Dover Castle

Dover castle was actually founded by Earl Harold Godwinson and was surrendered to Duke William of Normandy immediately after the battle of Hastings. No trace of this early castle, or the one defended by Walcheline Maminot of Whittington castle against Queen Matilda in 1138 has ever been found. What we see above is the great keep built by King Henry II when he massively refortified the castle between 1168 and 1186 at a total cost of over £7,000. King John spent another fortune on upgrading the castle during his reign when it became 'the key to all England'. In 1216-17 the fortress was besieged unsuccessfully by the French and English rebels when the north gate of the outer ward was heavily damaged.

Between the end of the siege in 1217 and 1225 Earl Hubert Burgh of Kent, who was also lord of White Castle and the Trilateral, spent another fortune on the castle, amounting to over £2,000. It was in this period that the north gate, heavily damaged during the French siege, was blocked up and the Fitz William and Constable gates were built. All three of these works bare more than passing resemblance to the gatehouse at White Castle.

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