North Entrance, Western Heights

These pictures are of the North Entrance to the Western Heights, Dover. The entrance was made up of two bridges crossing a dry moat separated by a central island. The inner bridge could be raised like a drawbridge and the main entrance further protected by two massive sliding doors that slid out from the sides of the gateway behind the drawbridge.
The road then led through a tunnel into the main fortress. A new road was driven through the fortress in the 1960's bypassing the North Entrance and cutting through the dry moat. The pictures below were taken in Feb. 2001.
For a plan of the Western Heights see Maps.

 

Plan of North Entrance courtesy of John Vaughan. Full size plan here.

 

The inner end of the tunnel leading to the North Entrance. The large black gates lead into

the tunnel. To the left is the guardroom, to the right (set in the wall) is the door that

currently gives access to the interior.

 

Just inside, stairs lead down to...

 

...a passage initially cut through the chalk.

 

Further on the tunnel is brick lined. Note the water pipes.

 

Back at the top of the stairs a passage leads off to the left.

 

Further along this passage three openings, on the right, lead off...

 

...to large water tanks. The first two are nearly filled with spoil from the new road.

 

Turning left out of the passage brings you into the main road tunnel.

We are now behind the doors shown in the first photo.

 

In the other direction, about half way through the road tunnel, on the right...

 

...is a large flight of stairs leading down to...

 

...the lower level. To the left are the rifle galleries.

 

These rifle slits allowed fire into the moat in front of the North Entrance.

 

To the right are the gun rooms which allowed fire down the length of the moat.

For the rest of the tour click on 'Next Page'.