Dover is known for being a sea port and the gateway to Europe and Europe’s gateway to Britain, but it is also famous for it’s
’White Cliffs’. Many an Airman was pleased to see them in World War II on there way back from raids on Germany. From the
top of the cliffs on a clear day, you can see France, 21 miles away across the English Channel.
In 55 BC, Julius Caesar landed near here with a force of about 6000 men, in the first wave of the Roman invasion. Later under
the Romans, the walled town of Dover was called Dubris, and was the beginning of an important Roman road, know as
Watling Street.
The town is overlooked and dominated by the sprawling Norman fortification which sits atop Castle hill. This site has been used
for defensive positions ever since the Roman occupation. William the Conquerer ordered his half brother, Bishop Odo of
Bayeux, to land at Dover with materials for erecting a castle in the event of a Norman victory.
Dover Castle is the earliest English castle which has fortifications arranged concentrically. The center tower is almost 100 ft
square, rising 95 ft with walls upto 21 ft thick, is defended by an inner wall incorporating 14 towers, surrounded by an outer
wall of nearly a mile in circumference, incorporating 20 more towers . Dover has been called ’’England’s greatest castle’’.