Dover Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

No remains of defences constructed during the period of the Hundred Years War which consisted of stone walls and gates.

The first murage was received in 1324 and thereafter the series was almost unbroken series until 1483. Chamberlains' account are extent from 1365 onwards and show continuous heavy expenditure on the defences... Nothing now remains above ground today, but even Leland seems to have been uncertain whether the town was completely walled. (Turner)

The town of Dover was in antient time strongly walled round and embattled, especially toward the sea, but it seems not to have been ditched round. The wall, in which there were ten gates, has been long since demolished, and some few fragments of it only are left; and of the gates there is not one remaining. The walls did not encompass a space of more than half a mile square (Hasted)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 467817.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TR 34 SW 18 and others.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Dover Lock and Key of the Kingdom
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 61
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 204, 224, 262
  Bragard, P., Termote, J. and Williams, J., 1999, Walking the walls: historic town defences in Kent, Côte d'Opale and West Flanders (Maidstone: Kent County Council) p. 23-32
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 120
  Coed, Jonathan, 1995, Dover Castle (London: Batsford)
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 239
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 155
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 207
  Lyon, John, 1813-14, The History of the Town and Port of Dover and Dover Castle (Dover and London) Vol. 1 p. 18-21
  Hasted, Edward, 1800 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 9 p. 475- online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Amos, E.G.J. and Wheeler, R.E.M., 1929, 'The Saxon-shore fortress at Dover' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 86 p. 47-58 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1324-1327) p. 51; p. 175; (1343-1345) p. 442; p. 457; (1350-1354) p. 429; (1361-1364) p. 249; (1367-1370) p. 111; (1370-1374) p. 168; (1374-1377) p. 423; (1377-1381) p. 428; (1385-1389) p. 505; (1391-1396) p. 691; (1399-1401) p. 121; (1405-1408) p. 143; (1408-1413) p. 434; (1413-1416) p. 17; (1422-1429) p. 139; (1429-1436) p. 496; (1441-1446) p. 220 (murage grants) online copies
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 251, 255
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 49-50, 63 online copy
  1532, ffor dovour pere (Plan of Dover harbour) online copy
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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