Dover Castle
Dover Castle
Discover to the Key to England on a fantastic educational trip visit Dover Castle!
New: Operation Dynamo: Rescue from Dunkirk.
Explore the Secret Wartime Tunnels deep beneath the castle to see, hear and feel - as never before!
Spectacularly situated above the White Cliffs of Dover this magnificent castle has guarded our shores from invasion for 20 centuries - now you can enjoy a great family day out with a visit to the 'Key to England'.
Explore the darkly atmospheric Secret Wartime Tunnels including the vivid recreation of the Dunkirk evacuation in Operation Dynamo: Rescue from Dunkirk, complete with dramatic projections of swooping Spitfires and real film footage.
Enjoy a colourful contrast with the richly-furnished Great Tower, where costumed actors introduce medieval life at King Henry II's court.
With exciting exhibitions, winding tunnels to explore, ghosts to hunt out - and of course restaurants, shops and space for youngsters to run around - an action-packed, great value family day out awaits!
- The immersive experience of visiting the Great Tower
- Tours of the darkly atmospheric Secret Wartime Tunnels
- Into the Woods behind the scenes tours - Saturdays in January
- Half term fun with Secrets & Spies
View our Interactive Map of the Castle
Guided Tours
Underground Hospital Tour:
Let an expert English Heritage guide take you deep into the White Cliffs to explore the Underground Hospital in the Secret Wartime Tunnels. Relive those remarkable days and follow an injured pilot as doctors fight for his life. You will be able to hear and smell the fearsome action through stunning audio-visual effects! 20 mins approx.
Did you know?
The Cold War tunnels under Dover Castle were equipped with everything a government would need to hold out during nuclear holocaust. But since they were cut into chalk, which is permeable, they would eventually have let in the radioactive rain.
Did you know?
Prince Louis of France laid siege to Dover Castle in 1215, following King John reneging on the terms of Magna Carta in the very year he signed it! The Barons were excommunicated by the Pope on King John's request and so assisted Louis in raising an army and invading south east England. After three long months, their assault failed at Dover, despite digging into the soft chalk cliffs and bringing down one of the outer towers of the castle. King John died just a few days later. The assault led to the cattle's defences being extended much further out, being enlarged and fortified by successive England kings.
Did you know?
In 1803 an army of 130,000 men and 2,00 barges were assembled at Boulogne by Napoloen Bonaparte with the express purpose of invading Britain. He identified Dover as the main crossing point which they needed to secure. An engineer WIlliam Twiss was engaged by the British to add cannon platforms and reinforcements to the existing walls to give further gun emplacements, as well as digging out miles of tunnels below the castle to give the thousands of massed troops somewhere to billet while awaiting the invasion and constructed the grand shaft, a tower with three circular staircases, which would allow the troops to quickly reach the beach should Napoleonic forces arrive. In manoeuvres it took just 12 and a half minutes to get 1,000 men onto the beach. Impressive! But Napoleon never attempted the invasion and after defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 he turned his attentions to central Europe.
Did you know?
The secret wartime tunnels are where Bertrand Ramsey coordinated the massive rescue effort from the beaches at Dunkirk known as Operation Dynamo in 1940.
Did you know?
Dover played a part in the D-Day landings by running the main decoy mission which saw hundreds of fake landing craft massed in the harbour and thousands of fake orders and signals sent via its underground transmission room.