Castlemount School

Castlemount School, c.1930

Castlemount School, c.1930 (Dover Express).

Castlemount School, Dover early picture from a French Postcard

Castlemount School, Dover
early picture from a French Postcard

The ill-fated Castlemount School, for many year's one of the town's secondary modern schools, had both a history, and a ghost! The building dated back to 1879 when it was run as a high class preparatory school for boys by Mr Robert Chignell.
In 1911, it was taken over by French monks known as Les Freres des Ecoles Christiennes who came to England because of an anti-clerical movement in France and established it as a training centre for teachers. It must be from this time that the ghost stories began. It is said the school was haunted by a ghost known as the Black Monk. In the First World War the school had a narrow escape from destruction. The monks left and the military took over the building and were using it as barracks when the very first bomb to hit Dover fell barely a metre from the perimeter wall. The monks returned after the war but eventually the school was taken over by Kent Education Committee and turned into the mixed secondary school we came to know so well.

Castlemount School main building was devastated by fire

In June 1973 the main building was devastated by fire, believed to be arson.
A new school was built but in recent years Castlemount was closed, demolished
and the site re-developed with houses.