Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION TWO.
THE PORT OF DOVER
XVIII. THE ADMIRALTY HARBOUR.

When the Admiralty Pier was commenced in 1847, as
the beginning of the proposed great Harbour of Refuge, the
Dover Harbour Commissioners took no part in the matter,
although they could not fail to be interested in a great
structure which was designed to entirely enclose their
undertaking. This greater work was commenced without
ceremony, and in 1871 was suspended without any definite
prospect as to when, if ever, it would be continued. When
it was resumed, in 1897, the Admiralty had derided that the
works to complete the harbour and entirely enclose the Bay
should consist of: — (i) The extension of the existing
Admiralty Pier in an E.S.E. direction, 2,000 feet; (2), the
erection of an arm extending from the east cliff at Langdon
Hole seaward in a south-westerly direction, 3,320 feet; (3),
the construction of a breakwater 4,300 feet long, three-
quarters of a mile from the shore, forming on the south
the main shelter of the harbour, separated from the eastern
arm by a 600 feet eastern entrance, and on the western side
separated from the Admiralty Pier Extension by a western
entrance 800 feet wide. At the lowest tides the depth of
water at these entrances is about 42 feet. Also, under the
cliff between the Castle and Langdon Hole, there is a sc.i
wall 3,850 feet long, reclaiming an area of over twenty acres,
used for stores and workshops. The whole work from shore
to shore, and parallel with the eastern shore, represents a
massive line of masonry two and a half miles in extent.
The three sections of the work above mentioned are solid
structures of enormous strength, consisting of great concrete
blocks, faced with granite above low water. The blocks
weighing from thirty to forty tons each were made in the
adjoining yards at East Cliff and the Pier. Some of the
smaller blocks were made at Sandwich. The magnitude of
the work may be gathered from the fact that the greater
part of the walls which enclose the bay, mea.sured from the
base on the sea-bed to the top of the parapet, are upwards
of 90 feet in height, of which nearly 70 feet is under
water. The harbour has been designed to moor twenty
battleships and a great number of smaller craft of the



140 ANNALS OF DOVER

Xavv. The construction of the harbour was most
efficiently done by Messrs. S. Pearson and Son, from the
designs of Messrs. Coode, Son and Matthews, Major
Pilkington, C.B., R.E., being the Engineer-in-charge under
the Naval Works Act. The building commenced in 1897,
the bulk of the work was done in about eight years, but the
official opening of the harbour did not take place until the
15th October, 1909, when the ceremony was performed by
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, afterwards King
George V. 'I'he Dover Promenade Pier, which projected
from the shore into the centre of this harbour, was purchased
by the Admiralty in 19 13 for ;^8,ooo. This great Admiralty
Harbour, spanning the Bay from Langdon Hole to Cheese-
man's Head, encloses all the more ancient harbour works,
and through its main entrances pass, in addition to the
ships of the Navy, the traffic of the commercial port anfl
the ever-increasing number of Channel passengers. Even
this is not finality. The port that has existed two thousand
years must grow in accordance with the re(]uirements of the
new conditions of national defence, travel and commerce ;
and every lover of the old Town and Port mu.st hope that
while the railways, on the one side, may continue to prosper
on the growing passenger traffic, and the Admiralty Harbour,
on the other hand, develops to fulfil its great destiny in
guarding the avenue to the heart of the Empire, the local
Port Authority of Dover may hold an increasingly useful
position, providing accommodation commensurate with the
growth of local commerce, and convenience for such imports
and exports as new industries in this part of Kent may
demand.