Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION TWO.
THE PORT OF DOVER
IV. FAILURE AND NEW PROJECTS.

The failure of the great harbour works of Henry VIII.
was dramatic. The King had scarcely turned his back on
Dover, to deal with other urgent affiairs, when one of those
devastating south-west gales, which occasion illy sweep these
coasts, brought the shingle round ArchclifTe Point, and the
great unfinished mole, then rising out of the sea at low tides,
acted as a trap to c-atch the l)each, which not only choked
the new harbour mouth, but quickly formed a bench of
beach fronting the t(jwn, i)arring the mouth of the River
Dour. In the latter i^art of the year 1539 it seemed probal)le
that the great harbour work at ArchclifT would be a failure,
and John Bowles, then Mayor, sent a pitiful petition to
Henry VI H., praying for help to re-open the haven through
the town. The King, who then was lukewarm about this
port, referred the matter to a local Commission to make
inquiry, the following being the terms of reference : —

" A Commission of Enquiry about a Mole or Harbour
for Shipping at Dover, 7th May, 1540." The Commissioners
appointed were Sir Richard Dering, Lieutenant Covernor
of Dover Castle, Sir Anthony Aucher, Treasurer of Dover
Harbour Works, John Bowles, Mayor, John Warren, Jurat,
Robert Xethersole, Jurat, and Sir John Thompson, Rector
of the Parish of St. James. They were directed to enquire
into the occupations of the people, the reasons for the decay
of the fishery, and more particularly whether the making of
a quay or lock from low-water mark into the town would
improve the passage and attract to Dover tho.se travellers
who were taking their passage acro.ss the Straits from Folke-
stone, Hythe, Romney, Rye, and Sandwich.

The Commissioners sent a very dutiful reply, with
profuse thanks, to the King for his benevolence to Dover,
but they avoided giving any opinion as to the proposed
quay and lock into the town, because, presumably, they still
hoped that the King (^ould be induced to spend further sums
in finishing the great pier, or mole, which had only been
brought up to sea level. But the King was not to be tempted
to .spend further money in that direction, yet he was disposed



THE PORT OF DOVER 9 I

to help the port in a smaller way in making the suggested
quay and lock. The idea was to cut through the bench of
beach, to make a deep channel for the river through the
town, so that by means of a lock ships might be raised to
the level of a landing quay on the side of the new channel.
That was a visionary scheme, and the practical mariners
of Dover, of whom there were many in the Corporation
and some on the Commission, seeing the impossibility of
navigating their ships, in rough weather, into such a place,
evaded the question, whereupon the King took the oppor-
tunity of abandoning Dover Harbour entirely.

From the time when Henry VI H. finally abandoned
Dover Harbour, about the year 1542, there weie no harbour
works undertaken until 1582, when t^ueen Elizabeth
appointed a Harbour Commission. During that interval of
forty years, efforts were made, from time to time, to induce
the Crown to undertake further works, but nothing was
done.

To the credit of all the Tudor monarchs it should be
acknowledged that they never omitted to give full consider-
ation to any appeals which related to the maintainance of
the Port of Dover. The reigns of Edward VI. and Mary were
so short and so occupied by other affairs that nothing
effectual could be undertaken ; but Queen Mary granted to
the Corporation a charter of " Rivage and Feriage," which
was useful, while the harbour was choked up and passengers
had to be landed in the Bay, because it authorised the
Corporation to licence landing boats and charge fees for
bringing passengers and baggage ashore. Previously when
the bar blocked the harbour mouth passengers and their
baggage were landed by unauthorised boatman, who shame-
fully robbed the passengers, and brought the Port into bad
repute.

In Queen Mary's reign there were two plans put
forward for improving the harbour, and for the one scheme,
which was to deepen the river and make the harbour in the
valley of the Dour, the Queen authorised collections to be
made in the churches throughout England, but very little
money was raised ; consequently, no works were commenced.

In December, 1581, a practical step was taken by
Queen Elizabeth, who ordered an enquiry lo be made at
Dover by the examination of " the most .sensible ancient
and skilful! men." The evidence taken was to the effect



92 ANNALS OF DOYER

that, in the opinion of the local witnesses, it was the
building of Henry VIII. 's pier that caused the bench of
beach to accumulate across the Bay, for they said that
before that Pier was built out there was a clear sea in front
of the town from ArchcUfif up to the Castle. Owing to
that evidence, no attempt was made to build out on the
King's foundations, and it was resolved to make as good a
harbour as thev could close to the shore.



THE PORT OF DOTER 93