Today we’re taking a closer look at Britain’s formidable fortress on the English channel. I stopped to visit Dover Castle in September 2023 and was surprised by what I learned about its origins.
Dover is strategically situated at the shortest crossing point to mainland Europe. On clear days, you can actually see the coastline of France. Towering above everything is the Castle, atop a promontory that’s been occupied at least since the Romans took over during the first century CE (and probably earlier, with evidence for an earlier Iron Age hill fort).1 The Romans built two lighthouses nearby, one of which (shown below) later formed the belltower for a medieval church, and is still partially intact.2
The castle is massive. An inner bailey curtain wall with fourteen towers and two gateways surrounds a towering keep; this is enclosed by an outer wall, with a similar number of towers. Dover’s had to keep up with the times; gunpowder necessitated new defensive bastions and earthworks. During the Napoleonic period and both World Wars, elaborate secret tunnels were added into the cliffside, many of which can be explored. The British Army only vacated the Castle in the 1950s.3
Generations of Britons have left their mark here, but I’m particularly interested in its medieval builder, Henry II.
Founding
If William the Conqueror can lay claim to founding the castle (he had one built from wood around 1066) — his great grandson, Henry Plantagenet, can take credit for perfecting it. The castle as we see it today was constructed mostly during his rule. His plans for the central keep called for lavish state rooms, banquet halls, an enormous kitchen, a private chapel, and other creature comforts.
Construction materials combined gray Kentish ‘ragstone’ with white limestone imported from Normandy to create something akin to a banding effect on the exterior, which is still partly visible today (see below).
Henry spent astounding sums of money on this place during the 1180s: around £6,440, according to Royal records. That might not sound like much, but depending on how you calculate the valuation of England’s 12th century currency, that’s at least tens of millions of pounds today, and likely much more. It represented nearly a quarter of Henry’s annual recorded income. Primitive accounting or not, Dover Castle was by far the most expensive engineering project during his reign.4
So, what gives? Why shell out so much cheddar on one castle when Henry’s territories stretched from Northern England to the borders of Spain?
It probably had less to do with protection and more to do with penance. In what might have been akin to a state visit, Louis VII of France traveled across the strait in 1179 for a pilgrimage to Canterbury. In rural Kent, Henry didn’t have any posh cross-channel lodgings for a King of Louis’ stature, and that was, well, embarrassing.
It wasn’t simply the location of the king’s visit which likely bothered Henry. Louis' ultimate purpose was to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. To Henry’s chagrin, Thomas had become revered as a martyr across Europe.5
The Low-Born Cleric
Thomas Becket had been chancellor and a friend to Henry in the early years of his reign. When Becket was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury, the King expected to have an inside man when it came to ecclesiastical matters.
Thomas took up his new role with zeal and instead became a thorn in Henry’s side, using the new post to undercut his power and authority at every turn. Their feud went on for years. Becket was even exiled to France in 1165 until the Pope cut a deal to send Thomas back to England.6
There are different versions of what transpired once he returned. You might be familiar with the phrase: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?!” (an 18th century anachronism, and not Henry’s phrase, word-for-word, but it’s pretty fun to say aloud.)7 Henry’s angry Christmas Day rant in 1170 ultimately encouraged a few of his knights to take it upon themselves to put the Becket issue to rest.
A few days later, while attempting to take him into custody, these four men brutally butchered Thomas, an unarmed man, inside of his own cathedral.
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This was bad news for Henry. Thomas Becket’s assassination became an international scandal. To win back approval of the church, his own people, and the rest of Europe, the King had to pay public penance for his misdeed. And Henry used every opportunity to make that penance as theatrical as he could. He famously walked through the filthy streets of Canterbury barefoot, allegedly leaving bloody footprints. He also endured whippings and beatings from priests and monks.8
Countering the Cult
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The King’s purse paid for his sins too. It’s been suggested that part of Henry’s expenditure on Dover Castle was actually meant to oppose the cult of personality building up around Thomas, a potential threat to Henry’s rule.9
Henry needed to make a powerful first impression, and transforming Dover Castle into a place worthy of a King’s visit — even if its final destination was Becket’s grave — was part of a broader strategic campaign to help burnish Henry’s image in the face of scandal. Dover Castle has been called “the Key to England” because of its location on the Strait. But in Henry’s day, Dover was less military fortification — and more seaside hotel. After all, where would aristocratic pilgrims to Canterbury rest after boozing their way through France?
Still, even as a castle, Dover worked as designed, successfully repelling a siege by Louis VII’s grandson in 1216.10
During Henry’s reign, huge portions of France, including Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony, were held by the Crown of England.11 Portsmouth & Southampton would have been the favored points of crossing for the King to reach his continental holdings, as rival claimants to Henry’s lands held the ports opposite Dover.12
Henry made as many as 36 crossings to France in about 35 years. He was on the road so much that he became bow-legged from being on horseback all the time.
Henry II, by pretty much any measure, was also one of England’s most successful medieval kings. In addition to founding the Plantagenet Dynasty, he extended England’s control over a larger area of Europe than any other British king. Today, historians refer to this as the Angevin Empire — and his sons bankrupted themselves and perished trying to hold onto it. Henry’s belligerent children were fascinating characters in their own right, for Richard ‘the Lionheart’ and King John of Robin Hood lore both loom large in the popular imagination today.
Dover Castle is definitely a worthwhile visit to witness the sheer scale of the castle and the thousands of years of history waiting to be discovered there.
Kent County Council. "Exploring Kent's Past: Site Record MKE17899." Accessed May 7, 2024.https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.ExploringKentsPast.Web.Sites.Public/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MKE17899.
The Journal of Antiquities. "The Roman Lighthouse, Dover, Kent." Accessed May 7, 2024. https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2013/05/12/the-roman-lighthouse-dover-kent/
English Heritage. "History of Dover Castle." Accessed May 7, 2024. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/history-and-stories/history-dover/
John Gillingham, "Henry II, Thomas Becket and the Building of Dover Castle," Medievalists.net, November 9, 2017, https://www.medievalists.net/2017/11/henry-ii-thomas-becket-building-dover-castle/.
Current Archaeology. "Interpreting Dover Castle's Great Tower." Accessed May 7, 2024. https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/interpreting-dover-castles-great-tower.htm.
Steven Brindle, "Becket, Henry II and Dover Castle," English Heritage, accessed June 18, 2024, https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/history-and-stories/becket-henry-dover-castle/#:~:text=When%20Becket%20refused%20to%20agree,1170%20Becket%20returned%20to%20England.
Frank Barlow, Thomas Becket (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 235, ISBN 0520071751, accessed April 16, 2018.
Royal Collection Trust. "King Henry II Doing Penance." Accessed May 7, 2024. https://www.rct.uk/collection/2117202/king-henry-ii-doing-penance.
The Telegraph, "Henry II spent a fortune on Dover Castle to counter Becket cult," accessed May 7, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/5940173/Henry-II-spent-a-fortune-on-Dover-Castle-to-counter-Becket-cult.html.
Mark Cartwright. "Dover Castle." World History Encyclopedia. Accessed May 7, 2024. https://www.worldhistory.org/Dover_Castle/.
Mark Cartwright. "Henry II of England." World History Encyclopedia. Accessed May 7, 2024. https://www.worldhistory.org/Henry_II_of_England/.
Current Archaeology, "Interpreting Dover Castle's Great Tower."
becket playing the long con