The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No. 3: The Drop Redoubt 19th century Artillery Fortification. Survey Report

Author(s): Moraig Brown, Andrew Williams, Paul Pattison, Adam Menuge

Between April 1998 and April 1999, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) carried out an archaeological survey and investigation of the remains of the Drop Redoubt, part of the defences on the Western Heights at Dover in Kent. Occupying the eastern end of the ridge and dominating the town, port and seaward approaches, it is essentially a pentagonal fort surrounded by a deep ditch (Figs 1a&b). The redoubt was designed to control the land front as a self-defensible work but was also linked to the linear defences that guarded the Heights as a whole. The major phase of construction, during the war with France, was between 1804 and 1816, although work had begun from c1782. A programme of modernisation took place between 1858 and 1867, with the addition of caponiers in the ditch and the provision of better .accommodation. (This was report number 24/2001 in a previous series).

Report Number:
129/2001
Series:
Other
Pages:
79

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