Dover Castle and the history of coastal fortifications

What reading helps with the history of castles and coastal fortifications?

Histories of Dover Castle are a strong starting point, supplemented by studies of French and Dutch fortifications and sea forts.

Histories of Dover Castle are recommended because the site remained strategically important well beyond the medieval period, with some accounts continuing through the Crimean War era. Its position at the closest Channel crossing to France brought repeated investment in the fortifications. Studies of French and Dutch defensive works provide useful comparisons, while the wider subject of sea forts connects castle history with coastal defence. These books treat fortifications as military infrastructure that changed with weapons and invasion threats rather than as monuments fixed in one period.