Arthur’s Hall, Dover Castle, Kent: Analysis of the Building
Author(s): Allan Brodie
Arthur’s Hall was built in the late 1230s, although building fabric evidence, in the south-east wall, indicates that the remains of an earlier phase are incorporated within it. Although the form of this earlier building is unclear, the floor in the north-east corner of the hall is interrupted as if to accommodate a substantial stair up to the ramparts of the Inner Bailey. Arthur’s Hall retains service doors at its lower end and scar evidence in the side wall where the doorway into the cross passage survives. At the upper end, in the southwest wall, there are remains of a tall doorway from the front of the dais out into the Inner Bailey and there is evidence for the dais at the upper end. Stratigraphic evidence in the front wall suggests that the floor level had been raised, perhaps twice, by the 16th century. Arthur’s Hall remained a significant building until the 17th century, but its current appearance is a result of a programme to create barracks in the 1740s. Arthur’s Hall was investigated as part of the Dover Great Tower Project, in support of the re-interpretation and presentation of the Keep and Inner Bailey.
- Report Number:
- 40/2011
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 32
- Keywords:
- Defence Medieval Fortification
