Dover Park Hospice

Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Port of Dover.

Archaeological finds have revealed that the area has always been a focus for peoples entering and leaving Britain. The name derives from the River Dour that flows through it.

In recent times the town has undergone transformations with a high-speed rail link to London, new retail in town with St James' area opened in 2018, and a revamped promenade and beachfront. This followed in 2019, with a new 500m Pier to the west of the Harbour, and new Marina unveiled as part of a £330m investment in the area. It has also been a point of destination for many illegal migrant crossings during the English channel migrant crisis.

The Port of Dover provides much of the town's employment, as does tourism including to the landmark White Cliffs of Dover. There were over 368,000 tourists visiting Dover castle in the year of 2019.
Dover is classified as a Large-Port Town, due to its large volumes of port traffic and low urban population .

History

Archaeological finds have shown that there were Stone Age people in the area, and that some Iron Age finds also exist. During the Roman period, the area became part of the Roman communications network. It was connected by road to Canterbury and Watling Street and it became '' Portus Dubris'', a fortified port. Dover has a partly preserved Roman lighthouse (the tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain) and the remains of a villa with preserved Roman wall paintings. Dover later figured in Domesday Book (1086).

Forts were built above the port and lighthouses were constructed to guide passing ships. It is one of the Cinque Ports. and has served as a bastion against various attackers: notably the French during the Napoleonic Wars and Germany during the Second World War.

During the Cold War, a Regional Seat of Government was located within the White Cliffs beneath Dover Castle. Curiously, this is omitted from the strategic objects appearing on the Soviet 1:10,000 city plan of Dover that was produced in 1974. The port would have served as an embarkation point for sending reinforcements to the British Army of the Rhine in the event of a Soviet ground invasion of Europe.

In 1974 a discovery was made at Langdon Bay off the coast near Dover. It contained bronze axes of French design and is probably the remainder of the cargo of a sunken ship. At the same time, this find also shows that trade routes across the Channel between England and France existed already in the Bronze Age, or even earlier. In 1992, the so-called Dover boat from the Bronze Age was discovered in six metres depth underwater. This is one of the oldest finds of a seaworthy boat. Using the radiocarbon method of investigation, the boat's construction was dated to approximately 1550 BC.

Etymology

First recorded in its Latinised form of '' Portus Dubris'', the name derives from the Brythonic word for water (''dwfr'' in Middle Welsh, ''dŵr'' in Modern Welsh apart from '' 'dwfrliw' '' (Watercolour) which has retained the old Welsh spelling, ''dour'' in Breton). The same element is present in the town's French name ''Douvres'' and the name of the river, ''Dour'', which is also evident in other English towns such as Wendover. However, the modern Modern Welsh name ''Dofr'' is an adaptation of the English name ''Dover''.

The current name was in use at least by the time of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' (between 1603 and 1606), in which the town and its cliffs play a prominent role.

The Siege of Dover (1216)

Louis VIII of France landed his army, seeking to depose King Henry III, on Dover's mainland beach. Henry III ambushed Louis' army with approximately 400 bowmen atop The White Cliffs of Dover and his cavalry attacking the invaders on the beach. However, the French slaughtered the English cavalry and made their way up the cliffs to disperse the bowmen. Louis' army seized Dover village, forcing the English back to Canterbury. French control of Dover lasted for three months after which English troops pushed back, forcing the French to surrender and return home.

Geography and climate

Dover is in the south-east corner of Britain. From South Foreland, the nearest point to the European mainland, Cap Gris Nez is away across the Strait of Dover.

The site of its original settlement lies in the valley of the River Dour, sheltering from the prevailing south-westerly winds. This has led to the silting up of the river mouth by the action of longshore drift. The town has been forced into making artificial breakwaters to keep the port in being. These breakwaters have been extended and adapted so that the port lies almost entirely on reclaimed land.

The higher land on either side of the valley – the Western Heights and the eastern high point on which Dover Castle stands – has been adapted to perform the function of protection against invaders. The town has gradually extended up the river valley, encompassing several villages in doing so. Little growth is possible along the coast, since the cliffs are on the sea's edge. The railway, being tunnelled and embanked, skirts the foot of the cliffs.

Dover has an oceanic climate (Köppen classification ''Cfb'') similar to the rest of the United Kingdom with mild temperatures year-round and a light amount of rainfall each month. The warmest recorded temperature was , recorded at Langdon Bay on 25 July 2019. The temperature is usually between and . There is evidence that the sea is coldest in February; the warmest recorded temperature for February was only , compared with in January.

Demography

In 1800, the year before Britain's first national census, Edward Hasted (1732–1812) reported that the town had a population of almost 10,000 people.

At the 2001 census, the town of Dover had 28,156 inhabitants, while the population of the whole urban area of Dover, as calculated by the Office for National Statistics, was 39,078 inhabitants.

With the expansion of Dover, many of the outlying ancient villages have been incorporated into the town. Originally the parishes of Dover St. Mary's and Dover St. James, since 1836 Buckland and Charlton have become part Dover, and Maxton (a hamlet to the west), River, Kearsney, Temple Ewell, and Whitfield, all to the north of the town centre, are within its conurbation.

Economy

Retail

The town's main shopping streets are the High Street, Biggin Street, Market Square, Cannon Street, Pencester Road and Castle Street. The Castleton Retail Park is to the north-west of the town centre. The new St James' Retail and Leisure Park opened in 2018 and is a southern extension of the town centre and consists of shops, restaurants, a Travelodge Hotel and a Cineworld Cinema.

Shipping

The Dover Harbour Board is the responsible authority for the running of the Port of Dover. The English Channel, here at its narrowest point in the Straits of Dover, is the busiest shipping lane in the world. Ferries crossing between here and the Continent have to negotiate their way through the constant stream of shipping crossing their path. The ''Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme'' allots ships separate lanes when passing through the Strait. The Scheme is controlled by the Channel Navigation Information Service based at Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre Dover. MRCC Dover is also charged with co-ordination of civil maritime search and rescue within these waters.

The Port of Dover is also used by cruise ships. The old Dover Marine railway station building houses one passenger terminal, together with a car park. A second, purpose-built, terminal is located further out along the pier.

The ferry lines using the port are (number of daily sailings in parentheses):
* to Calais: P&O Ferries (25), DFDS Seaways (10).
* to Dunkirk: DFDS Seaways (11).

These services have been cut in recent years:
* P&O Ferries sailings to Boulogne (5 daily) were withdrawn in 1993 and Zeebrugge (4 daily) in 2002.
* SNCF withdrew their three train ferry sailings on the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
* Regie voor Maritiem Transport moved their Ostend service of three sailings daily to Ramsgate in 1994; this route was operated by TransEuropa Ferries until April 2013.
* Stena Line merged their 20 Calais sailings into the current P&O operation in 1998.
* Hoverspeed ceased operations in 2005 and withdrew their 8 daily sailings.
* SpeedFerries ceased operations in 2008 and withdrew their 5 daily sailings.
* LD Lines ceased the Dover- Dieppe service on 29 June 2009 and Dover-Boulogne 5 September 2010.
* SeaFrance ceased operations in 2012 of their Dover-Calais service which was their only service.

Main sights

* Blériot memorial: the outline of Louis Blériot's aircraft, marked with granite setts, at the exact spot where Blériot landed after the first cross-Channel flight, 1909
* Dover Castle
* White Cliffs of Dover
* Dover Western Heights
* Dover Museum
* Dover Marina
* Dover Pier
* Roman Painted House Museum
* Maison Dieu, Dover
* Samphire Hoe
* South Foreland Lighthouse
* Pines Garden
* St Edmund's Chapel
* St Mary's Church
* St James' Church: preserved as a "tidy ruin"
* St Paul's Church

Transport

Road

Dover's main communications artery, the A2 road replicates two former routes, connecting the town with Canterbury. The Roman road was followed for centuries until, in the late 18th century, it became a toll road. Stagecoaches were operating: one description stated that the journey took all day to reach London, from 4am to being "in time for supper".

The other main roads, travelling west and east, are the A20 to Folkestone and thence the M20 to London, and the A258 through Deal to Sandwich.

In December 2020, a long line of freight trucks formed due to sudden border closures with France, because of new strains of COVID-19 within the United Kingdom.

Rail

The railway reached Dover from two directions: the South Eastern Railway's main line connected with Folkestone in 1844, and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway opened its line from Canterbury in 1861. Southeastern trains run from Dover Priory to London Charing Cross, London Victoria or London St Pancras International stations in London, and Ramsgate or Sandwich in Kent. London is reached in 55 minutes by train from Dover.

The Chatham Main Line into Priory was electrified under British Railways in 1959 as part of Stage 1 of Kent Coast Electrification, under the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan. The line up to Ramsgate, via Deal, was subsequently electrified under stage two of Kent Coast electrification in January 1961. The line from Folkestone into Priory was electrified in June 1961.

A tram system operated in the town from 1897 to 1936.

Walking

Dover has two long distance footpaths: the Saxon Shore Way and the North Downs Way. The National Trust White Cliffs can be reached by foot from the town centre, with pathways to South Foreland Lighthouse, and St Margarets Bay along the cliff top . The walking routes from Dover pass the National Trust visitor centre on the landmark chalk cliffs overlooking the English Channel with views of France visible on a clear day.

Cycling

Two National Cycle Network routes begin their journey at the town. Route one goes from Dover to Canterbury.
This route links with National Cycle Route 2 from Dover to St Austell, Regional route 16, and Regional route 17 in Dover. It passes three castles. Firstly from Dover on the steap incline past Dover Castle. Then South Foreland Lighthouse is visible from the route. Mostly traffic-free along the east coast from Kingsdown to Deal, passing Walmer Castle and Deal Castle. Follows toll road (free to cyclists) through the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club to the town of Sandwich. In Sandwich the route links with Regional route 15.
Dover town centre is cycle friendly: There are dedicated cycle lanes along the seafront, cycle routes through the town's pedestrianised High Street area.

Ferry

The Port of Dover is a 20-minute walk from Dover Priory railway station.
The Dover to Dunkirk

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