In August 1859 a Royal Commission was instructed
to look into the “present state, condition and sufficiency
of the Fortifications existing for the defence of our United
Kingdom.” One of the experts consulted by the Commissioners
was General Sir John Burgoyne, who pointed out that any
attacker who could occupy the high ground to the north of
Dover Castle would dominate
the Castle. He recommended that a fort be built on this
high ground to protect the Castle from attack. Work started
on the construction of the fort in 1861, and it was originally
known as Castle Hill Fort but was soon renamed Fort Burgoyne
in honour of the General. The fort was finally completed
by the end of 1868 at a total cost of £88,053.
The fort is polygonal with a 35 foot wide
ditch around it. In the centre of the north face, hidden
in the ditch, is a double caponier to give flanking fire
along the ditch floor in both directions. At both the north-east
and north-west corners of the fort are single caponiers,
with another on the west flank to give cover to the remaining
ditches. The main fort is flanked by two wing redoubts,
each with its own gun emplacements, one on each side connected
to the main fort by ditch works. The battery at the west
wing was protected by a caponier to defend the ditch. The
Dover to Deal road crosses the eastern ditch and the Dover
to Guston road the western ditch.
In the centre of the fort is a parade ground
surrounded on three sides by bomb proof barracks protected
by a covering of earth on top of which were the main gun
positions. There are also two earth ramps from the parade
ground up to the level of the gun emplacements for the transporting
of the guns to their emplacements. The fort was initially
armed with 29 guns on the ramparts of which 6 were in Haxo
casemates (bomb proof vaulted gun emplacements designed
by General Haxo). In the caponiers and flanking batteries
there was room for 26 smaller guns, and two guns on the
parade ground level protected the ditch to the east wing
battery. East wing battery was equipped with five guns and
west wing battery with four.
The armament of the fort was updated though
out the 19th century to keep abreast of developments in
weaponry. By 1906 all the large guns had been removed and
replaced by three machine guns in the fort and three in
its wing batteries. At this time the fort became a defensible
barrack and a base for mobile guns rather than a permanent
defence. During the First
World War brick gun emplacements were constructed and
during the Second,
when the fort was home to two batteries of 25 pounder field
guns, concrete emplacements were added. Fort Burgoyne remains
virtually unchanged today but it is not accessible to the
public, being within the secure area of Connaught Barracks.
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