Strange as it may seem, the curtain walls of Dover Castle were actually lowered in response to the threat of invasion by Napoleon. No, the English had not gone completely mad. Stones were deliberately removed from the wall to make platforms for guns.

Dover Castle was built high on the White Cliffs by Henry II, who was quick to realise its strategic position just twenty mile across the Channel from France. But its importance was understood much earlier than the Middle Ages. Its history goes back to the Iron Age and continues beyond the Second World War. Much of this is documented, giving Dover the longest recorded history of any major fortress in the country.

You can see Henry II's bedroom suite housed in the great square along with two chapels. The 75 metre deep well was built to provide the garrison with water. From the top of the keep there is a panoramic view across the Channel to France. The inner courtyard around the keep shows the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, an exhibition telling the story of the Queen's and Royal Hampshire's Regiments, long associated with the castle. At the same time as the gun platforms were fitted into the curtain walls, the medieval underground works, a network of tunnels under the castle, were adapted to counter any attack from Napoleon. The defences at Dover were continually modernised over the centuries, making it one of the largest and most complete castles in Britain today.

Beyond the castle are the remains of the Pharos, a 12 metre high Roman lighthouse. Although it was originally 30 metres high, it is among the tallest Roman structures still standing in Europe. The Saxons used it as the bell-tower of the Church of St. Mary of Castro nearby.