The grand shaft

On selected days each year Dover’s ‘Grand Shaft’ is opened up the public.

Described as an architectural marvel at the time, the grand shaft is a staircase dug into the chalk hillside of the western heights in the early 1800s as part of the defences against a possible invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte.

It’s purpose was to link barracks with the port below so soldiers could move quickly between them. What I didn’t realise was it has three sets of stairs within it, supposedly one was for the officers and their ladies, the second for seargeants and their wives and the third was for soldiers and their women. Personally I think It was to allow quick movements up and down the shaft but I like the story.