Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
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According to Reverend Puckley of St. Mary Church in the town, in his book of 1864, the Church of St. Mary at the Castle was built by the Britons using Roman architecture, and later modified in Saxon times.
He carried out extensive archaeological research on the foundations and the walls together with a group of expert archaeologists, prior to the renovations.
Guest 868- Registered: 25 Jan 2013
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Alexander D wrote:Dover Castle as it stands now was built by Henry II, and most towers and defence walls around the keep were built in the decades following his reign, but long before Henry VIII.
You mean the Keep Alex, the 'Castle' is the site as a whole and was started as such by William T Conquerer
Guest 868- Registered: 25 Jan 2013
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Alexander D wrote:According to Reverend Puckley of St. Mary Church in the town, in his book of 1864, the Church of St. Mary at the Castle was built by the Britons using Roman architecture, and later modified in Saxon times.
He carried out extensive archaeological research on the foundations and the walls together with a group of expert archaeologists, prior to the renovations.
Reverend Puckle actually
Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 458
The time line for the castle is this - 1) Iron age hill fort, 2) Roman fortlet built around the Pharos, 3) Saxon fort or burgh. 4) pre conquest norman 'castle' - wooden motte and bailey type. 5) post conquest norman castle, wooden motte and bailey type. 6) New castle built in stone before the demolishing of the wooden castle, so two castles on site. 7) Wooden castle go's, 'our' castle remains.
Pre conquest castles in England are - Hereford, Richard's castle, Ewyas Harold, all in Herefordshire, and Clavering in Essex. Dover maybe number 5 as the anglosaxon chronicles states quite clearly that Williams troops went up to the burgh at Dover, and that later they spent eight days refortifieing it.
Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
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Henry VIII may have built many things, but castles in the true sense of the word were not high on his list, if they were on it at all! What we now call his 'castles' (Deal, Walmer, Sandown etc) are not really castles at all, they are gun platforms, pure and simple and serve no other purpose at all other then to mount a large battery of cannon.Deal is a wonderful example, not of a castle, but of an Henrican gun fort
Guest 868- Registered: 25 Jan 2013
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What about "Richborough Castle" that Dr Simon Thurley said at a talk a couple of weeks back .....
Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
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Paul, my guess, and that is all it is, is that RIchborough 'castle' is so called thanks to the victorians who called just about every ruin in the country a castle in much the same way as many of our wonderful houses are called castles when it is painfully clear to all and sundry that they are no such thing!
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
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Henry VIII was an expert in tearing down priories and churches, closing off small land-holdings by denying right of access, thus reducing families into poverty, and confiscating church estates and handing them to his cronies along with confiscated silver and gold.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
sour grapes alex,henry 8th was a great reforma.
Guest 868- Registered: 25 Jan 2013
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Alexander D wrote:Henry VIII was an expert in tearing down priories and churches, closing off small land-holdings by denying right of access, thus reducing families into poverty, and confiscating church estates and handing them to his cronies along with confiscated silver and gold.
Tell us more about this new history you have uncovered I know nothing about this so am intrigued...
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Paul, there is always something new to learn.
Dover had the oldest priory in Britain, dating back to King Withred of Kent in the 8th century.
It stood in present day Market Square and was dedicated to St Martin, and known as St. Martin le Grand.
It was demolished by Henry VIII, as was our other priory, dedicated to St Mary and St. Martin, some remains of which are part of Dover College near Priory Station.
St. Mary in Town was transformed into a stable by the same Henry VIII, who gave order for it to be demolished.
But Dover's People sent a petition to the king, who saw that we were going to give him an almighty thrashing if need be, and he backtracked and beetled off to his palace.
Henry VIII might have claimed to be the head of the Church of England, but actually the English Church was founded in the Fair Kingdom of Kent by King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, who proclaimed Christ as the Head of our Church.
Guest 868- Registered: 25 Jan 2013
- Posts: 490
You do bite any ironic comment don't you Alex
