St Mary in Castro, Dover

St Mary in Castro, or St Mary de Castro, is a church in the grounds of Dover Castle, Kent, south-east England. It is a heavily restored Saxon structure, built next to a Roman lighthouse which became the church bell-tower. St Mary serves the local population and the army, and is the church of the Dover Garrison.LocationDover is a major port on the south-east coast of England, at a gap in the white cliffs near the narrowest point of the English Channel. Its proximity to mainland Europe has made it a key military, maritime and trade location for millennia. The Romans built forts here in c. AD130 and c. AD270, and the town has fortifications from many eras since. The Romans also built two pharoses, possibly c. AD130, on the Eastern and Western Heights above the gap in the cliffs. St Mary in Castro is on the Eastern Heights.Saxon period600There are records of a church being built 'within the castle' by Eadbald of Kent in the 630s. However, it is unclear whether this means within the Saxon burgh on the Eastern Heights, or within the ruins of old Roman fortifications in the valley. The large, late-Saxon cemetery around the present church does suggest the existence of a c.600 church, but not definitively.