Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION TWO.
THE PORT OF DOVER
III. THE WESTERN HARBOUR.

The making of the Harbour near Archcliff was com-
menced in the latter part of the reign of Henry VH., the
Corporation having found it impossible to maintain wharfage
and shelter for ships on the Eastern side of the Bay. The old
Wyke had served as a useful wharf in calm weather, but it
was of no utility at other times; and the Eastern branch of
the Dour having been choked up, there was no backwater
to keep the little Eastern Harl)our clear. During the
Fourteenth Century Sandwich had been a rival to Dover,
but in the Fifteenth Century that haven began to silt up,
and Dover being in the same y)light, the Corporation saw
hope of retrieving the prosperity of the Port by the con-
struction of an entirely new harbour at Archcliff Point, The
records of Dover for that period are very scanty; but, as
far as they go, they indicate that the Corporation, as the
Harbour Authority, combined with the Master of the
Maison Dieu (who, by a Charter of Henry III., had an
interest in the Port), to make shelter for shipping at the
Western horn of the Bay. Sir John Clark, the Master of
the Maison Dieu, took steps to obtain the King's patronage.
" HoUingshed's Chronicle," written a generation later,
says: —

" There was a round tower built by one John Clark, Priest,
M.aster of the Maison Dieu, about the year 1500, at the south-west
side of the Bay, which served somewhat to defend the ships from the
ra^e of south-west winds, but especially to moor ships that were tied
thereto. Manv great rings were fastened to the tower for that purpose, as
it mav be seen, since it showeth there at this hour, and thereby tliat
part of the Bay was made so pleasant, as ever after that corner of
the Bay hath been called, and is at this day, ' Little Paradise.'
Nevertheless, tkis was thought very insufficient for the number of
ships which usually lay for harbour in the Road."'

That provision, however, had to serve for about thirty
years. The fact has been overlooked that the entrance to
the first " Little Paradise " was not easterly, but was cut
through Archcliff Point direct into the sea. It .seems that
before the Harbour works commenced there, in the reign
of Henrv VII., Archcliff Point came out much further than



86 ANNALS OF DOYER

now towards the south-east, forming a natural shelter.
John Clark's first wall extended Archcliff Point, forming a
little enclosure under Bulwark Cliff, into wnich he cut an
entrance through Archcliff Rock, leaving a part of the rock
on the south-east side of the entrance whereon stood the
little Church of Our Lady of Pity, which had previously been
joined to the mainland, but afterwards was described as
standing on Chapel Rock. It was on the eastward side of
Chapel Rock that John Clark built one of his round towers
which had mooring rings fixed on it, and on the westward
side of the entrance was Archcliff new point. Mr. James
Hammond, who acted as engineer of the Harbour when he
was " Clerk of the Cheque " in 1727, obtained special
information on this subject, both from excavations made on
the spot and from documents not now existing. He wrote :
"It is certain that Dover Harbour had formerly an entrance
between the Bulwark Cliff and the Chapel Rock through to
Paradise Harbour."

The Western Harbour Works were extended under the
patronage of Henry VIII. The first steps thereto were taken
in the year 1532, owing to a petition presented to the King
by the Corporation in the early part of that year. The credit
of its initiation has been given to the Rev. John Thompson,
Rector of St. James's, who had a large share in this work,
and was rewarded for it by being made Master of the Maison
Dieu ; but the original projectors were four Jurats, viz.,
Edward May, Robert Justice, Richard Towerby, and John
Stewart. At their request, the Rev. John Thompson wrote
for them a petition and embodied their ideas in a plan of
works which they deemed necessary to improve the little
harbour at Archcliff. Hollingshed wrote: —

" The Mariners liked the plan and the memorandum of their
proposals, and they agreed that humble suit should be made to the
king for his gracious favour and aid in making a good haven there ;
and they represented that it would best advance their cause if Sir
John Thompson ['Sir' being the usual title of clergymen in those
times] would present their petition and plan to the King, together
with a supplic;ition in the name and on behalf of the Corporation,
setting forth the reasons and devices thereof. But Sir John told
them that he was poor and could not afford at his own charges to
follow the suit. They, therefore, collected amongst themselves four
pounds ten shillings, which they delivered to Sir John Thompson,
which he accepted, and forthwith proceeded to the Court, and
obtained access to the King, who heard his suit with great favour,
and conversed about the plan and proposals, which he provisionally
approved."



THE PORT OF DOVER 87

Henry VIII., no doubt, well remembered Sir John Clark's
little harbour, from which he embarked in 1520, and the
King required little argument to convince him how badly it
needed enlargement. He commanded Sir John Thompson to
return to Dover, and to come back as speedily as possible
with some of the best mariners of the town. The following
continuation of the story is from " Hollingshed's
Chronicle ' ' : —

"The Mariners of tlie town immediately assembled themselves
and made a choice of Mdward M;ue, Robert Justice, Richard Towerby,
and John Stewart, as the fittest and faithfullest persons to use
conference and to be emplovcil in that course, being all mariners of
good experience. These four, and the said Sir John Thompson,
without further stay resorted to the Court, with whom when the
King had communed, he conceived of the necessities of the haven to
be had there, and of the probability of good success, in the enter-
prise; and because his Majesty understood the pjor state of the
town, he delivered, at that time, out of his coffers unto them, ^500
wherewith he willed them to make a beginning of the work. At
that time his Majesty bestowed on Sir John Thompson the Master-
ship of the Maison Dieu, which was a hospital in Dover valued at
;,^'i2o a year. 'J'he King also at the same time appointed the said
John Thompson to be the jirincipal surveyor of the Harbour works,
and under him, Ivlward Maie, and the other three before named to
be overseers. The work, according to the design of Sir John

Thompson, was to erect a huge wall (which he called a Pier) from
Archcliff Chapel, being the south-west part of the Bay, directly
towards the east in the main sea, about 131 rods in length, so as by
that means the harbour was to be guarded from the rage of all
weather coming from the north, north-east, north-west, and south-
west, with tlie entrance only at east-south-east, whereunto when
ships were once brought they might there be safe in all weather,
at one side or the other ; but the Pier was not finished by 250 feet
so far as the foundation thereof (called the Mole-head) was laid,
which founda'ion consisted of great rocks brought from a place near
at hand, called HayclitTe, or the Castle Quay, or Folkestone. This
was constructed of two rows of main posts and great piles of flue
or fir 20 feet long set at each side close together, which were let down
into holes hewn in the chalk rocks for that ])urpose ; but some of
the piles were shod with iron nnd driven into the main rock of chalk
with a great engine called a ram. These posts and piles were
combined and held together with iron bolts, and were filled between
with mighty blocks of chalk, as also with beach and other earth ;
but the bottom consisted altogether of great rocks of stone, which
if they had not been brought thither by a special device must needs
have been extremeh' chargeable, for most of them were of 20 tons
apiece. This special device is now common, but it was before that
time rare or unknown. It was invented by a poor, simjde man named
John Young, who, first with a nutshell, afterwards with an eggshell,
and lastly with a small vessel, made proof what weight those things
could raise and bear in water, and having by that experiment made
trial that stones of great weight might be raised and carried in the



8R ANNALS OF DOVER

water by greater vessels, he discovered his experiment to such as
were officers on the work, who presently put in practice the same
device, and making provision of greiit and strong barrels and pipes
of wood, carried them to Folkestone, and at Tow water fastened
thereunto with chains such huge stones as lay on the shore where the
quarry of those rocks is, so as when the flood, or full sea, came the
barrels and pipes with the stones thereto fastened rose and swam ;
and if the stones were of such size that two or three empty casks
could not lift the weight, then did they add a barrel or two more
which would not fail to do it, and then drag with small boats the
barrels and the stones attached to the place in the wall where they
were to sink them ; and so the work, which was most difficult in
appearance, was made easy. And for this device the said John
Young had a yearly stipend given him by the King during his life.
With these great stones, by these means was the greatest work done;
and with great cost and labour those piles were filled between, a
great boat, with nine keels, called a Gaboth, being used to bring
chalk lor the filling from the north side of Paradise Harbour. On
that part of the Pier stood a fort named the Blackbulwark. That
which was done bv this pier on the one side, with the help of nature
(the cliffs) on the other, two sides made an excellent sheltered harbour
for the time it continued and had maintenance. The King on his
part spared no charge, for he spent hereabouts ;!^'5o,ooo ; nor did
he forbear any travail that might further the work, for in person
he repaired there divers times. Although the harbour was fifty
miles at the least from his Court, yet his Majesty had such care that
the building should be so well performed, that no expert man in such
work, either on this side or beyond the seas, but, if possible, he was
brought thither, or, at the least, conferred with ; and during the time of
all this work the King's coffers seemed to stand wide open. But,
alas ! the King's care and the travail of his officers were so confined
to the work present, that the provision for its future maintenance
was utterly neglected. The King's absence at Boulogne, his sickness
on his return, and, finally, his death, followed by the nonage of his
son, Edward VI., made an end of all this work, which, falling into
a state of decay, there was no reparation until the time of Queen
Mary."

Such is Reginald Scott's account of Henry VIII. 's har-
bour building. From State papers, it appears that his work
was of a fourfold character: — (i) The repairing of Clark's
Wall, which was done in 1534; (2) The building of a
north-«ast wall from the I-imekiln Cliff curving round to near
the end of Clark's Wall so as to form a new harbour mouth;
(;,) Digging out the mud and beach which had choked up
Paradise Harbour, clearing an area between the harbour
walls, measuring 500 feet from the mouth of the harbour to
the Limekiln side of it, and 400 feet across ; and (4) Con-
structing a stone mole (from near the end of Clark's restored
wall), extending about 1,400 feet in an easterly direction to
shelter the road and harbour's mouth, as well as to prevent



THE PORT OF DOVER 89

the shingle working round into the enclosed harbour. This
was the " Mighty Pier," which Henry VIII. believed would
be the salvation of Dover Harbour. Unfortunately, he
carried very' little of the extended Pier above water owing
to the cost and difficulty of constructing such works in those
days ; but if he had completed it and made provision for
its maintenance, the Harbour Bar problem, which continued
to trouble Do\er for three centuries later, raight then have
been solved.



9© ANNALS OF DOVER