Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Mapping dating to the early post medieval period notes the presence of a Harbour wall, continuing south from the southern end of the long wall of the Great Pent (in the same approximate location of the east end of Union Street/west end of the Prince of Wales Pier in an area which is today occupied by Garnville Dock) towards the north pier (location accurate to the nearest 50m based on available information).

Monument Types

• BREAKWATER (Post Medieval to Modern - 1592 AD to 1978 AD?)

Full description

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Mapping dating to the early post medieval period notes the presence of a Harbour wall, continuing south from the southern end of the long wall of the Great Pent (in the same approximate location of the east end of Union Street/west end of the Prince of Wales Pier) towards the north pier. Today the harbour wall is possibly located in an area occupied by the Tidal Harbour.

The creation of this harbour wall constitutes part of the third phase of improvements on Dover’s harbour which occurred in the very late Medieval and early post medieval period. The first being the works undertaken by Clerk near Archcliffe Fort and Paradise Pent (now lost) in c. 1500 and the second being that proposed by Thompson but never completed between Paradise Pent and the South Pier in c.1533-1551. By the late 1570's to early 1580's a firm and compact ridge of beach had been formed between an area near the present mouth of the river Dour and the area now occupied by the 'North Pier'. Plans were therefore drawn up during this time to consolidate this ridge and enclose the harbour. (1)

The first plan which shows the full extent of this third phase of works after their completion, including the harbour wall, it that drawn by Thomas Digges, dating to 1595 (shortly after the works were completed). This plan is a very good example of a precise and detailed early cartographic source; all of the important features within Dover harbour are numbered and labelled in a key, sometimes with a date. The harbour wall is here shown to continue south-eastwards from the southern end of the long wall of the Great Pent (which was also constructed during this phase of works in c. 1583) and stops at North Pier which continues, at approximately a right angle to the wall, into the open sea, and is labelled as 'The New Earthen Wall made 1592'. (2)

A later map of the harbour which includes a detailed depiction of the harbour wall, is that produced by William Eldred which dates to 1641. Here, again, the harbour wall is seen continuing south-eastwards from the end of the long wall of the Great Pent. There are however, a number of notable differences in Eldred’s Depiction of the Harbour wall and Digges's, the first being the consolidation of the land to the south-west of the harbour wall and the development of a number of buildings/dwellings. The second is the fact that the harbour wall does not continue along the entire south eastern side of the harbour and there is a gap between its southern end and the North Pier. (3)

It is possible that part of this harbour wall was located in 1849, a report from the Illustrated London News of 1849 notes that: ‘During the past week the workmen in the employ of the harbour authorities have been engaged in removing the remains of an ancient pier, which have been discovered in the interior of the harbour, near what is termed the Hardway, where vessels at low tide undergo repair. By the position of the wooden piles and stonework - the upper extremities of which have been unexpectedly exposed to view by the action of the recent easterly gales, having stripped the vicinity of the Hardway of a large portion of the shingle accumulated there - the pier must have been buried for several centuries under the quay which for many years was the site of the old Dover Castle Hotel and the Government store houses, and which were removed four or five years ago to make way for the recent enlargement of the harbour’ (Saturday, October 27, 1849; page 285). (4)

The position of this structure can be roughly determined as today lying around 50 to100 metres southwest of the Clock Tower in what is now the Tidal Harbour, off Northwall Quay. The structure is thus likely to have all gone. Nor is the actual date of this pier easy to determine, but if it truly was sealed below the ‘Government store houses’, which originated in the seventeenth century, an earlier date must be implied. The earliest harbour walls built in this area would belong to the sixteenth century and this structure could have been a portion of one of them. (5)

<1> W. Batcheller, 1828, A New History of Dover and of Dover Castle (Monograph). SKE32012.

<2> Thomas Digges, 1595, The state of Dover Haven with the New workes (Map). SKE31987.

<3> William Eldred, 1641, The Platt of Dover Castle Towne and Harbor (Map). SKE31804.

<4> 1849, Illustrated London News: October 27, 1849; (Newspaper). SKE32136.

<5> Keith Parfitt and Paul Bennett, 2015, Dover Western Docks Regeneration
Heritage Assessment
Keith Parfitt and Paul Bennett,
Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd,
Dover Western Docks Regeneration; Heritage Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE32137.

Sources and further reading