Access Guide
The PWRR and Queen’s Regiment Museum warmly welcomes all visitors. We aim to do all we can to help everyone enjoy our museum. We have undertaken changes to help everyone access our museum, and we continue to look for solutions to make our collection and the stories of our soldiers more accessible for all. All our staff at the museum have undertaken AccessAble’s ‘Disability Essentials’ training, and we will do our best to help you.
For any further information, please call us at 01304 240121 or email us at info@pwrrqueensmuseum.co.uk. We will reply to you within seven days.
We are always looking for suggestions to make our museum and collection more accessible, and we value all feedback we receive. Please contact us at info@pwrrqueensmuseum.co.uk or phone us at 01304 240121 if you have any suggestions for changes which would help you access our museum.
Download a copy of our access guide (Word, )
Getting to the Museum
The museum is inside the Keep of Dover Castle.
Arriving in Cars and Taxis
Dover Castle’s postcode is CT16 1HU.
When you arrive at Dover Castle by car or taxi, you will buy your ticket (or show your English Heritage or Friends of the PWRR Museum pass) at the manned booth at the entrance of the castle on Castle Hill, at Canon’s Gate.
Accessible parking is available for visitors at Palace Green car park. Taxis are permitted to drive visitors up to the accessible car parking at Palace Green.
The Palace Green car park is located 300 metres further up Godwin Road than the upper visitor car park. The road bends round to the left past the church of St Mary-in-Castro and the Roman Lighthouse.
Please note that, although Palace Green is designated as accessible, it does not have marked bays.
Arriving by bus
Buses 81 and 93 stop at the Dover Castle bus stop.
From the Dover Castle bus stop, it is an approximately 160 metre walk downhill to the pedestrian entrance to Dover Castle at Constable’s Tower. There is a 180 metre walk up a steep tarmac slope from the road to the entrance of the castle. You will buy your ticket to the castle (or show your Friends of the Museum pass) at a booth on the left hand side of this walk.
Once you enter the castle through Constable’s Gate, you will walk round to the right and up to Palace Green, a 180 metre walk uphill on tarmac.
Walking to the Museum from Palace Green
From Palace Green, there is a 50 metre long steep slope with a camber to the Great Keep’s drawbridge. The drawbridge is uneven. There is a 60mm gap between each plank of the drawbridge.
From the drawbridge, visitors walk 80m to the right, around the Great Tower, to reach the PWRR Museum. The museum has a red sign above the door. The slab paving around the Keep is uneven in places.
The ramp to the front door of the PWRR Museum is steep and does not have a level platform. The door must be pushed inwards to enter the museum. The door is quite heavy.
Mobility Aids
Dover Castle provides a small number of mobility scooters for visitors which can be booked in advance and on the day (subject to availability). To book a mobility scooter, please email English Heritage at Dover.Castle@English-Heritage.org.uk.
There is an accessible vehicle available for visitors to travel across the Dover Castle site – please ask a member of English Heritage staff to use this service.
Inside the Museum
The museum gallery is all on the ground floor. There are changes of level throughout with ramps. The museum is step-free, but some of the ramps are steep. The museum is designed with a one-way route, and in places it can be difficult to pass others. The doorways in the museum are all 762mm wide. There are two points in the galleries where the route becomes especially narrow:
The ramp in the second room, around the Ship Scene, varies between 770mm and 900mm wide.
The ramp from the First World War area is 780mm wide at its narrowest point.
Sound effects
There are two areas in the museum with sound effects:
The Ship Scene in our second room has a soundtrack of gulls and other seabirds, and noises of the sea.
Outside the Second World War room there is a speaker which plays a recording of gunfire and explosions.
Museum staff can turn off these sound effects if requested. Please contact us in advance at 01304 240121 or info@pwrrqueensmuseum.co.uk and we will be happy to help.
Quiet times to visit
If you would prefer to visit when the museum is less crowded, we would recommend visiting between 10AM and 11AM or 3PM to our closing time.
Toilets
Toilets are available to the right of the museum exit, including an accessible toilet and a separate baby changing facility. The PWRR Museum does not have its own toilets – these facilities are provided by English Heritage.
There is a Changing Places toilet inside the NAAFI café at the Castle, which is outside of the Keep, towards the bottom of the Dover Castle site.
Refreshments
English Heritage’s Great Tower Café sells hot and cold drinks and a selection of lighter hot and cold food (for example, sandwiches and pasties). The Great Tower café is 73 metres away from the exit of the PWRR and Queen’s Regiment Museum, on the other side of the Keep Yard. The paving between the Museum exit and the café can be uneven.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own food on site. There are picnic tables around the Keep and an indoor picnic room on the ground floor with level access available for visitors (subject to availability).
Guide and assistant dogs
Guide dogs and other assistance dogs are welcome inside the museum. Dog bowls are provided outside the Great Tower in the Keep Yard, outside Arthur’s Hall. There is no dedicated dog spending area.
Accessing the rest of Dover Castle
Dover Castle provides a small number of mobility scooters for visitors which can be booked in advance and on the day (subject to availability).
There is an accessible mobility bus for visitors to help them around the site – please speak to a member of English Heritage staff to access it.
