Dover Police Station CT16 1DJ in Ladywell from The Park Inn, Dover, Kent, UK

Dover Police Station is situated on the south-eastern side of Ladywell between the houses of Park Street on the left and Ladywell Carpark at the rear of the Town Hall to the right:



In the foreground, the River Dour runs from left to right under the road and emerges on the other side of the bridge parapet before making its way to the Bowling Green, Pencester Gardens, and the sea at Wellington Dock.

The photo was taken on Sunday, September 26th, 2010, from in front of The Park Inn (my local pub!) in Park Place.

The Kent Police Museum, based at The Chatham Historic Dockyard, has a small Second World War photo showing the damaged front right-hand corner of Dover Police Station. The caption reads:

Dover Police Station, Ladywell, after cross channel bombardment. The station had only been open a few months.

It was surprising to read it was shell rather than bomb damage because the front of the police station faces away from the Cape Gris Nez area of France where the German long-range guns were located - perhaps the shell entered through the back of the building and blast damage exploded out of the front.

The Kent Police Museum also has some interesting notes on the early history of policing in Dover:

With the passing of the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act, Dover promptly formed a proper police force in January 1836, consisting of 15 men made up of three sergeants and twelve constables...

...A police station was erected in Queen Street (1), Dover in 1838 which the Government Inspector later found to be "well-constructed but requiring some appliance for promoting warmth in cold weather"...

...The Dover Police were also responsible for fire brigade duties and a fire engine was kept in the Town Pound in Queen Street. The Superintendent was also the Captain of the Fire Brigade and was paid an allowance for each time he turned out to a fire.

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom:

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland (administration of police matters is not generally affected by the Government of Wales Act 2006).

In the United Kingdom, every person has limited powers of arrest if they see an indictable crime being committed – these are called "every person powers", commonly referred to as a "citizen's arrest". In England and Wales, the vast majority of attested constables enjoy full powers of arrest and search as granted by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE).

All police officers are "constables" in law, irrespective of rank. Although police officers have wide ranging powers, they are still civilians and subject to the same laws as members of the public. However there are certain legal restrictions on police officers such as the illegality of taking industrial action and the ban on taking part in active politics.

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846. While Home Secretary, Peel helped create the modern concept of the police force, leading to officers being known as "Bobbies" (in England) and "Peelers" (in Ireland) to this day.

Dover Police Force is part of Kent County Constabulary.

Origin of Ladywell:

In this road was once the “Well of Our Lady”, a natural spring whose waters had, reputedly, curative and even miraculous properties. The well used to be in a nook in the wall of the Maison Dieu, and in the days before the Dover Waterworks, when good water was scarce, this water was carried all over the town. When the Corporation purchased the Maison Dieu in 1836, the well was covered over and a public pump installed over it. In 1858 this pump was repaired but in 1866, when a scientific analysis found the water to be unfit for human consumption, the pump was removed and the well closed.

More information (including sources used and a Google Earth satellite map) can be found on this photo's original webpage at:

Dover Police Station in Ladywell from The Park Inn, Dover CT16 1DJ

Also see the 2009 photo (1 of 3):

Police Officers making an arrest in Dover High Street

Links to the main Images of Dover website:

All Police-related photos first appear under the Police tag.

A Dover Architecture and Urban Dover World War II history photo.

(1) I lived in Queen Street until I was 3 years-old: John Latter on a Rocking Horse; John Latter in his very own Armchair.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town