Built as part of a line of defensive fortifications stretching from Sandown in the north to Walmer in the south to protect The Downs, the strategically important anchorage between the coast and the Goodwin Sands, during the reign of Henry VIII. Castles were built at Sandown, Deal and Walmer and these were linked by a series of four bulwark forts. In turn these were linked by a defensive fosse (ditch and bank entrenchment). The bulwark forts survived into the C.18 and were drawn by Stukely in AD1725. The line of the fosse and the location of the bulwark forts has not been established but features on the First Edition OS map supports evidence that they were sited at 700 m. intervals, the fosse line being located by using a best fit of earlier boundaries and by examination of the illustrations drawn by Stukely and others. (1)

Dover District Council, 2013, Dover District Heritage Strategy (Bibliographic reference). SKE31372.