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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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THREE ENGLISH HERITAGE CASTLES and SECRET WWII TUNNELS - July 10

From Margate we headed south through holiday towns of the 18th and 19th centuries—time has dealt differently with each of them.  An Tudor fort restored pretty much to its original state, another modified into a gentleman’s country house, and finally Dover Castle, first fortified (so far as is known) by the Romans and used militarily all the way through the Cold War!image

Here is the Roman lighthouse - all the way up to where you see the decreasing diameter.  Above that is a later section, though the original Roman structure was twice this height!  At left is the Saxon church (about 600 a.d.) which was rebuilt, abandoned, used as a coal store, and then restored

Update: Photos have been added

July 10, 2006

Really got away late this morning – slept until almost 9:00 a.m.  We drove all around the seaside of Margate, marveling at the wonderful old hotels and houses – huge ones and modest, some well-cared for, and others pretty decrepit. 
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This is the major beach, with the Turner Art Museum out at the end.  Here is a terrace of huge homes - or maybe it was built as a hotel - that faces the North Sea, separated only by the “Promenade”, a concrete walkway/seawall that runs for some miles along the seafront.
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Lots of For Sale signs – the owner of the hostel says that developers are buying properties like mad, but will not do the renovations until the “bullet-train” is finished.  Some big properties ARE being worked on, though, and even some luxury developments being built.  Here is one:
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The Royal Sea-Bathing Hospital was all the rage in the early 1800s - it was bought in ruiinous condition for (I’m told) 3.5 million pounds, and is being transformed into 400 luxury flats, with the penhouses going for a million pounds apiece!  It’s very nice that they saved the historic buildings….there was a balustrade on the upper level, and the balusters were falling down, endangering the crew, so a mini-backhoe was set to knock them all down.  Fortunately, before many had been smashed, somone noticed that they were made of china…..Ming china, to be exact.  The (hundreds and hundreds of)  balusters are being sold off for about 1500 pounds each…..which will surely help with the cost of the operation, even after they replace with fake balustrades. 

Hopefully Margate will see no more of the ugly high-rise boxes, one of which went up (in the ‘60s) in the middle of the sea-front on one beach….just awful.  Last night, rather than cook our supper, we walked down to the beach, and ate at this five-star restaurant:
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Jacket potato with beans, and one Fish and Chips….really nice waiter, too.

Leaving town, we passed a whole “subdivision” of these vaguely State-side-looking little houses:
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Once away, we drove the coast through Broadstairs (very nice) and Ramsgate (also wonderful), Cliff’s End and on to Deal, where we stopped to see a fort first built by Henry VIII image
to protect England from ships sent by the Catholic countries on the continent to restore Catholicism in England.
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This fort was largely built with stone from the monasteries he dissolved; in this case, probably mostly Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury.  We saw a couple of carved pieces in the entrance hall itself.  Within a few years, the fort was obsolete, but it was kept going and eventually the commander had a house built for himself on the seaward side of the keep….but Hitler bombed it, and it was removed after the war so the fort could be restored pretty much to the way it looked in Henry’s day……except for the added crenellations, and perhaps a few other minor things.  Very interesting audio tour explained nearly everything.

Then through Ringsdown to Walmer Castle – the third of three (Deal is the second) that specifically defended “the Downs”, a stretch of water behind a sandy shoal about six miles offshore, where British warships and transports could lie safe from storm and wind, if they had the protection of these forts to keep out any attackers.  Walmer was also extensively modified – made into a gentleman’s country home for the Warden of the forts along this stretch of coast.  This was also a fabulous audio tour – the Queen Mum was the first female Warden, and she used to come down and vacation every year.  The Duke of Wellington was a Warden, and he lived here for 23 years…finally dying in his room, where we saw his folding camp bed and the chair in which he died at 83.  Lots of other good stuff, as well. 

The climax of the day was to be Dover Castle – fortified for 2,000 years, and the site of most of the planning of the WWII defense of Britain and attack against the continent.  It’s absolutely HUGE, and quite confusing.  English Heritage (do not come to England without joining – they have many properties, and mostly very well done) manages Dover Castle, along with the previous two we visited, but the difference in the presentation is just enormous.  I suspect that they haven’t restructured their program since dropping the audio tour system because of excess losses to vandals….but they really do need to.  There is no way to get an idea of where to go and what to see unless you pay four or five pounds for the illustrated guide book.  No placards explaining anything, no brochure leading you around to the major sites, etc.  And you’ve already paid almost US$20.00 to get in!!  Unless (like us) you’re a member of English Heritage…..still, we felt the lack. 

We took the guided tour of the “secret WWII tunnels”, centered on the 1797 excavations and much enlarge for the War.  Admiral somebody or other planned and directed the evacuation of Dunkirk from here, and four years later did the same for the Normandy Invasion….seeing it all was pretty exciting.  Then we headed for the medieval underground system – no one was there, and no interpretation whatever was provided.  We enjoyed climbing up and down steps and walking through the tunnels and looking out in to the moat, and so on, but it was frustrating to know so little.  After emerging we headed for the keep – which was begun by the Saxons, enlarged by Henry II and again and again until it attained its present conditions.  It’s incredible.  But you enter the area around the keep through the gate and there isn’t even a sign directing you to the video program they have introducing the castle – explaining a bit about it and suggesting how best to see things. 

We went first into the keep itself, and had a pretty good time, although the only interpretation was a lot of stuff purporting to be the castle help getting ready for Henry VIII’s two-day visit and explaining everything that had to be done and how they accomplished it.  Interesting, but not much about the castle itself.  We got to go up and down the stairs to the roof and the various levels, through tunnels in the walls to the garde-robes (so named because their robes were hung there so that the ammonia from the privies would kill the pests).  When we were finished, it was about 5:30, and we figured there was plenty of time for the 12-minute presentation of “Preparations for the Siege” in the cellars – but the last one had started at 5:20…..who told us THAT?  No one.  Very bad.  Ah well – the castle was grand….we saw a church built by Saxons on Roman foundations and restored (after use as a coal store) in the mid-1800s.  Alongside is the Roman lighthouse – 2/3 of it is still Roman, the top was put on later….after the Roman top had fallen (I think).  Their lighthouse was about twice the height of the present tower, which was incorporated into the church as its belltower.

We again drove the coastal route toward Hastings – bought some breakfast and lunch things in Folkestone (NOT an attractive place) and ate Chinese takeaway in———- which was VERY nice….both the town and the food.  Got to the hostel, which is in an old hunting lodge, in time for tea and Hobnobs and now it’s time for shower and bed.

Posted by on 07/13 at 04:05 AM
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