Admiralty Lookout and the Defence of Dover Harbour, 1905–1945

Abstract

AbstractDover Castle played an important role in defending the south-east coast for almost 900 years, most crucially perhaps during both world wars of the twentieth century. In the Spring of 2008 English Heritage opened to the public an apparently unremarkable brick and concrete structure, perched on the very edge of the White Cliffs at the southern limit of the castle. Known as Admiralty Lookout, this building enjoys a panorama of the Dover Straits and the coast of France. In wartime it formed a lookout and communications centre for controlling those Royal Navy, Army coast artillery and civilian port authorities responsible for the safety of shipping in the Straits and the installations of the harbour. This article summarises its varied service history, and how the staff stationed there exercised their important commands.