Dover Castle Trip – 18th July 2006-07-20
Dover Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1066 directly after his success at the Battle of Hastings. It was rebuilt about a hundred years later by Henry II. Lots of famous people have used Dover Castle including Henry V111 and Anne of Cleves at one point. During the threat of French Invasion (during the Napoleonic Wars), Dover Castle had tunnels built into its cliffs. There are earlier medieval tunnels, but we didn’t have time to see them. Instead we were able to see the tunnels from the Napoleonic times that were extended 200 years later during the Second World War.
The tunnels were very dark and gloomy and it would have been scary to have been in them a long time. Even our friend Xavier got scared and claustrophobic and had to leave. The tunnels were built in several layers A-D. Level C (Casemate) was the original level from the Napoleonic time. During World War 2, Casemate was used as offices for Vice-Admiral Ramsay, but it was decided to extend them. Level A (Annexe) was built above Casemate to act as a hospital. There was a level in between called Bastion, but it collapsed. They also built a level under Casemate called Dumpy. We got to walk around some of Casemate and Annexe. Annexe was horrible as it had small corridors and had been set with the operating tables with fake blood, fake smells and noises. On Casemate level we saw Vice-Admiral Ramsay’s rooms, the telephone system (switchboard), morse-code radios and the shipping and weather charts. Dove Castle’s tunnels are important because of Ramsay’s part in World War 2. Here is a little bit about World War 2 so that it makes sense:
World War 2 took place between 1939 and 1945. Britain and France declared war on Germany after Germany (under the control of Hitler) and Russia invaded Poland. When Holland and Belgium surrendered, the French and British troops were cornered by the advancing Germans at Dunkirk. Vice-Admiral Ramsay’s job was to evacuate the French and British soldiers from his post at Dover Castle’s Casemate tunnel. He expected to save about 45000 troops because he only had a week to prepare. 693 British boats took part in the evacuation many of which were sunk. However, Vice Admiral Ramsay managed to save 338000 of the 400000 troops by working around the clock with no rest. The evacuation of the troops at Dunkirk has a special name. It is called Operation Dynamo and it took place in 1940.
The trip was fun and we liked to be able to see what it was like in the past and how they might have coped. It was very realistic. It was also good because certain bits of it linked in to other things we have done recently. For example, we have just been to Battle Abbey and written about the Battle of Hastings, won by William who then built Dover Castle immediately after. We have been studying how people were affected by the Second World War, by going to the Britain at War Museum in London and having a war day where we looked at war memorabilia from our families, and ate food made with war recipes and so on. We also had a go at morse-code radios at Newhaven Fort. Finally, when we were on holiday, we saw Dali’s picture of a beach scene at dusk that fitted into the face of Hitler when it was turned on its side. This is good because you get to understand the whole story when things link up like this.
By Megan Claridge and Henry Scott
(Note: No photos were allowed in the tunnels!)
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