The outer curtain walls on the seaward side of Constable's
Gate viewed from the approach to the gate.
The outer curtain wall was started
by King Henry II in the 1180s. The extent of the wall
built during Henry’s reign is unknown but it was unfinished
at his death in 1190. Although the outer defences of
the Castle were incomplete there is no record of any
substantial work at Dover until the reign of King John
(1199-1216). Between 1205 and 1214 John spent over £1000
on Dover, the bulk of this was spent on continuing his
father’s outer defences.
In 1216 the outer defences were tested
when the Castle was besieged by French forces under
Prince Louis in an attempt to depose King John. The
gate at the northern extremity of the outer defences
was undermined by the French and collapsed. The Castle
was held for the King by Hubert
de Burgh, who with his heroic defenders was able
to plug the breach with timber baulks. In this way they
continued to hold out until the death of King John,
and the accession of his infant son Henry III, occasioned
the withdrawal of Prince Louis and his forces.
The siege had exposed the weaknesses
of Dover’s defences and it was to be the business of
Hubert de Burgh and the new King’s government to make
it good. Between 1217 and 1256 some £7500 was spent
on the castle. The damaged gateway was rebuilt, not
as a gateway but as a massive triple tower to strengthen
this vulnerable point. The great outer curtain wall
was completed and a new gateway, the Constable’s
Gate was built to replace the now blocked northern
entrance.
The towers of the outer curtain wall
once made a far more splendid sight than they do today,
towering over the wall itself. In the eighteenth century
the towers were reduced to their present height to make
bases for the new artillery.
|
