The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868

"DOVER, a market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, comprising the parishes of St. James and St. Mary, in the lower half hundred of Bewsboro', lathe of St. Augustine, in the county of Kent, 72 miles from London, 40 from Maidstone, and 15 from Canterbury. It is a terminus of the South-Eastern, and the London, Chatham, and Dover railways. This port is one of great antiquity. By the Britons it was called Dwfyrrha, "a steep place;" by the Romans Debris; and by the Saxons Dofra or Dofris. Prince Arthur is supposed to have held his court here. It was anciently walled, both by Severus and King Widred, and had ten gates.

The Cinque Ports were established by William I. Edward the Confessor granted a charter constituting a warden of ports on the coast, and Godwin, Earl of Kent, was the first warden and constable of Dover Castle. In 1296 Dover was taken by the French, who, however, were immediately driven out. During the reign of Edward III. it was appointed as the port of embarkation for pilgrims to the Continent. Owing to its situation, Dover has been famous for receiving sovereigns. Here, in 1520, Henry VIII. met Charles V; in 1625 Charles I. received his queen; in 1660 Charles II. landed; in 1814 Louis XVIII. embarked for France; and here the late Prince Consort landed in 1840. The borough had in 1850, 2,203 registered electors, and returns two members to parliament.

It possesses a population, according to the census of 1861, of 25,325, against 22,244 in 1856, showing an increase of 3,081 in the decennial period. The corporation, which is also the local board, consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors.

Dover is situated on the coast, at the opening of a deep valley formed by a depression in the chalk hills, which causes the basin of a small stream called the Dour. The town consists of a number of good houses facing the sea, built chiefly at East Cliff, the Marine Parade, Waterloo Crescent, Esplanade, &c., for summer sea-bathing visitors: and of the old town, situated in the valley, chiefly occupied by trades people and mariners. It has one principal street, with many smaller streets branching off from it, all paved and lighted. Few of its public buildings are of much interest. Amongst them may be enumerated the Maison Dieu, now the townhall, lately restored at an expense of £6,000; the sessions-house, museum, custom-house, prison, the station of the South-Eastern railway, post office, and steam-packet establishments.

The Castle, however, is the great attraction. It is situated on a cliff, 300 feet high, and occupies 35 acres of land. The Castle Pharos, or light-tower, is, perhaps, the most ancient relic of Roman work in England. It was originally hexagonal, although altered into an octagon in the 13th century, and is about 14 paces across; the wall at the bottom is very thick, and 40 feet high. The keep in the centre of the upper court is a fine massive structure. The towers are numerous, and some of them of Norman architecture. Among the curiosities here shown is Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol, a piece of brass ordnance 24 feet in length, presented to that queen by the states of Holland. The castle is strongly fortified, and has undergone within the last century numerous improvements. In particular, various subterranean communications were formed for the reception of the soldiery, and barracks excavated in the solid rock sufficiently capacious to lodge 2,000 men. On the western heights are the barracks, communicating with the town by a curious military shaft of 3 spiral flights of 140 steps each, and a straight staircase of 59 more steps. Batteries with heavy guns have been formed on the cliff above, which are now considered the real defence of the place, the castle being commanded by these heights. Great changes will shortly be effected in the fortifications, in accordance with the New Fortifications Bill, which includes Dover, and for the carrying out of which, in 1862, £3,200,000 were voted, and a further sum of larger amount sanctioned.

The ancient town and port of Dover contained originally five parishes, but at present there are only two: those of St. James and St. Mary. The following are the churches St. Mary in the Castle, an ancient building, lately restored by G. G. Scott, and now used as a garrison chapel: the living is a perpetual curacy in the patronage of the parishioners; St. James, in St. James-street, a very ancient structure, probably Anglo-Saxon: the living is a rectory, value £245, in the patronage of the archbishop; the church of St. James, a large and handsome ragstone building, now the parish church, situated at the foot of the Castle Hill, in the Maison Dieu road, above which stands the new rectory house; Trinity church, a perpetual curacy, value £180; SS. Peter and Paul, Charlton; and St. Peter, Buckland. Trinity church and Christ church are modern erections, having districts assigned to them. St. John's mariners' church is a Dissenting chapel in connection with the Sailors' Home. The Unitarians have a chapel in Adrian street; the Friends a meeting-house in Queen-street; the Wesleyans chapels in Snargate-street and Buckland; the Independents in Russell-street; the Baptists in Biggin-street and Commercial Quay. In Elizabeth-street is the Roman Catholic church. The Jews' synagogue is in Northampton-street (newly built). There are several charity schools conducted on the National system: 35 endowed almshouses have existed here from time immemorial; they are under the management of the charity trustees. A workhouse has been erected by the Poorlaw Commissioners.

Dover is the principal station and seat of government of the Cinque Ports, having for its members the corporate towns of Folkestone, Faversham, and Margate, and the parishes and places of St. John's, Birchington, and St. Peter's, in Thanet, and Kingsdown and Ringwold, near Deal; the other cinque-port towns being Hastings, Sandwich, Romney, and Hythe. The Warden of the Cinque Ports is Constable of the Castle of Dover. The trade of the town consists in ship-building, sail and rope making, paper-making, &c. What has tended greatly to the prosperity of the port is the facility it affords for continental communication. The mail packet establishments consist generally of 12 steamers, and the foreign service is performed by private contractors, under the control of a commander of the navy. The number of packets is variable. The Ostend mail is at present carried by Belgian government boats. Dover holds considerable rank as a port, and is the grand pilot station of the Cinque Ports, with 72 pilots attached to it, under the regulations of the Trinity House. Dover imports between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of coal annually, and also carries on a considerable foreign trade. The greater number of vessels belonging to the port are engaged in fishing. The harbour is naturally small, and the entrance difficult. The Admiralty Pier was commenced as a harbour of refuge. The pier, which is a beautiful construction, acts as a breakwater and landing-place. Its entire length, now all but completed, is 1,800 feet. There will be three landing-places on the E. side, and probably two on the W. These works, when completed, will have cost above £2,500,000. The elevated walk on the western side will be the finest marine parade in the kingdom.

The town is lighted with gas from the works near the Guildford Battery, and has lately undergone sanitary improvements in new drainage and an extra supply of water. In October, 1851, direct communication by electric telegraph was established between England and the Continent, by means of a submarine wire laid across the channel from Dover to Calais. The scenery of Dover and its neighbourhood is very fine, and combines gracefully rural and marine beauties-the broad and excellent beach; the romantic view of the cliffs and the castle; the singular situation of the buildings; the extensive sea prospect, with the French coast in the distance,-all combine to render Dover one of the gayest and most fashionable places of summer resort. Shakspeare's Cliff, rising to the height of 350 feet above the sea, is situated at a little distance from the town, and is perforated by a tunnel on the South-Eastern railway. In May, 1847, a huge mass of this chalk cliff, 250 feet in height, scaled off, and fell on the beach, containing at least 50,000 tons of chalk. Shortly after, another fall of 10,000 cubic yards took place, and as the sea is continually gaining on the coast, the poet's description may at some future time be the only memorial of this magnificent mass.

The Priory, or St. Martin's the Less, founded in 1132, is now a ruin; but the chief attraction to the antiquary is the Castle, which presents some of the earliest specimens of regular masonry in the country, combining Roman, Saxon, Norman, and modern in one heterogeneous pile. Market days are Wednesday and Saturday; there was an annual fair on the 23rd November for haberdashery and wearing apparel, but the right to hold the fair was surrendered to the crown in 1847, since which it has not been held."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]