Citadel Battery is probably the least visited of the remaining battery sites around Dover, probably because its not obvious where it is, but also because its virtually in the backyard of Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institution, Western Heights, which may put people off! Bob Ogley's book, Kent at War maintains that there were two 9 inch guns here , but there are three emplacements. It was manned by the Royal Artillery,(seems obvious, but not all the batteries in Dover were - Swingate and Langdon were manned by both the Royal Marines and the US Army at various points) and was meant to be a mirror site to the ones at Langdon and Fan Bay. Along with the Farthingloe AA Battery ( see separate report) , it forms quite a large complex, though it is not immediately obvious how to find it. If anyone needs a little local direction, PM me. Anyway, here are the pics.
The three emplacements, of which number two is probably the best preserved and the least graffittied/vandalized
The bolt fixings for the bottom of each gun are still in place. The size of them along with the channels underneath, confirm that these were the third biggest guns in "Hellfire Corner" when it was in the thick of it.
The channel runs off to the right side of each emplacement through a small tunnel, just big enough to crawl through
There were also obviously various hatches and doors which have all been filled in at the sides of each emplacement
Emplacement number one still has quite a lot of ironwork in it, which does seem to be from the base of the original gun, but someone more knowledgeable than me might have a different opinion on this.
Each emplacement is connected to the other by a set of steps and a raised walkway, and below this is what was clearly the entrance to an underground foxhole. These have all been filled in, but a fitter bloke than me could probably get down and have a nosey around underneath number 2, where someone has obviously been digging!
At the end of number three emplacement there is a funny looking pillbox - I say funny looking because it has a sheer drop into a square concrete boxwith a concrete pole in the middle of it. Off this is an extremely small entrance to the actual pillbox. If anyone knows why this is this way, let me know.
If you jump up on to the top here you can get a good view back across all three emplacements and the Western Heights. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great when I was up there.
Behind the three emplacements are the remains of what was probably a command building.
You can exit this part of the site and walk along a concrete path to the site of the Farthingloe AA battery, which is about half a mile down the way. The remains of the entrance suggest that there might have been a gun fixed to it, which shows how important these batteries were and that this whole Western Heights complex was really significant. Its interesting to know also, that the detached bastion and the Drop Redoubt were, during WWII home to a suicide squad of Royal Marines whose job it was to blow up the entire docks and all the batteries to the east and west of Dover if the Germans ever actually invaded!
The entrance exit gate
The path to the Farthingloe AA battery
Anyone who wants to know more should drop me a line. This is well worth a visit, but it seems to be less visited than some of the other bits of Dover.
GDZ
The three emplacements, of which number two is probably the best preserved and the least graffittied/vandalized
The bolt fixings for the bottom of each gun are still in place. The size of them along with the channels underneath, confirm that these were the third biggest guns in "Hellfire Corner" when it was in the thick of it.
The channel runs off to the right side of each emplacement through a small tunnel, just big enough to crawl through
There were also obviously various hatches and doors which have all been filled in at the sides of each emplacement
Emplacement number one still has quite a lot of ironwork in it, which does seem to be from the base of the original gun, but someone more knowledgeable than me might have a different opinion on this.
Each emplacement is connected to the other by a set of steps and a raised walkway, and below this is what was clearly the entrance to an underground foxhole. These have all been filled in, but a fitter bloke than me could probably get down and have a nosey around underneath number 2, where someone has obviously been digging!
At the end of number three emplacement there is a funny looking pillbox - I say funny looking because it has a sheer drop into a square concrete boxwith a concrete pole in the middle of it. Off this is an extremely small entrance to the actual pillbox. If anyone knows why this is this way, let me know.
If you jump up on to the top here you can get a good view back across all three emplacements and the Western Heights. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great when I was up there.
Behind the three emplacements are the remains of what was probably a command building.
You can exit this part of the site and walk along a concrete path to the site of the Farthingloe AA battery, which is about half a mile down the way. The remains of the entrance suggest that there might have been a gun fixed to it, which shows how important these batteries were and that this whole Western Heights complex was really significant. Its interesting to know also, that the detached bastion and the Drop Redoubt were, during WWII home to a suicide squad of Royal Marines whose job it was to blow up the entire docks and all the batteries to the east and west of Dover if the Germans ever actually invaded!
The entrance exit gate
The path to the Farthingloe AA battery
Anyone who wants to know more should drop me a line. This is well worth a visit, but it seems to be less visited than some of the other bits of Dover.
GDZ
