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The Discovery of Dover's Lost 'Miniature Castle'
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by jorolat | June 17, 2007 at 11:13 pm
1880 views | 4 Recommendations | 5 comments
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On the hills above East Cliff the Norman Keep of Dover Castle forms part of a famous skyline known throughout the world.
On the other side of the of the Dour Valley, however, very, very few local people - yet alone those from further afield - know that a similar Keep lies hidden on the cliffs of the Western Heights. And even fewer have ever visited it.
The following photos are among the first to be published on the internet of Dover's second, albeit miniature, Castle (click on any thumbnail for a larger view):
(PLEASE NOTE: The accompanying video slideshow is only available via the links at the bottom of the page)
Western half of the upper floor
Internal view of the East Tower
Internal view from the Northwest
North Wall showing chimney course
Front upper floor, central section
The 200 year-old building is, in fact, a 'folly'. It was built in the early 1800s by two Wine Merchants, Stephen and Rogers Court, and it was a tourist attraction of its day. For much of its history the miniature castle has been neglected and its ruins are now hidden behind trees and other undergrowth which cover this part of the cliff-face. Access to the site is 'difficult'.
More information on the Court's Folly can be found at this Dover Museum webpage which states:
...As well as leasing the shop and premises from Dover Harbour Board, the Courts' leased 2 plots of land behind, from Thomas Rutley and Thomas Papillon. On this land Stephen and Rogers built terracing for vines, tea gardens, 2 summerhouses, and dug an extensive network of vaults into the cliffs behind, with plastered and painted walls and chalk carvings. The terracing up the cliffs was laid out as gardens, growing the different varieties of grapes that the wines they sold were made from, and also other exotic fruit such as figs and dates. A summerhouse was built at the top of the terracing and further along the cliff-face they built a folly in the shape of Dover Castle silhouetted against the sky. These became tourist attractions and customers could taste-test products sitting on the terracing and have tours of the vaults...
The internal dimensions of the Court's Folly are approximately 10.5 feet by 20 feet. Having said that, the external length of the East Wall is actually about 13 - 14 feet with the last 3 feet or so containing a horizontal oval recess. This extension is probably for cosmetic or structural purposes only because there's no indication of there being anything beyond the inner rear wall. The front wall is 16 inches thick and is over 20 feet high.
'Full Frontal' from the cliff-face
Collapsed vault under the West Tower
Nearby 'Anomaly' (yet to be investigated)
From the Upper (West) Terrace
Interior shot showing depth of in-filling
Basically, the miniature castle can be described as being two storeys high but only one 'room' deep. The bottom floor faces on to a narrow ledge and there is an upper terrace on the west side (to the left when looking from the front) of the upper floor.
Shots taken below the bottom ledge do show both floors of the structure but those taken from the upper west terrace give the impression it is a single storey building.
Because of the trees and undergrowth - particularly where it has completely engulfed the East Tower - it is impossible to get a shot of the whole of the front of the building. The most you can see is the central section or the western two thirds. These shots (except for close-ups) were taken by standing on the cliff-face itself which made the experience 'interesting'.
The front is largely intact. Only part of the west wall remains but it does so to its full height. The east wall has a doorway and its height - complete with crenellations - decreases progressively from front to rear. It is impossible to stand more than two feet outside of the east wall without employing some form of levitation.
Looking into the 'castle' from the front, only the lower half of the right-hand part of the rear wall is still standing and includes a chimney course (complete with sooty residue).
The roof and first floor have collapsed and in-filled the building almost to the sills of the bottom floor windows.
A video slideshow, titled "Dover's 'Other Castle': The Court's Folly", contains nearly 80 photos of the location and immediate surroundings. It's available on both Google and YouTube, with YouTube giving the better picture.
A number (currently 25+) of still photographs are available at the Images of Dover website (click on the folly tag) including some not shown in the video. More will be uploaded in the near future.
John Latter / Jorolat (UK)
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jorolat
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 04:25 on June 18th, 2007
Great pictures, jorolat -- post more of them!
at 11:30 on June 18th, 2007
Thank you, Brian :)
Er, do you mean include more thumbnails into the original post? Or to upload more 'large' pics? (Can you add more than one to a story?) Or would adding thumbnails to a Comment do?
Sorry about the questions but I'm not sure what the convention is.
John Latter / Jorolat
at 03:21 on June 19th, 2007
I've added another 5 thumbnails - hope that's not too many pictures!
John Latter / Jorolat
at 15:29 on July 13th, 2008
Dear Mr Latter,
I am not sure if you'll reply to this, but here goes. Approximately 10 years ago me and a group of friends went to "folly's court." The people who I went with were local to Dover as I lived at the time in Canterbury. They referred to this place as "smokey" I can only guess it's because pot heads hung out there who knows? Also my friends were convinced that this was a military fort from the Napoleonic war and was also used during WWII. Though my research has countered this belief. However we managed to gain access inside the vaults due to lacked security at the time. It was dark and dank not to mention some gangways had collapsed so it was hazardous to say the least. The place is a maze of narrow tunnels. Some were lit by light entering the windows on the exterior walls though the internal tunnels had no illumination, we had to use torches. I doubt you can get inside now, as I heard a rumor that someone was gruesomely murdered there. Apparently some cult ritual rubbish, so I doubt its true. Anyway hope this was an interesting insight to what is undoubtedly an interesting place.
Look forward to your reply
Paulo
at 08:07 on May 19th, 2009
Hi Paulo,
I would like to apologize for the lateness of my reply - I must have seen your message before, but probably when I didn't have time to answer there and then.
As a visitor to Dover, and taking in information for the first time, it is understandable that certain things have become a little mixed up - if what you were told was correct in the first place, that is!
The Napoleonic defenses embedded into Dover's Western Heights are extensive and surrounded by over four miles of moats. If you move your mouse cursor towards the cross-hairs of this wikimapia page, you'll see just how large this 'invisible' system is.
"Smokey" and "Dead Man's Island" are local names for the "North Centre Bastion", which is only a small part of the entire network. My impression is that it was here that you went underground, so to speak :)
The Western Heights fortifications were used by troops during the Second World War. This photo of the entrance tunnel to the Drop Redoubt, and the wall below the portcullis in this photo, were both built by the Army during the 1939-1945 period.
The Court's Folly, although contemporary with the construction of certain parts of the Western Heights fortifications, is an entirely seperate and non-military building.
Hope this helps clarify things for you, and thank you for your interest!
John Latter / Jorolat
Images of Dover