Dover is a local government district in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The port town of

Dover 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 Maids ...

is its administrative centre. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the boroughs of

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, a ...

, and

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

along with Dover Rural District and most of

Eastry Rural District Eastry Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was subject to a significant boundary reform in 1935 when several parishes were gained from the disbanded Isle of Thanet Rural District and othe ...

Settlements

There are three towns within the district:

and

; and the parishes below: * Alkham *

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

Aylesham Aylesham is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, England. The village is located around 6.5 miles (10.5 km) southeast of the cathedral city of Canterbury, and around 8.5 miles (13.7 km) northwest of the town an ...

* Capel-le-Ferne * Denton with Wootton *

Eastry Eastry is a civil parish in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The name is derived from the Old English ''Ēast- rige'', meaning "eastern province" (c.f. '' Sūþ-rige'' "southern provin ...

* Eythorne * Goodnestone * Great Mongeham * Guston * Hougham Without * Langdon * Lydden *

Nonington Nonington (variously, Nonnington, Nunyngton, Nonnyngton and Nunnington), is a civil parish and village in the southeast corner of Kent, situated halfway between the historic city of Canterbury and the channel port town of Dover. The civil par ...

* Northbourne *

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

* Ringwould with Kingsdown * Ripple *

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

* Shepherdswell with Coldred * Sholden * St Margaret's at Cliffe * Staple *

Stourmouth Stourmouth is a civil parish in the Dover non-metropolitan district of Kent, England. The parish contains the settlements of East and West Stourmouth, and the hamlet of Plucks Gutter. The 'Stourmouth' name derives from a village that was at t ...

* Sutton *

Temple Ewell A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temple ...

Tilmanstone Tilmanstone is a small village and civil parish in Kent, in the South East of England, near Eastry, a much bigger and more developed area. Tilmanstone no longer has a village school; however, the independent Northbourne Park School is close to t ...

* Walmer * Whitfield * Wingham * Woodnesborough * Worth The northern boundary of the district is the River Stour; on its western side is the district of Canterbury; to the south the parish of Capel-le-Ferne; and to the east the Straits of Dover. The southern part of the latter is the point where the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills ...

meets the sea, at the

White Cliffs of Dover The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...

. Further north along the coast, from

onwards, the land is at sea level, where the River Stour enters the sea by a circuitous route. It is here, on the sand-dunes, that the Royal St George's Golf Club, founded in 1887, and of international repute, is situated. In the district are industrial remains of the erstwhile Kent coalfield, situated around

and Betteshanger. Half of the underwater section of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

is under British Sovereignty and thus part of the district.

Council

The council has 32 members representing 17 wards.

Elections

Premises

The council's main offices are at the White Cliffs Business park in the parish of Whitfield, to the north of the town of Dover itself.

Communications

Deal Timeball is a Victorian maritime Greenwich Mean Time signal located on the roof of a waterfront four-storey tower. It was established in 1855 by the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy in collaboration with Charles V. Walker. Crossing Dover district are the Roman roads of

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

and that leading from Richborough. Today the main road, the A2, closely follows Watling Street to Dover.

References

External links

Dover District Council websiteParish listingDeal High Street winner of the Telegraph's first High Street of the Year awardDover pictorial websiteDover Community Radio (DCR)
{{coord, 51.130, 1.311, display=title, region:GB_scale:100000 Non-metropolitan districts of Kent