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How Long Did It Take to Build Dover Castle?
Short answer: about 10 years, from 1179 to 1189.
A skull once kept here was said to be Sir Gawain's, King Arthur's knight. William Caxton mentions it in 1485.
What the sources say about the building period
The castle visible today was established by Henry II in 1179–89 (great tower, inner bailey wall); later phases followed. The stone estimate covers the whole castle, not only this phase. English Heritage Official source
Stone and crew in numbers
- Country and type
- England, castle
- Stone in the walls
- 50,000 to 90,000 m³ Estimate
- For comparison
- about 28 Olympic pools of stone, or 7,000 truckloads
- Average crew
- about 837 workers (model value: the crew that would need exactly this long, working without a break)
Volume basis: great tower 29.5 m wide, 25.3 m high, walls up to 6.4 m; outer wall encloses 32 acres. Checked against measurements. Our estimates come from published dimensions and are shown as a range. The result is a simple model, not a measured fact.
Where the stone came from
The great tower used white Caen limestone imported from Normandy for corners, bands and window surrounds, over walls of gray Kentish ragstone rubble and flint. The lime mortar came by boat from Gravesend. Current Archaeology: Interpreting Dover Castle's great tower Secondary source
Plan
Legend: tradition, not evidence
A skull kept in Dover Castle was said to be that of Sir Gawain, the knight of King Arthur.
What we know: William Caxton mentions the skull in 1485, and a French traveler reported seeing it in the late 14th century. It no longer exists.
Love British History: Gawain's skull Tradition, not evidence
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