From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 31 October, 1879. Price 1d.

CLARENDON STREET

To the Editor of the Dover Express.

Sir, - it is high time something was done to improve the approach to this street by way of the "Engineer" public-house. At present it is inaccessible after a shower of rain by foot passengers having regard for a clean appearance, while as for getting a perambulator  into the Folkestone Road it is quite out of the question. The street itself is nearly as bad. Notwithstanding the heavy wear to which the road has been subjected during the last year or two, I believe I am correct in stating that nothing has ever been done to it in the way of repairs, and the impression is that nothing will be done until the street is completed. As this cannot be for many months to come, residents are beginning to contemplate whether with considerable dismay the prospect before them when the winter has finally set in.

Being of opinion that this is the state of things which ought not to exist in relation to a thoroughfare used by some hundreds of inhabitants, is the apology for troubling you - or your obedient servant,

A SUFFERER.

Dover, October 1879.

From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 21 November, 1879. Price 1d.

CLARENDON STREET

To the Editor of the Dover Express.

Dear Sir, - With your indulgence I beg again to direct attention to the dreadful condition of the approach to this street. It is not only inaccessible with any degree of comfort, but is absolutely  dangerous at night, the deep ruts and the absence of any lamp making it difficult to get a safe footing. Whether the buildings in connection with the road are to be finished within a month or within a year, the present convenience of the inhabitants ought no longer be ignored.

By and bye someone may slip down and break a limb, and then everyone will be asking why the road is not allowed to remain in so a dangerous condition.

is it because the population of the Clarendon Estate do not belong to the "Upper Pen?"

Thanking you for the favour of publication,

I remain, dear sir,

Your obedient servant,

A SUFFERER.

Dover, November, 1879.

From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 12 December, 1879. Price 1d.

CLARENDON STREET

To the Editor of the Dover Express.

Dear Sir, - Will you kindly allow me one more trespass upon your indulgences with the object of representing another very real grievance which the residents of this street have to prefer; and not the resident only, but every person having business or other connections with the street. It regards the numbering of the houses. It seems that instead of being number consecutively from the buildings first erected, several batches of houses are numbered according to the whim of the owners, and thus we have a chaos of numbers which - like Milton's excess of light - serve rather to obscure than to guide. If this indiscriminate numbering were intended as a mere exhibition of artistic confusion, it might be allowed to pass without any comment save that suggested by its obvious merits; but I wish to point out that it involves a grave inconvenience. People are continually calling at the wrong houses, giving the occupants and themselves a vast deal of unnecessary trouble. At night the evil is aggravated by the absence of lamps, and the heaps of rubbish and other obstructions in the newer half of the street.

It is indeed increasingly evident that the interests of this street have been grossly neglected; or more accurately the interests of the people who have been obliged to choose a residence in it. I say obliged, because it is a great hardship for a great many, having their employment at the Pier District, to reside there at all; but a hardship which I do not see how it is possible to obviate, unless it were considered more benevolent to utilize the meadow near Archliff Fort for cottage building than as a recreation ground.

The origin of the evil rests with the Council, inasmuch as it allowed the railway companies to eject inhabitants from the Pier District, before adequate provision had been made for them in some other part of the town. How is it is so obvious a difficulty was not anticipated, and properly met? Is the Council aware that people have been allowed to occupy houses in this street which were minus doors, windows, water closets, and in one instance even a fire grate? yet such which I am told is a fact.

But it is useless to dwell upon the past, except in as far as it seems necessary to bring home responsibility to those with whom it rests. The thing is, to make reparation for the injury that has been inflicted, and this I imagine the Council can best do by playing  a close attention to the interests of the street, now and in the future.

I remain, dear sir,

With many thanks,

 Your obedient servant,

A Edwards.

Clarendon Street, Dover, 1879.

From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 16 January, 1880. Price 1d.

CLARENDON STREET

To the Editor of the Dover Express.

Sir, - Anyone would hardly infer from the Town Clerk's language describing the roadway leading from the "Engineer" public-house, as "an old foot-path that might be temporarily repaired," that this same roadway is the natural and convenient approach to Clarendon Street, yet such is the fact that it ought to have been distinctly stated, so that the public might not be mislead, and possibly put to inconvenience.

The approach by way of Selbourne Terrace involves a circuitous walk over a rough road of at least fifty yards, further, and is, indeed, impracticable for horses.

I am, sir,

Your obedient servant.

A. E.

From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 16 April, 1880. Price 1d.

CLARENDON STREET

To the Editor of the Dover Express.

Sir, - Now that the din of the electioneering is hushed, local matters may command attention.

Since, thanks to your interest, the neglected condition of Clarendon Estate was made public, the paths in Clarendon Street have been paved, and the road partially made. This is a genuine benefit for which I, for one, am extremely grateful; but unfortunately its value is in a great measure discounted by the circumstance that the approach to the street remains as it was - a rough road at the best of times, and in bad weather slimy, miry, and absolutely dangerous.

A good pavement is in itself an inestimable boon, but if you have to wade through fifty yards of mud and slush to reach it, the advantage is not very apparent.

There is no excuse for further delay, as the builders' carts have long since been diverted to the other end of the street; the word of authority alone is wanted to perfect a benefit at present grotesquely incomplete.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

A. E.

Clarendon Street,

Dover, April 15, 1880.

Dover Express 06 April 1894.

BIRTH. KOHLHAMMER.

On April 5th at the "Engineer," Folkestone-road. the wife of John Kohlhammer, of a son.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 2 July, 1926.

OLD DOVER BOATMAN'S FATAL ACCIDENT.

On Sunday afternoon a well-known Dover boatman, Mr. James Driscoll, who for some time had been in poor health, met with a fatal accident on the Folkestone Road, being knocked down by a tramcar. The inquest was held at the Town Hall on Thursday afternoon by the borough Coroner, Mr. E. T. Lambert. A jury, of which Mr. E. J. Langley was foreman, was sworn, the others members being Messrs. H. P. Tarrant, B. S. Breeze, T. Parks, G. Hurn, A. P. Clout and F. Woostencroft.

Mr. Temple, who appeared for the Corporation, expressed their regret and stated that Mr. Bond, the Tramways Manager would have been there also, only he was away at the funeral of his father.

Mrs, Hatton, of 14, Devonshire Rd., said that the deceased, James Driscoll, was her father, and was aged 72 years. He lived at the Dover Patrol Hostel in Liverpool St. He was a retired boatman. He had been very shaky in his walk for two years, but had got about and used the trams a good deal. She saw him on Sunday afternoon after the accident. He said a tram knocked him down and dragged him.

Tram driver Lester, 14, Mallmains Road, said he was driving from Maxton on Sunday. On approaching the "Engineer" public house stopping place he saw Mr. Driscoll standing on the edge of the pavement. He made a move to go across the road, hesitated a little and then went on again. Witness immediately applied the brakes hard rang the bell and shouted. Deceased took not the slightest notice, but continued to walk towards the centre of the tram line. The car was just about to stop, and he was in the centre of the track when the car struck him. He fell, and witness got out and found him under the front of the car. His hand was just behind the front gate. He was shouting to have the car backed, which was immediately done. He was lifted into the car and to taken to Worthington St., and then to the Hospital. When witness just saw the deceased he was a little over a car's length distant. He was standing directly opposite the stopping place, and therefore only moving very slowly.

Deceased did not seem to see anything coming but was simply bent on getting across the road.

By the jury. Mr, Driscoll crossed from the "Engineer" side to the other, apparently to board the car. His head was down and he was simply going ahead.

The son in-law of the deceased asked if witness was going slowly, how was it that the deceased was pushed along two yards.

The Coroner: Is that correct?

Witness: No.

Mr. Hutton: If you were only a car's length away when Mr. Driscoll started to cross, it would be at Worthington Street before he got to the tramway track.

The Coroner: That is the witness's statement. If you are in a position to call evidence to contradict it, I will hear it.

Mr. Hatton: Is this the first fatal accident this fellow has been involved in?

The Coroner: That has nothing to do with this Court. You can find out by making enquiries.

Mr. Cissane, House Surgeon, Dover Hospital, said that the patient was admitted to the Hospital at 3.15 on Sunday. He found him to be suffering from a bad fracture of the right thigh near the hip, a fracture of the right elbow, bruising of the right arm, and shock. He also had large hernia, that had been successfully treated for years. The straining and movements caused by the accident pushed the hernia further down, and rendered it irreducible. On the 28th, the hernia still being irreducible and causing the patient great pain, an operation was necessary. He was operated on, on the morning of the 28th. It was successful and only occupied 15 minutes, and had no bearing on the duration of the deceased's life.

He died at 10.30 a.m. on the 30th, the cause of death being pneumonia.

In reply to a juryman, witness said a healthy man of little less age would certainly have recovered.

Train Conductor L. Griggs said he was conducting the tramcar at the time. On hearing the driver shout he jumped off and saw the deceased on the ground. The car stopped a second after the shout. When he heard the shout the tram was going at walking pace —nearly stopped.

Thomas Pinnock, 27, Glenfield Rd., a carriage examiner, Southern Railway, said he was on the car, on the top. He saw the deceased step off the curb a car's length away. He saw that if he continued across he must be knocked down. The next he heard was the life saving apparatus go. he did not see the deceased fall. The speed must have been slow, as the car stopped as it hit the man. He did not think that the driver could have pulled up sooner if he had seen the deceased as soon as witness did.

Mr. Hatton said that if witness was sitting on the centre of the top of the car, he could not see the deceased unless he was 10 or 15 yards away. Witness said that he was sitting on side of the car, on the “Engineer' side.

Mrs. S. A. Baker, 22, Manor Rd., she was in the tramcar. She was on the right hand of the inside of the car just behind the driver. Deceased walked off the pavement, looking neither to the left nor right, straight in front of the tramcar. She saw him fall. The car was slowing down when the deceased started off the pavement, and almost stopped when the deceased fell.

Mr. A. B. Taylor, Headmaster of Christ Church Boys' School, said he was on the top of the car and saw the deceased on the edge of the pavement 20 yards away. He next heard the warning shouts, and the car pulled up. He did not see the impact from where was sitting. He helped to get the deceased out from under the car and take him to tho Hospital. When he saw the deceased the car was pulling up. There was no jolt at all when it stopped.

Miss A. E. Knox. 119, Folkestone Road (on the opposite corner to the “Engineer" public-house) said she saw from the window the deceased crossing the road. As he got to the tram he seemed to slip and fell forward. It looked as if he slipped on the rail. When she saw the car it was at its ordinary pace, just pulling up.

The Coroner said that was all the available evidence. He offered to adjourn to call further evidence.

The jury said that it was not necessary; and one of the jury said that, from his personal knowledge, the deceased was hard of hearing. After retirement the jury that they returned a verdict of accidental death, and wished to exonerate the driver of any responsibility. They also Wished to express their deep sympathy with the relatives.

Mr. Driscoll some 30 years ago was coxswain of the Dover lifeboat and holds the Royal Humane Society's certificate for saving life.

From Dover Express 07 January 1927.

A theft of £100 in Treasury notes and £5 in silver from a bedroom at the "Engineer" public-house on Boxing Night has been reported.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 4 February, 1938

ENGINEER BUS SIGN

Councillor Gates said that some months ago the bus stop sign outside the "Engineer" was knocked down by a motor-car and since then it had been lying in the yard of the Christ Church Mission hall. He did not know whether the Surveyor had had any official information that the sign had been knocked down.

The Surveyor said he did not know anything about it .He did not know whether there was any special reason why it was not replaced. He would look into it.

Dover Express on 4th June 1943.

The funeral took place on Wednesday at Charlton Cemetery of Mr. Harry Pierce of the “Engineer” Inn, Folkestone Road, who died after a long illness, patiently borne, at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital at the age of 66.

The Rev W. F. Jenkins of Christ Church officiated and the mourners present were:- Mr. & Mrs. A. Pierce (brother and sister-in-law), Miss E. M. Pierce (niece), Mr. & Mrs. O. Pierce (nephew and niece), Master K. Pierce (nephew), Mrs. McLeod and Mrs. Pritchard. Friends present at the graveside were Mr. & Mrs W. Stockwell and Mr. H. Brown. There were a large number of floral tributes, including one from a few friends at the “Engineer”. The funeral arrangements were by Mr. H. E. Frost of 145 London Road and 2 Bunkers Hill.

From the Dover Express, August, 1999

POLICE officers were called to Folkestone Road to prevent an outbreak of violence as a group of around 40 asylum seekers laid siege to The Engineer pub.

Cops were called in after residents feared a pitched battle in the streets after an assault on a 21-year-old immigrant earlier.

Officers with dogs sealed off the road while the crowd was calmed and four people were arrested.

The landlord of the pub, who was hosting a party to celebrate his first anniversary in charge of the business, later said he had not been aware of the trouble brewing outside until police had burst in.