The Roman Pharos at Dover Castle

Mighty Dover Castle commands a view of the shortest sea crossing between Britain and continental Europe, a position of immense strategic importance. But within the walls of the medieval castle stands a much older building, dating from a time when Britain was an outpost of the Roman Empire. 

Around 2,000 years ago, in the early 2nd century AD, the Romans built a pharos, or lighthouse, here. This would have guided the ships of a Roman fleet into the harbour below.

The pharos was probably built on Castle Hill around this time, along with another on the high ground opposite (the Western Heights).

They were clearly intended to act as beacons, guiding shipping into the entrance to the harbour in the Dour estuary below.

The views from the topmost stage of the pharos seem to have been deliberately angled so that it could communicate not only with the second lighthouse on Western Heights but with Cap Gris Nez on the French coast. Platforms at the top of the towers would have held burning braziers to act as beacons.

On top of this can be seen the wall of a medieval belfry built to serve the church that was later built beside the pharos. The belfry walling is almost vertical – its facing is quite distinct from that of the sloping Roman walls.

At the base of the tower is a vertical plinth of Kentish ragstone. Above this, the walls are built of mortared flint rubble, faced with blocks of tufa (a riverine deposit found in the Dour valley) and greenish sandstone laid in thick layers.

This material is separated by bands of orange-red brick at the base of each stage, or level, of the tower. The tiered arches are also formed of brick.

The pharos owes its remarkable survival, in
part, to its reuse over the centuries. 

Immediately east of the pharos is the Anglo-Saxon church of St Mary in Castro, built in about AD 1000. It stands nearly 16 metres high, including its medieval additions.

Castle Hill probably became the centre of a fortified Anglo-Saxon settlement, which would help to explain why this huge church was built there.

The pharos was almost certainly incorporated into the design of the church as a bell tower. This makes it a rare example both of a western church tower, and of a double tower arrangement.

The doorway in the church west wall at first-floor level almost certainly linked to a corresponding opening in the pharos, converted from a Roman window.

The top stage of the belfry was rebuilt in about 1426–36 by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Masons were paid to set up its five windows, which were brought from nearby Folkestone.