The River Dour is a

chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...

in the county of

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It flows from the villages of Temple Ewell and

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 w ...

between which is a neighbourhood served by a railway station, Kearsney. It is roughly long. It originally had a wide

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

on the site of modern Dover, although today it flows into the Dover Harbour through a culvert. The estuary was a natural harbour for the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

settlers and traders in the area. The remains of a Bronze Age seagoing boat (from 3,500 years ago), known as the

Dover Bronze Age Boat The Dover Bronze Age boat is one of fewer than 20 Bronze Age boats so far found in Britain. It dates to 1575–1520 BC, which may make it one of the oldest substantially intact ''boat'' in the world (older boat finds are small fragments, some l ...

, were found in 1992, and it can be seen in

Dover Museum Dover Museum is a museum in Dover, Kent, in south-east England. History Founded in February 1836 by the town's mayor Edward Pett Thompson, it was initially housed in the old Guildhall and run by the Dover Philosophical Institute. The Town Co ...

. The Dour Estuary was then used as a port for the Roman town, as a natural harbour for the Roman fleet. This silted up in the medieval period, necessitating the construction of various artificial harbours for Dover instead. The river has been used since AD 762 to power various watermills along its route. These included eight corn mills and five paper mills. Buckland Mill near Buckland Bridge was one of the earliest corn mills, but has since been converted into flats. Crabble Mill is now a fully restored corn mill and museum, and the Old Mill in Kearsney is now a private house, the others have been converted for various uses. Other industries on the river included iron foundries, saw mills (demolished) and a tannery (also converted). Kearsney, Kent and Kearsney Abbey (a former Grand House) is also beside the River. The River Dour near its source, Alkham Valley - geograph

The River Dour near its source, Alkham Valley - geograph

The River Dour Trail is a new walking trail (set up by the White Cliffs Countryside Project). It follows the Dour from Temple Ewell to Wellington Dock on the seafront. The trail is about long and takes 2.5 hours to walk fully.

References

External links

* *http://www.ccmt.org.uk/ Crabble Mill page *http://www.bucklandmill.co.uk/ Buckland Mill page {{authority control

Dour Dour (; pcd, Doû) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 16,810 inhabitants. The total area is 33.32 km2, giving a population density of 505 inhabitants per km2. ...

Dover, Kent Dover District