Dover Castle

After our visit to Canterbury Cathedral we decided that as Henry II's Castle was so close we'd better pop in and have a look.

This image is from the Dover District Council Website. This aerial view on a sunny day is a lot better than the weather of our visit allowed us to snap! The gap in the sea wall to the right is where the Ferries to France traverse.

"At its heart stands the mighty keep or Great Tower, 83 feet (25.3m) high and just under 100 feet (30m) square, with walls up to 21 feet (6.5m) thick. The grandest and among the last of the keeps raised by the kings of England during the 11th and 12th centuries, it was designed by Henry II’s architect ‘Maurice the Engineer’ and built between 1180 and 1185."

After having seen the castle from the decks of the Channel Ferries it has been on our 'should visit' list. Recently we saw a documentary on the BBC about how a team of historians, artists and tradies have renovated the Great Tower interiors to the state it was in as Henry II's showpiece. Of course their research and designs are impeccable, it was funded by English Heritage!

Dover Castle drawbridge. We walked up from a lower car park to the gate. Within the walls is a car park for disabled visitors.
The low cloud and wind whistling through the ramparts made it feel very ghostly and chilly.

Left: Henry II of Eng and Eleanor from a French manuscript
Right: Loius VII on crusade greeting Eleanor's uncle Raymond
Both images 15thC illuminations.

Henry of Anjou married Eleanor of Aquitaine after her marriage to the King of France(Louis VII) was annulled. (Eleanor married the dauphin at only 13 after she inherited the huge Provence of Aquitaine. She gave birth to two girls after 15yrs of marriage. Louis VII finally agreed to an annulment, he got custody of her now 'illegitimate' daughters and she got her land back.) Henry combined her lands with his enormous holdings in Anjou, he now had more land in France than Louis, who was furious about it all.

Henry inherited the crown of England, becoming Henry II and set about fixing up the state of Law over there to match his tightly run holdings on the continent. Part of this process was to remove the power that the Church courts had over the state courts but his dear friend Thomas, whom Henry had made Archbishop of Canterbury to get the changes put through quickly, opposed the King's will. This ended in an intemperate tirade in one of his French courts making four of his courtiers go off and do a favour for their King by killing the 'troublesome priest'. Thomas became a saint because of miracles of healing reported at the sight of the assassination. Penitent Henry had his head stuck in Thomas' tomb while lashed by his monks then spent all night singing psalms and praying to show his remorse.  During this night all the plans of his sons, who were revolting, failed and Henry announced Thomas' forgiveness and blessing to be the reason.

Walking to the Great Tower barely visible in 500m.

The cult of pilgrimage to Thomas' shrine became so popular that when Louis VII's only son(to his second wife) was dying, he visited the shrine unannounced with his entourage. Henry found out in time to be able to welcome the French King ashore at Dover.  This was the first time a French king had ever been on English soil. As there were no royal forests in Kent and Henry's usual crossings to his territories in France were from the southern ports there was no royal residence in Dover.  Henry was embarrassed that he had to house the King of France in tents. Up on the hill stood Dover castle which was little more than a crumbling Norman fort. Over the next few years Henry built a Tower of residence inside the renovated castle walls and designed it as a show piece for English wealth and grandeur. "The chronology of expenditure shows that it was in the financial year beginning in September 1179, just one month after Louis VII’s pilgrimage, that Henry first spent more on Dover than on any other English castle."  John Gillingham in http://www.historyextra.com/feature/king-and-his-castle-how-henry-ii-rebuilt-his-reputation 

What was shown in the doco looked more like an IKEA's children's bedroom than a sophisticated royal residence, but I was reminded that the bright pigments were the ultimate indication of wealth. The blues used relied on importing Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan but even then faded over time and required repainting regularly. Malachite from Madagascar provided the coppery green. Any blue or green walls or cloth were a sign of immense wealth.  In fact the only pigments sourced locally were the yellows and ochres.

The King's bedroom

The other bedroom

There were two huge bedrooms but only two beds. They were for the King and the VIP. All their entourage would have bedded down on rolled straw mattresses on the floor around them.  The beds look very short but a helpful E.H. guide explained that the super wealthy sat up to sleep. Doctors of the era believed this kept the bad humours away from the head during the night. The frames had canvas slings designed to support a half seated person, they were then covered in thick down mattresses. I can't imagine that sleep would have been very deep in this long haul flight position with 50 or so other people scuffling or snoring around about.

Henry II's treasury (a few huge chests full of gold and silver coin) went everywhere he went and was stored with his armor and linens which happened to be next to the guardrobe (housing the longdrop). This design feature was to allow the ammonia of human waste (remember all the people who would have been using this one facility) to keep away the moths and mould from the garments.

Henry built a little chapel into the design and had replicas of Canterbury Cathedral windows added and a special place of reverence for the soon to be sainted Thomas.

The dinning room - only a few slit windows up steep stairs gave any natural light, the smoke from the torches would have quickly discoloured the walls and muted the bright colours.

Left:  The Chapel                           Center: On the Throne (not a euphemism)             Right: World Map 11thC.

The castle kitchen.

Knots - knots!  A map of what we should be able to see.

Up top we imagined that there would be a clear view to France, on the day we were there the low cloud and wind obscured even the Castle ramparts. Down below the castle is a labyrinth of tunnels used in WWI and WWII as part of England's defenses but we didn't have time to investigate these. On a sunny day it would be a wonderful place for a family picnic, great views and centuries of history ready to explore.