| Summary : A land front fortress built as part of the Western Heights defences to protect Dover against a landward attack; beginning around 1779; updated and armed 1853-55; extended and updated again 1859-67; gradually given over to barracks and support buildings during the late 19th and 20th centuries. During the First World War it mounted a single 3-inch heavy anti aircraft gun. The fortress was taken over by the Prison Commissioners in 1952 and in 1957 became a Borstal. In April 2002 it was re-designated as an Immigration Removal Centre holding appellant and failed asylum seekers in secure conditions for the Immigration Service.The Citadel's 19th-century defences -revetted ditch, rampart and several groups of casemated barracks and gunrooms - are substantially complete, as are many internal buildings, notably the Officers's Quarters and the Main Entrance and Guard House, both of 1861, and hut barracks of 1890-1. Of the prison blocks, Romney, Sandwich and Hastings are probably 1980s refurbishments of 1960s buildings. Deal House, a U-plan block is dated 1973. It has a tall dining room and uses mullions not only as fenestration, but also as a design feature. Rye House, a Bedford Unit accommodation block, had recently been completed in 1996. |
More information : TR 304403. Three batteries were built at the "Citadel" south of H M Borstal. All are extant. One was armed c 1810, another was armed with seven-inch Armstrong breech loading guns and the third, built in 1895, was armed with three 9.2" breech-loaders. (1)
Work on The Citadel began in 1804 and initially comprised a parade ground surrounded by storehouses, barracks, magazines and a defensive ditch. It was not completed by the time the armistice with France was signed in 1814 and work did not begin again until 1853. Further work was carried out in the 1860s. Scheduling amended. (2)
The Citadel was surveyed and investigated in 1998-9 by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, as part of a wider programme of survey on the Western Heights. For full details of the survey and a copy of the plans, see the archive report. (3)
Documented. (4) |