Dover Castle - England’s longest-serving fortress
Baku, April 25, AZERTAC
England is considered a home to over 4,000 castles, erected many hundreds of years ago, scattering throughout the country’s coastline and rural areas.
Many of these ancient constructions are still standing today, reminding of England’s rich historical heritage.
Scroll down, to discover the longest-serving fortress of England - the Dover Castle.
Commanding as the shortest sea crossing between England and Europe, Dover Castle has a long and immensely eventful history.
Known as the ‘key to England’, this great fortress has played a crucial role in the defence of the country for over nine centuries, a span equalled only by the Tower of London and Windsor Castle.
Located in the town of Dover, a major ferry port of the county of Kent in the southeast of England, the castle, which stands 375 feet (114 metres) above sea level, was of great importance for Romans, as they invaded Britain in AD 43.
The Romans left their mark in grand style in the shape of the faros or lighthouse.
It is the tallest Roman building north of the Italian Alps that is still left standing.
According to the BBC, the castle’s stone tower is almost 2,000 years old and was used as one of the beacons to guide the Roman navy across the English Channel.
A thousand years later and Dover was under the Normans who also left their mark in the shape of Dover's huge keep, as William the Conqueror captured the port in 1066.
The castle was extended in the 12th century, although nothing is known of its appearance before the great rebuilding of the 1180s.
Built between 1179 and 1188 it was a massive symbol of King Henry II's power.
By the late 18th Century Dover Castle had expanded again - three and a half miles of tunnels had been dug out, some of them 150 feet deep.
The oldest tunnels were hewn out of the chalk bedrock in the 1790s, and led to a large underground chamber.
The tunnels later became an important defensive nerve centre during the Second World War, as the town of Dover suffered an extensive bombing and shelling.
The Dover Castle continues to fascinate thousands of local and foreign visitors as England’s longest-standing fortress.
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