Dover Castle

Oh my goodness – it has been over two weeks since my last blog post! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone!

As I mentioned in my last post, my dad came to visit us! We did and saw so much stuff! Every day was jam-packed with activities, trips, food, and museums. One thing I wanted to make sure that we did with him was take him out of London. My dad is a country boy through and through, so I wanted him to experience a part of England that wasn’t just a busy city. Ideally we would have taken him to the Lake District, but since he was here for such a short period of time, we decided to take the train out to Dover.

Firstly, let me just say that watching my dad see cows and sheep in the English countryside was fantastic! He got so excited! 

Stairs leading to the castle grounds.

We arrived in Dover and after a quick fish & chip lunch, made our way up a massive hill to Dover Castle. If you haven’t heard of Dover Castle, it is a 12^th century castle – the largest in England – that overlooks the English Channel. There is more to the grounds than just the castle, however. In addition to the keep, there is an old Saxon church, a Roman lighthouse (which was over 2000 years old!!), and “secret war tunnels” built in the Napoleonic era and used in the World Wars.

Dover

A view of the cliffs. In the background: France!

We climbed around the complex’s outer defensive wall and stood overlooking the Channel. Because it was such a beautiful day (which was a nice change from the weather we had been having), we were able to see clear across the water to Calais, France. Looking down the shoreline, we could see the White Cliffs of Dover hugging the coast.

Making our way up the defensive walls.

We continued across the walls toward the castle itself, frequently stopping to look at the various cannons and hideaways built into the side of the defenses.  In one corner of the grounds, there was a medieval lookout tower – Adrian said it looked like I was walking through Rivendell! – covered in dates and initials carved into the stone. Some were recent, but most of them were much older. The oldest carving I found was from 1794!

I just need a long, flowy dress!

 

The castle

After making our way around the outer wall, we proceeded towards the castle itself. The stone walls were massive, but we were determined to make our way to the top. We entered the keep through the kitchens, which were set up as a medieval kitchen would have been. Dishes sat upon tables, waiting for someone to come and fill them with food.  Bread, wine, apples, and animal carcasses (all fake) covered work surfaces or hung from the ceilings. There were giant cauldrons where a servant would have done laundry. It honestly looked as if it was a working kitchen and all the people had just stepped out of the room for a moment. It was a really engaging way to see what life would have been like.

View of the kitchens

The practice was carried out through the entire castle. There were rooms decorated as bedrooms, where you could lie down in the little straw bed, throne rooms, and feasting rooms. On each of the four stories, the rooms were set up “as they would have been” when Henry II lived there. It was a really neat experience to be able to walk into a room and see what it looked like centuries before I was born! 

I wish I had more pictures of the rooms, but we used my dad's camera mostly and I forgot to download the photos before he left.

Finally we reached the top of the castle. The view was amazing! From the top, I could look down upon the lighthouse, the town of Dover, and see the entire castle complex. It was majestic! Seeing things from a different viewpoint is always something that I enjoy.

From the top of the tower

The top of the tower from the ground.

After the castle, we visited St. Mary in Castro, the church built on the grounds. There are references to the church being on the premises as early as 600 AD, although it was restored in the 16^th and the 19^th centuries. It was a very beautiful church, filled with mosaic-work on the walls and old stone archways. One of my favorite parts of the church was a Saxon doorway. On a wall in the middle of the church, about halfway up the aisle, there was a break in the tile work decorating the walls. In this break were some incredibly old stones in the shape of an archway. The door was walled up, but still recognizable as a door, even though it was obvious it had fallen into disrepair long before it had been sealed. I just thought it was really cool the way they left an impossible-to-use door in the design of the church.

Inside the church

 

Some of the tile work.

Blocked Saxon Doorway

Adrian with the Roman lighthouse.

Straight out of Doctor Who!!

The final thing we saw in Dover was the secret wartime tunnels. The tunnels, originally built in the 18^th century, were refurbished and used in the Second World War, first as air-raid shelters and then as a command bunker and military hospital. Perhaps what they are most famous for is Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940. Apparently the tunnels go on for about 6km, but we were only able to tour a small portion of them. 

The entrance to the tunnels.

I was not allowed to take photos in the tunnels, but I am not sure what I would have photographed, as the majority of the tour was multimedia. There were a couple rooms at the end of the tour set up as communication centers, but that was about it. My favorite part of the tour was actually the tour guide. He was very excited because they were about to film a couple scenes from the upcoming Into the Woods movie at the castle and he was hoping to get a picture with Meryl Streep! He was really excited and really knew his musicals!

All in all, Dover was a really cool trip. I’m really happy that we were able to take my dad out of London and share this awesome experience with him!