At first glance, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong with this seemingly idyllic housing estate in Dover, Kent.
With manicured lawns, well-kept roads and breathtaking views of the Channel, you’d anticipate these four- and five-bedroom homes on the Kent coast to be highly sought after. The hilly cul-de-sac boasts a playground with a faded slide and a fire-engine rocker – but it’s been ages since children were seen playing between the houses.
Every window is shielded by steel shutters, front doors are bolted, and garages are locked. The only sounds are the rustling of the wind in the trees and the echo of my footsteps on the pavement, writes Max Chesson.
Welcome to Old Park Close in Dover – previously the married officers’ estate for Old Park Barracks. Once bustling with Army families, it has now been deserted for decades. Indeed, strolling through it feels like a journey back to the 1990s, the time when the last military families packed their bags and left. It’s all well-maintained, yet eerily silent – a neighbourhood devoid of neighbours.
Unlike other forsaken estates, there’s no sign of decay here. The entire place appears ready for habitation, yet it remains utterly still.
Despite measures taken to keep intruders out, locals report that Dover teenagers are often sighted there. The houses themselves are spacious and characteristic of their time.
They’re the sort of family homes that would command hefty prices if they were up for sale on the open market. Some houses are shrouded in ivy, with rusting satellites and loose tiles, while others remain almost untouched, awaiting someone to bring life back into this once bustling neighbourhood.
Old Park Barracks, first constructed in the 1930s, played a significant role during World War II. In later years, it became the residence of the Royal Corps of Signals. Old Park Close was home to the families of soldiers – children spent their childhood on its peaceful cul-de-sacs while their parents worked at the camp across the road.
When the barracks shut down in the 1990s, the Army families departed. The houses were boarded up, and the garages locked.
The Ministry of Defence put the 225-acre Old Park Barracks on the market in 1991, with the stipulation that the 91 acres of woodland be preserved. The houses on the site were still inhabited by the Argyll and Sutherland Highland Regiment and were under consideration for retention.
There were plans to transform the site into a sports college, but in 1992, the homes were included in the package of MOD houses sold to Annington Homes. They remained vacant in 1996 when it was decided that the families of Gurkhas, stationed in Hong Kong, would be returned to Nepal before the Transfer of Sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
In a letter to The Times newspaper, Chris Barnett, the then-director of health and housing at Dover District Council, made the case for 120 Gurkhas and their families to be housed in the still-empty homes at Old Park. Annington Homes rejected the proposal and the houses remained vacant.
Since then, it has lingered in this peculiar limbo state. It is currently surplus to requirements, though there are numerous what-ifs and maybes to be resolved.
The MOD is examining the prospect of re-using it for military accommodation and has also pondered asking Dover District Council if it would wish to take on the site. Should both schemes collapse, it will go on the open market, where a developer would undoubtedly demolish it and double the number of homes here.
Cllr James Back, whose ward encompasses the estate, told KentOnline it’s “almost like it’s out of sight, out of mind”.
“Could the council have done more to try and get them back or even purchase them or rent them? I think so,” said Cllr Back. “I don’t think that any properties should be standing empty wherever; it doesn’t matter where they are or who they belong to, they shouldn’t be standing empty. It wouldn’t be that difficult to come up with some way of being able to use them as council properties.”
Dover is a town moulded by its military heritage. From the Western Heights to Fort Burgoyne, reminders of the Army are everywhere.
Old Park Close is a living testament to history – not a ruin, not a redevelopment site, but a perfectly preserved echo of a bygone era. Standing at the top of the road, gazing down at the houses, one can’t help but envision the life that once thrived here.
Children of soldiers racing their bikes, summer evening barbecues, cars parked outside every garage. The shell of it all remains – the only thing absent are the people.
Old Park Close is Dover’s frozen estate. A place where time has stood still, where the lawns are manicured, the houses intact, but the community has long since disappeared.