Dover Castle was a fortress long before King Henry II began building the stone castle in 1160s. It is also nicknamed "the key to England" (can't take England without the castle first) and due to its location, it has played a part in more events than one would care to remember. If you'd like the history lesson on the castle, English Heritage tells the story much better than I do, link here.
The grounds at Dover Castle are huge and trying to see everything and absorb it all in a day is exhausting. The main attraction of Dover Castle is the underground tunnels, 3.8 miles long and set over 3 levels. The two guided tours were a real treat, and additionally a lot of effort has gone into creating a cinematic experience (unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the tunnels).
There was the Underground Hospital - tunnels were dug with the intention of becoming a fully fledged hospital. This was later downgraded to a Dressing Station, kind of like an old school A&E. Sadly, the surgeons and nurses would never know what happened to their patients, for if they survived their treatment at the Dressing Station, they would then be moved off for treatment somewhere else with better facilities. I don't think I can imagine what an unpleasant place it would be to work - the lack of light and ventilation, stench of mud, sweat, blood, mixed in with disinfectant.... ick! And to top it all off, back in WWII days around 70% of the population smoked, and smoking was allowed in the mess area ... so you'd have to add that to the mix too.
The other (more exciting) tour was Operation Dynamo - this was where the planning for Dunkirk evacuation took place, led by Admiral Ramsay in May 1940. There were a number of films, photographs and artefacts in this tour and it was just brilliant. As well as being able to walk through the areas where all of this happened, there were reenactment videos of women plotting out the location of enemy aircraft, the telephone operators connecting and disconnecting the phone wires, and the officers barking out orders to those above ground.
An interesting fact the tour guide mentioned is that during WWII one could see the flash of artillery on the other side of the channel on a clear day and expect a shell to explode close by 75 seconds later. For whatever reason, Dover Castle itself never appeared to be targeted, though the town of Dover certainly was. One plausible theory is that the enemy may have thought that once they got to Dover, having a fortress would be really useful.
I've always been a mega fan of the BBC show Foyle's War (stories of a Hastings detective in WWII), and this experience just made it all the more real (I'm also insanely jealous that Mr D commented that one of his friends knows Honeysuckle Weeks, aka Sam Stewart in Foyle's War). I was also pleasantly surprised to find a sign whilst inside the tunnels which said we were only 3m from the cliff face, and sure enough, we exited the tour at the cliff face. Check it out - we're in the middle of white cliffs. So. Awesomely. Cool.
Here's the statue of Admiral Ramsay - he did not live to see the end of WWII. Story goes that he hopped on a plane to go to a conference and it crashed shortly after take off. He's now buried somewhere in the outskirts of Paris. There was also all sorts of fixed defenses located around the sites; amongst them a catapult looking thing, and quite a large number of cannons. This was my favourite cannon - the mistakenly named Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol. Hard to imagine that a 12 foot gun would have such intricate decorations on it (see the plaque if you are interested in the story). Oh, its also a called "basilisk" (images of Harry Potter are coming to mind again...)
Finally, some snapshots of the castle grounds and the castle itself. Somehow the mental images of WWII officers wandering around a medieval castle doesn't completely work for me - I guess I'm just too accustomed to seeing swords and shields every time I see medieval buildings! e.g. during the Battle of Hastings - see the post about the reenactment here. Though I wouldn't call Dover the most picturesque town, there were some great views from The Great Tower and I love how the green the grass is and how this contrasts with the stone buildings, something you definitely don't get at home (well, you wouldn't get the green or the castle in the first place so there's zero chance of having the two together really). And with that, I'm now going back to watch more Foyle's War, and maybe the King's Speech as well. Till next time!
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