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Dover: Lock and Key of the Kingdom
Dover Castle - Moat’s Bulwark
The Moat’s Bulwark was built by Henry VIII as part of artillery
fortifications intended less as a strengthening of the castle than as
protection for the newly enlarged harbour. These fortifications took
the form of comparatively small block houses or batteries:
Archcliffe Fort under the Western Heights, the Black Bulwark on the
Pier, Moat’s Bulwark below the castle cliff and a third bulwark in the
castle moat.
Moats Bulwark has been greatly altered and little of the original
structure remains. It is first mentioned as ‘the bulwark subtus
castrum Doveri’ and was probably built circa March 1539, when
Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, saw ‘the new ramparts
and bulwarks in the rock where the sea beats’. It had ordnance and
artillery and a captain at least by 1540. Of timber construction at a
cost of about one-third of £1496 (the total recorded cost of the
three bulwarks), it appears on a sixteenth century map as a timber
revetted platform, with a roughly circular front, approached by
tunnels in the cliff.
The large semicircular battery which is now the most obvious
feature, dates from the invasion scares of the 1740s when the
harbour defences from Archcliffe Fort to Moat’s Bulwark were
strengthened and barracks built at both places.
An account of about 1772 describes it thus:
'Although dependent on the castle, it has its peculiar officers;
there are a captain, lieutenant, and master-gunner. It consists of
a gate, having rooms over and on both sides of it, a house for the
gunner, and a circular stone battery, to which there is a descent
by a flight of steps. The entrance is on the east side, by a gradual
ascent formed out of the chalk. A gunner, who formerly resided
here, with great industry embellished the sides of the cliff with
several parterres of flowers, which had a very pleasing effect:
indeed, both the forms and situation of these buildings conspire to
render the view extremely picturesque and romantick’.
Between 1775 and 1783 Moat’s Bulwark and Achcliffe Fort were
again overhauled and their defences updated. In front of Moat’s
Bulwark, the Guilford Battery was built, armed with four 32 pdr
guns and a number of carronades. Along the waterfront were built
a further three detached works, known as North, Townsend and
Amherst batteries, all of which had much the same armament.
With the exception of some of the nineteenth century buildings
associated with Guilford Battery, no trace of any of these now
remains.
In 1853-4 Guilford Battery had its parapets raised and 42pdr guns
installed on traversing mounts. At the same time a certain amount
of modernisation work was carried out on Moat’s Bulwark.
In 1856 a spiral stairway of 214 steps was cut inside the cliff, just
south of Canon’s Gate, to link Moat’s Bulwark and Guilford Battery
to the castle. At intervals defensible landings and doorways with
firing slits were incorporated, while lighting passages led to
openings in the cliff face. In the Second World War, some of the
latter were converted to observation posts and had short
accommodation tunnels added to their rear.
In 1908 Moat’s Bulwark passed to the care of the Ancient
Monuments Branch of the Ministry of Works and its military career
was at an end. It is now hemmed in between the A20 and the cliff,
a neglected ruin. In another town that does not have major
historical sites like the Castle and the Western Heights more would
be made of remains like this but poor old Moat’s Bulwark is just a
bit over shadowed by it’s big brothers.
fortifications intended less as a strengthening of the castle than as
protection for the newly enlarged harbour. These fortifications took
the form of comparatively small block houses or batteries:
Archcliffe Fort under the Western Heights, the Black Bulwark on the
Pier, Moat’s Bulwark below the castle cliff and a third bulwark in the
castle moat.
Moats Bulwark has been greatly altered and little of the original
structure remains. It is first mentioned as ‘the bulwark subtus
castrum Doveri’ and was probably built circa March 1539, when
Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, saw ‘the new ramparts
and bulwarks in the rock where the sea beats’. It had ordnance and
artillery and a captain at least by 1540. Of timber construction at a
cost of about one-third of £1496 (the total recorded cost of the
three bulwarks), it appears on a sixteenth century map as a timber
revetted platform, with a roughly circular front, approached by
tunnels in the cliff.
The large semicircular battery which is now the most obvious
feature, dates from the invasion scares of the 1740s when the
harbour defences from Archcliffe Fort to Moat’s Bulwark were
strengthened and barracks built at both places.
An account of about 1772 describes it thus:
'Although dependent on the castle, it has its peculiar officers;
there are a captain, lieutenant, and master-gunner. It consists of
a gate, having rooms over and on both sides of it, a house for the
gunner, and a circular stone battery, to which there is a descent
by a flight of steps. The entrance is on the east side, by a gradual
ascent formed out of the chalk. A gunner, who formerly resided
here, with great industry embellished the sides of the cliff with
several parterres of flowers, which had a very pleasing effect:
indeed, both the forms and situation of these buildings conspire to
render the view extremely picturesque and romantick’.
Between 1775 and 1783 Moat’s Bulwark and Achcliffe Fort were
again overhauled and their defences updated. In front of Moat’s
Bulwark, the Guilford Battery was built, armed with four 32 pdr
guns and a number of carronades. Along the waterfront were built
a further three detached works, known as North, Townsend and
Amherst batteries, all of which had much the same armament.
With the exception of some of the nineteenth century buildings
associated with Guilford Battery, no trace of any of these now
remains.
In 1853-4 Guilford Battery had its parapets raised and 42pdr guns
installed on traversing mounts. At the same time a certain amount
of modernisation work was carried out on Moat’s Bulwark.
In 1856 a spiral stairway of 214 steps was cut inside the cliff, just
south of Canon’s Gate, to link Moat’s Bulwark and Guilford Battery
to the castle. At intervals defensible landings and doorways with
firing slits were incorporated, while lighting passages led to
openings in the cliff face. In the Second World War, some of the
latter were converted to observation posts and had short
accommodation tunnels added to their rear.
In 1908 Moat’s Bulwark passed to the care of the Ancient
Monuments Branch of the Ministry of Works and its military career
was at an end. It is now hemmed in between the A20 and the cliff,
a neglected ruin. In another town that does not have major
historical sites like the Castle and the Western Heights more would
be made of remains like this but poor old Moat’s Bulwark is just a
bit over shadowed by it’s big brothers.
