beyond the common routine of duty.

Dover Castle is an English Heritage site.

Abridged from The English Heritage Trail:

Dover Castle

Guardian of the 'Gateway to England', Dover Castle displays a solid strength and determination that has obviously carried it through many troubled times. Proudly standing atop the White Cliffs, overlooking this busy port, Dover Castle has withstood the test of time remarkably well throughout its long and eventful history. Dover Castle, as it stands today, dates from the rebuilding work during Henry II's reign, but the site has been of vital importance since the Iron Age. The first castle at Dover was probably an Anglo-Saxon fortress and, on the arrival of William the Conqueror, the existing fortifications were improved with the building of an earthwork castle. This Norman 'motte' (mound) which supported the castle is today known as 'Castle Hill'.

Work began on Dover Castle in the latter part of the 12th century with the construction of the Keep (or Great Tower) - the largest in Britain - and is entered through a forebuilding more substantial than any other built before or since. At each corner of the Keep lies a buttress turret, and mid-way along each wall is a pilaster buttress. Four storeys high, the Keep comprises a basement, first floor, and a second floor that spans two storeys, the upper level of which is a mural gallery that can be seen today at the end of the Great Armour Hall. The second storey provided the royal accommodation, and the first floor, based on a similar plan to the second, contained rooms with a much less elaborate decor. All floors were connected by staircases set in the north and south corner turrets.

Providing the entry staircase, and two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. It is interesting to note the decor of the chapels - the lower chapel of a Gothic style, and the upper chapel late Norman and richly decorated. From outside of the Keep, the significance of the three-towered forebuilding can be fully appreciated, as it can be seen travelling along the eastern wall of the Keep and turning at the corner of the southern wall. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed mid-13th century.

Dover Castle appears in "Dover in World War Two: 1942", a ten minute British Ministry of Information film, released by the US Office of War Information, and narrated by the American journalist, Edward R. Murrow.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

Peverell's Gate (alt. Peverell's Tower) is on Dover Castle's Western Outer Curtain Wall with Gatton Tower (to the south) behind the viewer and the out-of-view Queen Mary Tower in front; the inside of Constable`s Gate is visible through the arch beyond the drawbridge.

The privet fence on the right marks the garden boundary of the Georgian, "Sergeant Major`s House"; from the 17th of July to the 3rd of September, 2009, it cost GBP1351 to stay there for 7 nights (see "prices" on this English Heritage webpage).

Click to see all photos of Dover Castle, an English Heritage site.

Standard Info for Peverell's Gate (Updated 2009)

Extracts from "The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle (With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports)", Volume 2. Dedicated by the Reverend John Lyon, Minister of "Saint Mary`s", on April 21st, 1814, and published the same year:

This tower was built by William Peverell, of Dover, one of the confederate knights; and he had several lordships and manors granted him, in capite, which he held by castle-guard tenure.

Peverell built his tower in the angle of the exterior wall of the Saxon works; and it was constructed for defensive warfare, on every side of it. He had a noble arched gate-way, with a ditch and drawbridge, with several apartments, and over them an embattled platform for the archers.

From the interior front they could command a considerable part of the Saxon vallum; and the whole space was open to them, on the side of the hill, between the Castle and the town.

On the side of the tower, fronting the Keep, there was an arched passage from the principal gateway, for opening a communication with a caponnier (alt. caponier), between two parallel walls, leading up to the Palace Gate. This concealed passage was for a place of defence, and it added a considerable length to the fronts of Peverell's tower. The walls of the caponnier are destroyed from their foundations.

In the year 1771, the whole length of the exterior curtain, from Peverell's to Porth's Tower (ie Queen Mary`s Tower), fell into the ditch, after a very wet season; and the workmen, in digging for a new foundation, discovered the piers of the bridge, before the arched gate-way of Peverell's tower.

Hugh Beauchamp, who commanded in this tower, was also Marshal of the Castle. He was a Norman by descent, and like many of his countrymen, he had the good fortune to procure a considerable landed property in this kingdom.

His arms, cut in a stone shield, were remaining in the front of this tower, until the year 1801, when they were taken away by the order of the engineer; but they have been preserved by one of the gunners of the Castle. Arms - Gules, a fesse betwen six cross crosslets.

The building is now deformed, by taking away the battlements (crenellations), and raising a parapet of brick work; which will never be so durable, as the masonry they have taken down.

Extract from "Dover Castle" by R. Allen Brown (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, HMSO 1974) (Abridged):

Peverell's Gate or Tower marks the juncture of the work of King John and Henry III, and is itself a composite structure of both reigns. It basically consists of a great mural tower with a spurred base, facing the field and backing on to a gateway within the castle facing north and south. Henry III further fortified this gateway by adding a semicircular tower facing south. Within the main passage way of the gate an archway, now blocked, led off at right-angles northwards to the vanished Harcourt Tower. Peverell was further altered about 1300 and the remarkable conical roof, with its king-post to the apex inside, may date from. that time. The original battlemented top was replaced by the present unsightly brick parapet evidently in the early nineteenth century.

Extract from "The History of the Castle, Town and Port of Dover" by Reverend S. P. H. Statham, Rector of St Mary-in-the-Castle (ie St Mary-in-Castro) (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899):

Peverell's Tower, also called The Marshal's, Beauchamp's, and the Bell Tower. The manors of Wrensted and Throwley in Kent were responsible for the up-keep of this fine tower, which with its arched gateway, ditch (moat) and drawbridge constituted the entrance into the middle ward. At one time it was used as a prison and the residence of the marshal, and hence its name. On the side of the tower fronting the keep there was an arched passage from the main gate, which communicated with the caponiere (alt. caponier, caponnier) leading under Harcourt's Tower. The arms of Hugh Beauchamp, marshal of the Castle, were cut on a stone shield placed on the front of the tower, and were visible in 1801, when the stone was removed. The original battlements have been replaced by a parapet of brick. In 1771 the wall between this tower and Port (ie Port Tower, alt. Laswells, Gostling or Queen Mary`s Tower) fell down, and in digging for a new foundation the piers of the old bridge before the gate were discovered.

Abridged from The English Heritage Trail:

Dover Castle

Guardian of the 'Gateway to England', Dover Castle displays a solid strength and determination that has obviously carried it through many troubled times. Proudly standing atop the White Cliffs, overlooking this busy port, Dover Castle has withstood the test of time remarkably well throughout its long and eventful history. Dover Castle, as it stands today, dates from the rebuilding work during Henry II's reign, but the site has been of vital importance since the Iron Age. The first castle at Dover was probably an Anglo-Saxon fortress and, on the arrival of William the Conqueror, the existing fortifications were improved with the building of an earthwork castle. This Norman 'motte' (mound) which supported the castle is today known as 'Castle Hill'.

Work began on Dover Castle in the latter part of the 12th century with the construction of the Keep (or Great Tower) - the largest in Britain - and is entered through a forebuilding more substantial than any other built before or since. At each corner of the Keep lies a buttress turret, and mid-way along each wall is a pilaster buttress. Four storeys high, the Keep comprises a basement, first floor, and a second floor that spans two storeys, the upper level of which is a mural gallery that can be seen today at the end of the Great Armour Hall. The second storey provided the royal accommodation, and the first floor, based on a similar plan to the second, contained rooms with a much less elaborate decor. All floors were connected by staircases set in the north and south corner turrets.

Providing the entry staircase, and two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. It is interesting to note the decor of the chapels - the lower chapel of a Gothic style, and the upper chapel late Norman and richly decorated. From outside of the Keep, the significance of the three-towered forebuilding can be fully appreciated, as it can be seen travelling along the eastern wall of the Keep and turning at the corner of the southern wall. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed mid-13th century.

Dover Castle appears in "Dover in World War Two: 1942", a ten minute British Ministry of Information film, released by the US Office of War Information, and narrated by the American journalist, Edward R. Murrow.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

A December 2009 view of the old bridge entrance to the Drop Redoubt, part of an extensive Napoleonic and Victorian defence system embedded into the Western Heights above the town of Dover, England.

What I particularly like about this photo is how the sunlight is reflected off of the Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro and the adjacent Pharos on the horizon (both are located in the grounds of Dover Castle).

The church and lighthouse can be 'blown-up' quite well, but this is definitely an occasion where I wish my camera had more than 6 megapixels!

The Roman Pharos is one of a pair, the remains of the other, known as the Bredenstone) are in the Drop Redoubt itself.

Click to see all photos of the Drop Redoubt.

This is an English Heritage site. Abridged extracts from English Heritage's Pastscape entry for the Bredenstone and Drop Redoubt are as follows:

A Roman pharos was situated on the Western Heights at Dover and was known as Bredenstone and Caesar's Altar in the 16th and 17th century and Devil's Drop in the 18th century. The latter name is perpetuated in "Drop Redoubt" the structure built on the site of the lighthouse.

The site of the lighthouse is marked by two fragments of flint walling, each a metre square, the flints bonded with pink Roman cement. They are not in situ but rest on a concrete slab contained by railings.

The lighthouse may be dated to the 1st-2nd century AD.

The Drop Redoubt formed the westernmost component of the Dover Western Heights Fortress, a series of fortifications situated upon the escarpment west of Dover, overlooking and protecting both the town and the harbour primarily from a landward attack but also from seaward bombardment.

Built in the early years of the 19th century, the Drop Redoubt was the only free-standing work completed on the Western Heights by the end of the Napoleonic Wars and it remained garrisoned thereafter. The redoubt comprised a massive rampart with external ditch, the latter connected to defensive lines running west towards the Citadel and south to the cliff. There was provision for 14 artillery pieces and access was over a bridge across the south side of the ditch.

With renewed threat from France in the 1860s, plans were drawn for revision of the Western Heights Fortress. At the Drop Redoubt these included the provision of four caponiers in the ditch (see the Caponier No. 4 photo as an example), improved accommodation for officers and soldiers in the fort and new rifled breech-loading artillery as the main armament.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Drop Redoubt declined as an effective artillery defence and was utilised principally as barrack accommodation, probably until the end of the First World War. Thereafter it was used intermittently, notably in the Second World War when an artillery observation post was established there.

The Drop Redoubt was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England as part of the Dover Western Heights Survey project, between 1998 and 2000.

The lighthouse was originally one of a pair constructed around the 1st century AD on the headlands flanking the Roman port of Dubris. Its foundations survive as two blocks of flint, tile and mortar, which were apparently moved to their present site in 1850.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

The ivy-covered wall on the left-hand side of the photo is the north wall of Dead Man's Island, more properly known as the Detached Bastion and part of the North Centre Bastion complex on the Western Heights of Dover, England.

These two Bastions (connected by the South Caponier) are but two components of an extensive Napoleonic and Victorian defence system embedded into the Western Heights.

On the moat floor is a well-defined path which provides easy access all the way around the moats from the North Entrance up to the beginning of the connecting moat leading from the North Centre Bastion to the Outer Bastion.

The outer wall of the North-West Caponier is behind the trees along the top right-hand edge of the photo (which was taken from above the outer moat wall, a few feet away from the top of the Detached Bastion Glacis).

This is an English Heritage site

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

Part 1: Dead Man`s Island, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

Part 2: Dead Man`s Island, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

Part 3: Dead Man`s Island, North Centre Bastion, Western Heights, Dover UK

The English Heritage Pastscape entry for the North Centre Bastion states:

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.

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).

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

The northern end of Dover Castle's western outer curtain wall showing (from left to right) Crevecoeur's Tower, Godsfoe's Tower, a Second World War gun position (the rectangular opening above the buttress), and Treasurer's Tower.

The photo was taken from Constable's Road which leads to Constable`s Gate, the pedestrian entrance to the grounds of Dover Castle.

Extracts from "The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle (With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports)", Volume 2. Dedicated by the Reverend John Lyon, Minister of "Saint Mary`s", on April 21st, 1814, and published the same year:

Clopton Tower, now Treasurer's Tower

The next tower in the curtain, was built by John de Fienes (alt. Fiennes), of an irregular haxagonal figure. The front without the curtain is divided into three equal parts, but the sides within the wall are larger than the exterior. The Constable (of Dover Castle) gave the manor of Clopton, in Norfolk, to repair and defend it.

A person by the name of Clopton, held it by the service of castle-guard, and it has either been called after him, or the name of the manor.

In the reign of Edward the Fourth, this tower was in a runious state, and he rebuilt it from the foundation, ast his own expense. When Stephen de Pencester was Constable of the Castle, he appointed the apartment in this tower to the treasurer's use. He had his office here; and the records of the Castle were preserved in this tower in the reign of Edward the Sixth; but by some strange neglect or inattention of the principal officers, the apartment was plundered by a person called Levenste, who took the books and the parchments from the shelves, and piled them up in front of the building, and burnt them...

...Levenste was disappointed in finding his competitor, John Monyings, preferred before him to the office of lieutenant govenor; and he determined to show his resentment, by depriving posterity of having recourse to the records of passed ages.

Arms of Clopton - Sable, a bend ermine, between two cotized dancette, or.

Godsfoe Tower

The next tower in the curtain wall was built by Fulbert de Dover, who gave the manor of Sentling, for the keeping ward in it.

Nicholas Veraund was appointed to this tower; and his successor, Godsfoe, gave his name to it.

As they had neither of them any historian to record their fame, or their family; or any herald to emblazon their arms, their names will probably perish with the tower they once defended.

Crevequer's Tower, now Crevecoeur's Tower

The next tower in the curtain is a round one, built by Robert Crevequer, one of the confederate knights. He held of the King, in capite, five knights' fees, by castle-guard tenure.

Hamo Crevequer, the father of this Robert, accompanied Duke William to England; and he was appointed, by the King, sheriff of Kent for life. He was also steward of the King's household; and he possessed several lordships and manors in Kent, at the time of the general survey (ie the Domesday Book).

(Another) Hamo Crevequer, a descendant of this great family, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Henry the Third, married Matilda, or, as some say, Maud, the daughter and sole heiress of William de Albrincis (see the Avranches Tower photo), who brought with her a considerable landed estate; and he was called the Great Baron of Kent...

... The name of this family became extinct in the reign of Edward the First. Arms - Or, on a fetty sable, on a chief gules.

Cranville commanded in this tower, but he was probably only a substitute, appointed by Crevequer; as it does not appear that he held any lands by castle-guard tenure, and there is little known either of him or his family.

Extract from An Archaeological Desk-Based,Assessment of Connaught Barracks, Page 32:

Between Treasurer’s and Godsfoe Towers is a position for a (Second World War) 6pdr AT ("anti-tank") gun. It is behind the Castle outer curtain wall enclosed by a square, concrete block structure. The rectangular embrasure is cut through the Castle curtain wall.

Dover Castle is an English Heritage site.

Abridged from The English Heritage Trail:

Dover Castle

Guardian of the 'Gateway to England', Dover Castle displays a solid strength and determination that has obviously carried it through many troubled times. Proudly standing atop the White Cliffs, overlooking this busy port, Dover Castle has withstood the test of time remarkably well throughout its long and eventful history. Dover Castle, as it stands today, dates from the rebuilding work during Henry II's reign, but the site has been of vital importance since the Iron Age. The first castle at Dover was probably an Anglo-Saxon fortress and, on the arrival of William the Conqueror, the existing fortifications were improved with the building of an earthwork castle. This Norman 'motte' (mound) which supported the castle is today known as 'Castle Hill'.

Work began on Dover Castle in the latter part of the 12th century with the construction of the Keep (or Great Tower) - the largest in Britain - and is entered through a forebuilding more substantial than any other built before or since. At each corner of the Keep lies a buttress turret, and mid-way along each wall is a pilaster buttress. Four storeys high, the Keep comprises a basement, first floor, and a second floor that spans two storeys, the upper level of which is a mural gallery that can be seen today at the end of the Great Armour Hall. The second storey provided the royal accommodation, and the first floor, based on a similar plan to the second, contained rooms with a much less elaborate decor. All floors were connected by staircases set in the north and south corner turrets.

Providing the entry staircase, and two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. It is interesting to note the decor of the chapels - the lower chapel of a Gothic style, and the upper chapel late Norman and richly decorated. From outside of the Keep, the significance of the three-towered forebuilding can be fully appreciated, as it can be seen travelling along the eastern wall of the Keep and turning at the corner of the southern wall. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed mid-13th century.

Dover Castle appears in "Dover in World War Two: 1942", a ten minute British Ministry of Information film, released by the US Office of War Information, and narrated by the American journalist, Edward R. Murrow.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

A late autumn view of the trees above Queen Elizabeth Road in the grounds of Dover's 12th Century Norman Castle in the county of Kent, England.

This location is quite close to the Canons Gate entrance (indeed, the photo was taken from just in front of Rokesley Tower).

The terrace which begins just above the bottom left-hand corner of the photo, and then gently slopes upwards until it reaches the right-hand edge, is where Queen Elizabeth`s Pocket Pistol used to be located when I was a kid (pointing right, in the direction of the English Channel).

Queen Elizabeth`s Pocket Pistol (named after Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen) is now housed in the Naafi Restaurant building, a few yards to the left.

Queen Elizabeth Road itself lies between the above-mentioned terrace and the bottom of the bank with the brown bushes on.

Dover Castle is an English Heritage site.

Abridged from The English Heritage Trail:

Dover Castle

Guardian of the 'Gateway to England', Dover Castle displays a solid strength and determination that has obviously carried it through many troubled times. Proudly standing atop the White Cliffs, overlooking this busy port, Dover Castle has withstood the test of time remarkably well throughout its long and eventful history. Dover Castle, as it stands today, dates from the rebuilding work during Henry II's reign, but the site has been of vital importance since the Iron Age. The first castle at Dover was probably an Anglo-Saxon fortress and, on the arrival of William the Conqueror, the existing fortifications were improved with the building of an earthwork castle. This Norman 'motte' (mound) which supported the castle is today known as 'Castle Hill'.

Work began on Dover Castle in the latter part of the 12th century with the construction of the Keep (or Great Tower) - the largest in Britain - and is entered through a forebuilding more substantial than any other built before or since. At each corner of the Keep lies a buttress turret, and mid-way along each wall is a pilaster buttress. Four storeys high, the Keep comprises a basement, first floor, and a second floor that spans two storeys, the upper level of which is a mural gallery that can be seen today at the end of the Great Armour Hall. The second storey provided the royal accommodation, and the first floor, based on a similar plan to the second, contained rooms with a much less elaborate decor. All floors were connected by staircases set in the north and south corner turrets.

Providing the entry staircase, and two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. It is interesting to note the decor of the chapels - the lower chapel of a Gothic style, and the upper chapel late Norman and richly decorated. From outside of the Keep, the significance of the three-towered forebuilding can be fully appreciated, as it can be seen travelling along the eastern wall of the Keep and turning at the corner of the southern wall. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed mid-13th century.

Dover Castle appears in "Dover in World War Two: 1942", a ten minute British Ministry of Information film, released by the US Office of War Information, and narrated by the American journalist, Edward R. Murrow.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

The Court's Folly East Tower (on the right) has a tree and associated ivy vines growing from its base that have completely engulfed the top of the tower, spread along part of the (unseen) East Wall, and begun tumbling down into the roofless interior.

Other than that, and bearing in mind this wide-angled offset photo was taken by standing on an overgrown cliff-face, this is probably the most complete view of the front facade that it is possible to get.

The best position, maybe, but note that I make no similar claims about the quality of the photo :)

This is the second photo of the Court's Folly taken since 2007. All other photos on this website are currently of that vintage, but no doubt I'll be adding to the original collection now that I have a better camera.

Other 2009 photos of this location:

The West Tower and Upper Floor of the Court`s Folly, Kent, UK

A 2007 video slideshow, titled "Dover's 'Lost Castle': The Court's Folly", contains nearly 80 photos of the location and immediate surroundings. It's available on both Google and YouTube, with YouTube giving the better picture.

Standard Info for the Court's Folly

Click on the "Folly" tag to see all images of this location.

The "Court's Folly", in the shape of Dover Castle's Keep, was built on the cliffs below the Western Heights in the early 1800s by two Wine Merchants, Stephen and Rogers Court of 140 Snargate Street, Dover, and it was a tourist attraction of its day. For much of its history, however, this 'miniature castle' has been neglected and its ruins are now hidden behind the trees and other undergrowth which cover this part of the cliff-face. Access to the site is 'difficult'.

More information on the Court's Folly can be found at this Dover Museum webpage which states:

...As well as leasing the shop and premises from Dover Harbour Board (history), the Courts' leased 2 plots of land behind, from Thomas Rutley and Thomas Papillon. On this land Stephen and Rogers built terracing for vines, tea gardens, 2 summerhouses, and dug an extensive network of vaults into the cliffs behind, with plastered and painted walls and chalk carvings. The terracing up the cliffs was laid out as gardens, growing the different varieties of grapes that the wines they sold were made from, and also other exotic fruit such as figs and dates. A summerhouse was built at the top of the terracing and further along the cliff-face they built a folly in the shape of Dover Castle silhouetted against the sky. These became tourist attractions and customers could taste-test products sitting on the terracing and have tours of the vaults...

The internal dimensions of the Court's Folly are approximately 10.5 feet by 20 feet. Having said that, the external length of the East Wall is actually about 13 - 14 feet with the last 3 feet or so containing a horizontal oval recess. This extension is probably for cosmetic or structural purposes only because there's no indication of there being anything beyond the inner rear wall. The front wall is 16 inches thick and is over 20 feet high.

Basically, the miniature castle can be described as being two storeys high but only one 'room' deep. The bottom floor faces on to a narrow ledge and there is an upper terrace on the west side (to the left when looking from the front) of [the upper floor.

Shots taken below the bottom ledge do show both floors of the structure but those taken from the upper west terrace give the impression it is a single storey building.

Because of the trees and undergrowth - particularly where it has completely engulfed the East Tower - it is impossible to get a shot of the whole of the front of the building. The most you can see is the central section or the western two thirds. These shots (except for close-ups) were taken by standing on the cliff-face itself which made the experience 'interesting'.

The front is largely intact. Only part of the west wall remains but it does so to its full height. The east wall has a doorway and the height of the wall - complete with crenellations - decreases progressively from front to rear. It is impossible to stand more than two feet outside of the east wall without employing some form of levitation.

Looking into the 'castle' from the front, only the lower half of the right-hand part of the rear wall is still standing and includes a chimney course (along with sooty residue).

The roof and first floor have collapsed and in-filled the building almost to the sills of the bottom floor windows. There is an underground cistern on the west side of the folly.

Extract from Cliff Wine Vaults (abridged):

Rogers Stephen Court seems to be the one who succeeded his father in running the Snargate Street business when he retired in 1827.

He served an apprenticeship as a brandy merchant, and was made a Freeman of Dover in 1812, when he was 24.

He developed the Snargate Street gardens, ranged over six terraces, above the vaults and offices.

The business was featured over several pages in Measom's "Official South-Eastern Railway Guide," of 1863, with one of the engravings showing the gardens, the rather grand looking wine merchant's shop and the entrance to the cavernous vaults.

In modern times these vaults have been known as "Barwick's Caves," and there is talk of a tunnel link to the '64 Steps' (next to Cowgate Cemetery) at Cowgate Hill.

Rogers Court, who had property in Lydden became a town councillor and, in 1838, was made an alderman.

The Court's Folly was featured in the July 2007 issue of the e-Bulletin of The Folly Fellowship.

The above was originally posted on November 5, 2007

Added on January 3, 2008:

A similar view of the photo on this page also appears in BBC Kent's 'Gallery of the Month' for December 2007.

The Court's Folly is very near to the Pilot`s Meadow Allotments at the top of Adrian Street).

In 1852, however, Pilot's Meadow was still a meadow and it was here that Charles Dickens used to relax as he continued to write "Bleak House" during his stay in Dover. See the Dover: Indian Mutiny, Charles Dickens, Roman Empire photo for more information.

In those days, it is almost certain that the Court's Folly was still accessible from Pilot's Meadow.

The Court's Folly is close to, but below, where a moat from the Drop Redoubt reaches the cliff edge.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any red or blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

John Latter, on March 16, 2009, said:

In modern times these vaults have been known as "Barwick's Caves," and there is talk of a tunnel link to the '64 Steps'.

See the 64 Steps from the Lower Path photo.

John Latter / Jorolat

John Latter, on April 19, 2009, said:

The right-hand (northern) boundary of the Pilot's Meadow allotments is marked by a pathway leading to the bottom of the "64 Steps".

See the 64 Steps from the Lower Path photo.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any red or blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

Cowgate Lane is 135 yards long and lies between the lower boundary wall of Cowgate Cemetery Nature Reserve on the left, and Gorely House Almshouses on the right. The far (northern) end meets Cowgate Hill at the Main Entrance to Cowgate Cemetery.

The vehicles on the right are parked in Albany Place carpark. Above the white van are the flint walls and red tiles of the Gorely House Almshouses, originally donated by Mrs Susan Gorely in 1877 (see the The Gorely House Almshouses, Cowgate Hill, Dover photo for more info).

The signpost pointing left indicates the start of the Western Heights Trail which also leads (via the "64 Steps") to the Drop Redoubt Moats South East Entrance. The Drop Redoubt (containing the replica Roman Bredenstone) is part of the extensive Napoleonic and Victorian defense system embedded into the Western Heights.

Standard Info for Cowgate Cemetery

Five images of Cowgate Cemetery Nature Reserve were uploaded in 2007. This latest batch were all taken in September and October, 2009 (see 'Extra Information' under Photo Details in the right-hand column for camera details).

Click on the Cowgate tag to see more photos (and/or watch the YouTube video linked to below).

The Victorian Cowgate Cemetery is an approximate rectangle whose maximum dimensions are 150 x 70 yards. It slopes uphill from east to west with the western boundary wall (the longest) set into the lower slopes of the Western Heights.

There are three long pathways running north to south: western, middle, and eastern. To reflect the fact the cemetery is on a slope, these will be correspondingly referred to as the upper, middle, and lower pathways.

From east to west there are the five shorter pathways: northern boundary, northern traverse, central traverse, southern traverse, and an irregular southern boundary pathway. For simplicity (although it might not seem so!), most positional references references will be given in terms of the three traversing pathways.

In other words, the burial areas of the cemetery are set out in a 4 v 2 grid pattern with a row of family vaults running along the upper boundary wall.

Abridged extracts from the plaque just inside the main (north) entrance:

Dover's Cowgate Cemetery is named after the medieval gate which allowed townspeople to graze their animals on the lower slopes of the Western Heights.

The land, over two acres in extent, was donated by William Mowll and consecrated in 1835 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (William Howley) as an extension to the Parish churchyard (St Mary`s).

The layout of the cemetery is attributed to Stephen Geary, the architect who designed London's Highgate Cemetery.

In 1990 the Wildlife Conservation Community Program (WCCP) discovered a small population of the Garden Dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) living in the cemetery. The Garden Dormouse is not 'officially' recorded as living in Britain.

Click to see a YouTube Video of Dover`s Victorian Cowgate Cemetery (part of which shows the exterior of the 'empty coffin' vault).

For more information see The Dover Society - Cowgate Cemetery Project and Cowgate Cemetery Volunteers.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.