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DROP REDOUBT

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Coastal artillery battery. Remains of a Roman Pharos, originally one of a pair constructed around the 1st century AD on the headlands flanking the Roman port of Dubris. It was known as Bredenstone or Caesar's Altar during the 16th and 17th centuries and called the Devil's Drop during the 18th century. The Brick fort was built during the Napoleonic Wars replacing an irregular self-contained fieldwork, begun at the end of the 1780s. The remains were moved to their present site during the 19th century and an artillery fort built incorporating the remains. Modified in the 1860s as a pentagonal ditched work with the addition of caponiers in its ditch, provision of more modern artillery and refurbished accommodation for the officers and men. Originally armed with 3 x 24-pounders, 6 x 12-pounders, and an 8-inch mortar, it was rearmed with 7-inch breech loaders in the 1860s, with smooth bore guns in the caponiers for ditch defence. By the end of the century its role in artillery defence had declined and it was used mainly for troop accommodation. A heavy anti artillery battery was established here in World War I, armed with two 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns. An artillery observation post was established here during World War II.

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[TR 31604111] Roman Pharos [NR] (Site of) (1)

A Roman pharos was situated on the Western Heights at Dover and was known as Bredenstone and Caesar's Altar in the 16th and 17th century and Devil's Drop in the 18th century. The latter name is perpetuated in "Drop Redoubt" the structure built on the site of the lighthouse. (2)

The site of the lighthouse is marked by two fragments of flint
walling, each a metre square, the flints bonded with pink Roman cement. They are not in situ but rest on a concrete slab contained by railings. The position agrees with that given by Authority 1. (3)

The lighthouse may be dated to the 1st-2nd century AD. (4-7)

A Roman pharos stood on Western Heights until the 17th century but gradually it fell to pieces until the construction of the Drop Redoubt in 1861 obscured most of what survived, except for a miserable amorphous mass of concrete. Excavation is badly
needed. (8)

TR 316 411: The Drop Redoubt formed the westernmost component of the Dover Western Heights Fortress, a series of fortifications situated upon the escarpment west of Dover, overlooking and protecting both the town and the harbour primarily from a landward attack but also from seaward bombardment.
Built in the early years of the 19th century, the Drop Redoubt was the only free-standing work completed on the Western Heights by the end of the Napoleonic Wars and it remained garrisoned thereafter. The redoubt comprised a massive rampart with external ditch, the latter connected to defensive lines running west towards the Citadel (Hob UID 468101) and south to the cliff. There was provision for 14 artillery pieces and access was over a bridge across the south side of the ditch.
With renewed threat from France in the 1860s, plans were drawn for revision of the Western Heights Fortress. At the Drop Redoubt these included the provision of four caponiers in the ditch,improved accommodation for officers and soldiers in the fort and new rifled breech-loading artillery as the main armament.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Drop Redoubt declined as an effective artillery defence and was utilised principally as barrack accommodation, probably until the end of the First World War. Thereafter it was used intermittently, notably in the Second World War when an artillery observation post was established there.
The Drop Redoubt was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England as part of the Dover Western Heights Survey project, between 1998 and 2000 (event UID 1316220 and monument UID 467989). See archive report and plans for full details. (9)

The lighthouse was originally one of a pair constructed around the 1st century AD on the headlands flanking the Roman port of Dubris. Its foundations survive as two blocks of flint, tile and mortar, which were apparently moved to their present site in 1850. Scheduled. (10)

Documented. (11-12)

SOURCE TEXT

(12) C S Dobinson 1996 Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 1. Anti-aircraft artillery : England's air defence gunsites, 1914-46

Page(s)264

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1958

( 2) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

(R E M Wheeler) 86 - 1930 Page(s)40-46

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ASP 22-MAY-64

( 4) by Brian Philp 1981 The excavation of the Roman forts of the Classis Britannica at Dover, 1970-1977

Kent monograph series research reports2 (1973) - 3 Page(s)7-9

( 5) by Douglas B Hague and Rosemary Christie 1975 Lighthouses : their architecture, history and archaeology

Page(s)7,62,64,65

( 6) Kent Archaeological Society Archaeologia Cantiana : being contributions to the history and archaeology of Kent

(S E Rigold) 87 - 1972 Page(s)40

( 7) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

(W Clayton) 19 - 1862 Page(s)86-87

( 8) by John Newman 1983 North east and east Kent

The Buildings of England (J Newman) 1983 Page(s)290-1

(9) P Pattison, A Menuge, and A Williams 2004 The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report no. 2. The Citadel: land-front fortress and barracks 1779-1950

English Heritage archaeological reportsNo.1 (1985) - no.24 (1994) RCHME: Western Heights Survey report no 2; The Drop Redoubt 5/2002

(10) P Pattison, A Menuge, and A Williams 2004 The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report no. 2. The Citadel: land-front fortress and barracks 1779-1950

English Heritage archaeological reportsNo.1 (1985) - no.24 (1994) 5/2002

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

09-MAR-2001

(11) Kent's Defence Heritage

Gazeteer Part 2: KD177

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