Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A tannery is visible in this location on historic OS maps dating to the later 19th and early 20th century. There appears to have been a tannery at this site since at least the early 18th century when lands belonging to the Maison Dieu were split up and sold. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• TANNERY (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1750 AD? to 1922 AD?)
• TANNING PIT (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1750 AD? to 1922 AD?)

Full description

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A tannery is visible in this location on historic OS maps dating to the later 19th and early 20th century. There appears to have been a tannery at this site since at least the 18th century when lands belonging to the Maison Dieu were split up and sold. The estate eventually passed to the Gunman family and by the later 18th century Stembrook tannery was owned by Edward Jeffries (d1812). It was situated opposite, on the west side of the Dour bordered by an ancient footpath that ran from the Market Place to St James Church, at the foot of the eastern cliffs, and then up to the Castle. The footpath traversed the Stembrook-Dour by a ford. In 1792, just before the start of the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), the Market Square – Castle footpath was commandeered by the military along with a corner of land, next to the Dour, belonging to the tannery. On the commandeered land the Board of Ordnance built the four-storey Stembrook mill to provide flour for the great number of troops that were being moved into the town. The mill adversely affected the tannery’s water supply and it along with the land holdings was put on the market. Humphrey Humphreys, (1772-1863) from Tenterden bought the tannery and land holdings. Using the small stream, he diverted a water supply to the tannery, which subsequently thrived. In the year 1830, his tannery was on the north side of the Dour, and he had a meadow on the south side, where Castle Street now is. Mr. Humphrey Humphrey, soon after selling that part of his property to the syndicate who formed Castle Street, left Dover, and he was shortly after elected mayor of Buckingham. He, however, left a son in Dover, also named Humphrey Humphrey, who continued to carry on the tannery until it was acquired by Mr. W. R. Mummery, from Deal, a keen businessman, who introduced into the works many improvements in method and machinery. He died in 1868, and the tannery was afterwards carried on by his two sons, Mr. William Gange Mummery and Mr. A. P. Mummery. The business was acquired, in 1899, by Mr. G. A. Bacon, who imparted new life to an old established local industry, but with 20th century methods and conditions, the tannery was closed in 1922. (1-6) - summarised from written sources

<1> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 1st edition 1862-1875): Landmark Epoch 1 (Map). SKE30964.

<2> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 2nd Edition, 1897-1900): Landmark Epoch 2 (Map). SKE30965.

<3> Landmark, 1907-1923, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 3rd Edition, 1907-1923): Landmark Epoch 3 (Map). SKE30966.

<4> C. E. Goad, 1905, Kent Fire insurance plans sheets 1-7 (Map). SKE51666.

<5> Lorraine Sencicle, 2018, The Dover Historian - Stembrook Tannery to Pencester Gardens Part 1 (Website). SKE51677.

<6> J. Bavington Jones, 1907, Dover; A Perambulation of the Town, Port and Fortress. (Monograph). SKE32120.

Sources and further reading