# 'Smokey' Revisited- Decaying Dover



## fluffy5518 (Feb 20, 2010)

Hi all;
Had a family jaunt to Dover t'other day and decided to revisit Detached and North Centre Bastions (or'Smokey' as the locals refer to it !!) on the Western Heights.
Work began on North Centre Bastion in 1804 and although most of the earthworks were completed the following year it was to be the early 1860's before work on the structures were finally completed after much revision.The new fortifications comprised two distinct elements.The southern element was called North Centre-or Inner-Bastion and the northern element,Detached Bastion.Both protected by huge ditches with brick revetments behind which lie casemated gunrooms and musketry galleries.Above these ditches were massive earth ramparts housing infantry positions,artilliary emplacements and the entrances to the galleries and gunrooms.Both Bastions were only linked by the south caponier which spans the ditch between them.
At the North-west tip of Detached Bastion is the large caponier.By the turn of the 20th century both Detached and North Centre Bastions were virtually redundent and very little is known about their usage after this time except to say that on the ramparts of Detached bastion there are the earthwork remains of numerous slit trenches and weapons pits and in both Bastions there is evidence of the installation of electricity.It would appear that both had light or emergency usage during one or both World Wars.!!!
The Caponier of Detached Bastion was built with two levels having musketry and carronade embrasures.









The Missing sections of flooring are obvious and although access to the higher level is possible there are many large holes in the slate flooring which make it a bit treacherous.








Back to ground level now and the entrance to a magazine




Heading away from the Caponier now and looking along the steeply rising west musketry gallery showing the many firing positions along the approx 75 yd corridor.




Looking back down.




Along the length of this corridor are two drop pits with wooden raisable decks that allow access to the terreplein etiher by steps or ramp.A counter balance weight recess can be seen in the above photo for the first and below is the drawbridge entrance to the second.




Just ahead is the Caponier that links the two Bastions,at the end of which is the third and final catch pit.The wall at the rear is,apparantly,a more recent addition.




Looking back




Once over the catch pit we are now into North Centre Bastion and an extention to the West gallery runs for about another 50 yds,at the end of which is a set of stairs that once led to the terreplein but are now sealed.








Looking up the steps.




Retracing your steps back to the Caponier,just to the right of it is the North Musketry gallery another 80 yd + corridor with many firing positions.








This gallery has seen a partial collapse near it's end and in order to access the east musketry gallery this has to be negotiated.




Once past the collapse you enter the east gallery this is approx another 70 yds worth of firing slits and gunrooms.There is also another set of bricked up steps and two wells.




The wells are located in a short spur tunnel which is raised approx 3ft from ground level.This is the far end well.




The other well is located just inside the entrance to the spur tunnel seen here as the opening on the right.




Once past the wells the gallery turns to the left and reaches a dead end.




The east and north galleries are known as the Devil tunnels and contain much satanic graffiti and are quite a lonely and spooky place although whether or not satanic rituals were performed here we'll never know,i personally think its just kids with spray cans but what do i know ?!!!!
This has just been a brief insight into Smokey there is a lot more down here to see and although it has been chavved up its still well worth a visit.There are some excellent videos on you tube by John Latter-search for The Smokey-North Centre Bastion pts 1-3.
TOODLE-PIP !!!


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## Mr Sam (Feb 20, 2010)

Very Nice!!!! i like the lighting youve got going on down there


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## theterrorwheel (Feb 20, 2010)

looks awesome. and great pics.


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## night crawler (Feb 20, 2010)

No wonder I coul dnot get you on the phone. Good one hope you did not get lost


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## tom46 (Feb 20, 2010)

Great pictures. It's always nice to see this place; it's really nice down there in the summer and I'm meaning to go back there at some point.

There was one bit (must have been North Entrance?) where we were down in this huge ditch, and it was all covered with ivy and creepers and various foliage, and it looked like some kind of jungle, beautiful. The 'devil tunnels' were good fun too :icon_evil


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## Urban Mole (Feb 20, 2010)

Great photos, looks massive.
Do you have any external shots, and is there a floor plan anywhere?


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## MOYLIE (Feb 20, 2010)

This looks a great place where is the entrance?as i would like to have a look myself


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## fluffy5518 (Feb 20, 2010)

Hi all;
Thanx for the comments.!!! If i remember rightly i could find no decent plans of NCB or DB on the interweb thingy BUT then someone directed me to the English Heritage website,here they sell Survey Reports and No 7 of the Archaeological Investigtion Series 28/2001 is 'North Centre and Detached Bastions,19th Centuary Fortifications' by Paul Pattison.If i remember rightly it is about £15 to buy but is worth every penny.it runs to over 50 A4 size pages and is packed with the history of the place.It has many good photos and is full of plans,diagrams and maps.They cover loads of other places too-check it out !!
I only have a few piccies of the outside of tjhis place as (as you can imagine)it is like the amazon rain forest around it-even in the winter months !!These were obviously taken during the summer.!!
This is the West wall of the Caponier at Detached Bastion looking North !! 







And here are a few of the old roadway which used to cross the ditches on bridges to gain access to the North Entrance.












This would lead to here the old North Entrance,disused since the road was diverted and modernised in the 1960's and now called North Military Road




Finally a couple more odds and sodz left over from t'summer
Embasure in the West gallery.




Some stunning brickwork curves and holes in the floor in the Caponier of DB








Cheers


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## godzilla73 (Feb 20, 2010)

fluffy5518 said:


> Hi all;
> Thanx for the comments.!!! If i remember rightly i could find no decent plans of NCB or DB on the interweb thingy BUT then someone directed me to the English Heritage website,here they sell Survey Reports and No 7 of the Archaeological Investigtion Series 28/2001 is 'North Centre and Detached Bastions,19th Centuary Fortifications' by Paul Pattison.If i remember rightly it is about £15 to buy but is worth every penny.it runs to over 50 A4 size pages and is packed with the history of the place.It has many good photos and is full of plans,diagrams and maps.
> 
> Cheers



Lovely pics as always Fluffy. Ah happy childhood memories! If anyone wants a copy of the Paul Pattison booklet I have a copy of it and can scan any bits that people want to see. Just let me know.
GDZ


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## the_historian (Feb 20, 2010)

Some beautiful architecture there. 
Place looks like a bloody maze though!


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## fluffy5518 (Feb 20, 2010)

Youre so right !!! Napoleonic archetecture is absolutely stunning-of all the sites i visit these are my favourite,it is just such a shame that they are so often defaced by mindless grafitti,but there you go,welcome to society.!!And yes it is a bloody maze,didnt have a clue where i was during my first visit !!
GDZ you dont know how lucky you were to have a childhood in Dover !!!


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## outkast (Feb 21, 2010)

Fantastic pics mate, great report, my to do list just gets longer and longer 

Dave


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