Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Former site of the Dover Hoverport in the Eastern Docks which was opened in 1968 and closed ten years later after the creation of a larger hoverport at Dovers Western Dock. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information).

Monument Types

• HOVERCRAFT TERMINAL (Modern - 1968 AD to 1978 AD)

Full description

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Early hovercraft operations out of Dover by Townsend to Calais ran from a base in the North East corner of the Camber in Dover Eastern Docks, directly adjacent to the car ferry terminal. The official opening was carried out by Princess Margaret on 31 July 1968. It consisted of a small terminal building and a hoverpad. This was a modern but relatively small building, and certainly not on a comparable scale to Hoverlloyd's Pegwell Bay hoverport just up the coast. Services using Seaspeed's twin craft The Princess Anne and The Princess Margaret were run initially to Boulogne Le Portel, before Calais was also offered on a trial basis in 1970 and then permanently after 1971. The growth of Eastern Docks car ferry traffic, combined with the stretching of Seaspeed's two SRN4s in 1978 and the introduction of the French N500 meant that a rather larger base was by then required and this was duly provided in the Western Docks, adjacent to the Prince of Wales pier and facing the original train ferry dock over the entrance to the inner docks. The original Eastern Docks hoverport location was soon subsumed by the continuing expansion of that part of the port. (1-2)

<1> Dover District Council, 2013, Dover District Heritage Strategy (Bibliographic reference). SKE31372.

<2> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading