The Constable’s Gate was
built to replace the northern gateway, breached in the French
siege of 1216 and blocked in the subsequent strengthening
of the defences. It was built between 1221 and 1227 and
is one of the most elaborate castle gateways in the country.
It consists of five conjoined
towers, designed to thrust well forward of the curtain
wall and provide maximum flanking fire over the widest
possible area. The whole complex structure is bound together
at the rear to provide a hall and chambers for the Constable
of the castle and his household, and adequate guardrooms
and fighting platforms for its military working.
The entrance passage itself
was defended by a portcullis, the grooves of which remain,
and a drawbridge. While the actual outer entrance has been
altered, the tall piers of a mediaeval bridge leading up
to it still stand. The approach to the gate ran parallel
to the curtain wall so any enemy approaching would be subject
to fire from the Castle’s defenders.
From the time it was built
until the present day the Constable’s Gate at Dover has
been the residence of the Constable of the Castle, or (as
now) his or her Deputy. The fact that it is an official
residence has preserved in the past it from the worst of
the cutting down and mutilation
that has befallen so many of Dover’s towers. As a residence
too there have been changes to make the interior less spartan
for its inhabitants. In 1882 the back of the gate, within
the Castle, was heavily restored. The brick arched structures
joining the central tower to the flanking towers to the
north and south are comparatively modern insertions, as
are the Georgian windows and the balcony.
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