Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/803

Rh DOVER. 793 DOVERCOURT. own, situated in the valley, chiefly occupied by trades- >eoplo and mariners. It has one principal street, with nany smaller streets branching off from it, all paved and ighted. Few of its public buildings are of much iuto- est. Amongst them may bo enumerated the Maison )ieu, now the townhall, lately restored at an expense if 6,000 ; the sessions-house, museum, custom-house, irison, the station of the South-Eastern railway, post iffice, and steam-packet establishments. The Castle, lowever, is the great attraction. It is situated on a sliff, 300 feet high, and occupies 35 acres of land. The Castle Pharos, or light-tower, is, perhaps, the most mcient relic of Roman work in England. It was ori- ginally hexagonal, although altered into an octagon in he 13th century, and is about 14 paces across ; the vail at the bottom is very thick, and 40 feet high. The keep in the centre of the upper court is a fine mas- ive structure. The towers are numerous, and some of hem of Norman architecture. Among the curiosities lere shown is Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol, a piece f brass ordnance 24 feet in length, presented to that iy the states of Holland. The castle is strongly , and has undergone within the last century is improvements. In particular, various subter-
 * ncan communications were formed for the reception of

be soldiery, and barracks excavated in the solid rock ufficicntly capacious to lodge 2,000 men. On the western heights are the barracks, communicating with he town by a curious military shaft of 3 spiral nights f 140 steps each, and a straight staircase of 59 more teps. Batteries with heavy guns have been formed on iho cliff' above, which are now considered the real of the place, the castle being commanded by In se heights. Great changes will shortly be effected n the fortifications, in accordance with the New Forti- ications Bill, which includes Dover, and for the carrying >ut of which, in 1882, 3,200,000 were voted, and a urther sum of larger amount sanctioned. The ancient own and port of Dover 'contained originally five larishes, but at present there are only two those of <t. James and St. Mary. The following are the churches : it. Mar}' in the Castle, an ancient building, lately restored iy G. G. Scott, and now used as a garrison chapel : the iving is a perpet. cur. in the patron, of the parishioners ; ft. James, in St. James-street, a very ancient structure, irobably Anglo-Saxon : the living is a rect., val. 245, n the patron, of the archbishop ; the church of St. James,
 * nl handsome ragstoue building, now the parish

hurch, situated at the foot of the Castle Hill, in the laison Dieu road, above which stands the new rectory- ouse; Trinity church, a perpet. cur.,* val. 180 ; SS. nd Paul, Charlton ; and St. Peter, Buckland. 'unity church and Christ church are modern erections, aving districts assigned to them. St. John's mariners' anrch is a Dissenting chapel in connection with the I lome. The Unitarians have a chapel in Adrian- the Friends a meeting-house in Queen-street; 1 >. Vr sloyans chapels in Snargate-street and Buckland ; he Independents in Russell-street ; the Baptists in '' '.- [; i 1 1 -street and Commercial Quay. In Elizabeth-street tin. 1 Roman Catholic church. The Jews' synagogue is Northampton-street (newly built). There are several schools conducted on the National system : 35 T. 'lowed almshouses have existed here from time iinme- . .rial ; they are under the management of the charity A workhouse has been erected by the Poor- iw Commissioners. Dover is the principal station and .at of government of the Cinque Ports, having for its niV-rs the corporate towns of Folkestone, Faversham, I) ! .Margate, and the parishes and places of St. John's, Wellington, and St. Peter's, in Thanet, and Kingsdown r.d Kingwold, near Deal ; the other cinque-port towns ting Hastings, Sandwich, Romnoy, and Hythe. The
 * i "f the Cinque Ports is Constable of the Castle of

lover. The trade of the town consists in ship-building, !dl and rope making, paper-making, &c. What has nled greatly to the prosperity of the port is the faci- jty it affords for continental communication. The mail- ticket establishments consist generally of 12 steamers, VOL. t and the foreign service is performed by private contrac- tors, 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 im- ports 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 en- trance 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 com- bines 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. Sliak- speare'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 continu- ally gaining on the coast, the poet's description may at some future time be the only memorial of this magnifi- cent 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 modem in one heterogeneous pile. Market days are Wednesday and Saturday ; there was an annual fair on the 23rd No- vember 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. DOVER, STRAITS OF, called by the French Pas ik Calais, extend on the English side from Dungeness, N.E., to the North Foreland, and on the Frencli side from Cape Grisnez to Calais. The straits separate England from France, and are 22 miles in length, with an average breadth of 21 miles ; the shortest distance across is from Dover to Cape Grisnez, only 18 miles. The straits connect the English Channel with the North Sea, and are lined on either side by steep chalk cliffs, varying in height from 300 to GOO feet, the highest being on the English coast. The Straits are shallow, being in some places only 1J fathoms, but the average depth is from 6 to 30 fathoms. The current varies in places, owing to the meeting of the tide from both the Atlantic and German oceans. DOVERCOURT, a par. and watering place in the borough of Harwich, in the co. of Essex, 2 miles S.W. of Harwich, and 69} from London by the Great Eastern railway, the Harwich and Manning-tree branch of which passes through this pkce. It is situated at the mouth of the river Stour, and consists of two parts, Upper and Lower Dovercourt. The latter, commonly called Dovercourt New Town, may be regarded as a suburb of Harwich, though the town of Harwich is reaffy a hamlet of Dovercourt, which is the municipal and parliamentary boiough. This place has made rapid improvement within the last few years, and now extends 5 i