Dover Castle has an immensely long and eventful history. Known as the ‘key to England’, this great fortress has played a crucial role in the defence of the realm for over nine hundred years.
The chalk of Castle Hill has been shaped and reshaped over the centuries into massive earthworks, ditches and mounds. Imposing walls and towers have been raised and networks of tunnels excavated beneath them. Henry II began the building of the present castle in the 1180s, and ever since its buildings and defences have been adapted to meet the changing demands of weapons and warfare.
During the Second World War Dover was again on the front line, against attack from both air and sea. From 1939 the tunnels in the cliffs beneath the castle housed the command centre for naval operations in the Channel, and it was from here that Operation Dynamo, the extraordinary evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk was masterminded in May and June 1940.
Photos taken Sept 2022, iPhone 11
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