Friday 7 October 2011

Night Panorama of Dover Castle overlooking the Seafront and Harbour, Kent, UK

A panoramic view of the south-western face of Dover Castle's Keep (or Great Tower) taken at night on New Years Day, Saturday, 1st of January, 2011:

Panorama of Dover Harbour at night and Norman Castle Keep (Great Tower), Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro, Roman Pharos (lighthouse), Victoria Park, Gateway Flats, Beach and Marine Parade Seafront.
(Click this Dover Castle & Harbour at Night text link to see the largest size)


The Norman Keep was once known as Palace Tower and "...was designed by Henry II’s architect ‘Maurice the Engineer’ (or mason) and built between 1180 and 1185".

Beneath the Keep are the towers of the Inner Bailey wall, or Inner Curtain Wall. There are two entrances to the Keep-yard: on the left of the inner curtain wall is a flanking tower of King's Gate (King's Gateway), and the twin towers of Palace Gate (Palace Gateway) are on the right.

Below the Inner Curtain Wall are the towers of the Western Outer Curtain Wall, from left to right: Constable's Tower, Queen Mary's Tower, Peverell's Gateway, Gatton's Tower, Say's Tower (not illuminated), Hurst's Tower, and Fulbert's Tower.

On Harold's Earthwork near top left are the Roman lighthouse, or East Pharos, and Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro (more Dover churches).

In daylight, part of the White Cliffs of Dover would be visible below and to the right of the church.

On the seafront in the lower-half of the photo, the Gateway Flats overlook Marine Parade, the beach and harbour, to the Straits of Dover and English Channel beyond.

Above the Gateway Flats on the left are lights from Victoria Park (with its turreted Lodge, or Gatehouse). To the right of the Gateway Flats is part of the Premier Inn.

The photo was taken at 6.43 pm from the Clock Tower end of the Prince of Wales Pier while on an evening cycle ride (1).

Excerpt from "The Port of Dover" (2):

The Port of Dover is the cross-channel port situated in Dover, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 mi) away, and one of Europe's largest passenger ports, with 14 million travellers, 2.1 million lorries, 2.8 million cars and motorcycles and 86,000 coaches passing through it each year, with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year.

The port has been owned and operated by the Dover Harbour Board (see Harbour House), a statutory corporation, since it was formed by Royal Charter in 1606 by James I. Most of the board members are appointees of the Department of Transport.

The port has its own private police force, the Port of Dover Police.

The port claims to be the world's busiest passenger port.

Of historical interest, an excerpt from "Reports of cases argued and determined in the Court of King's Bench", published in 1822 (3):

DOVER HARBOUR: A post-office packet, under a contract to carry mails from Dover to Calais, entering the harbour of Dover, on her return voyage, bringing no mail of letters, but having on board dispatches for his Majesty's Secretary at War, and having also on board private passengers, a carriage, and bullion, for passage and freight; the vessel being the private property of the commander, is a vessel employed in his Majesty's service, and therefore exempt from the Dover harbour dues, payable under the 47 Geo. 3. c. 69. (an Act of Parliament); the sixth section of which act contains an exemption in favour of vessels belonging to his Majesty, or that may be employed in his service. Hamilton v. Stone, 3 G. 4. Page 274.



Notes and Sources


Ex- Builder's Yard, now 6 apartments owned by Southern Housing Group (SHG housing association). Once rife with anti-social behaviour and psychological violence. Here I research specific areas of Evolution and Psychology.
Robsons Yard Flats

(1) Cycle route begins at Robsons Yard Flats in the Tower Hamlets area of Dover, then: Athol Terrace (Eastern Docks) - Seafront Promenade - Prince of Wales Pier (Western Docks) - Robsons Yard.

This is where I do my Evolution and Psychology research! (archive)



(2) From Port of Dover

(3) "Reports of cases argued and determined in the Court of King's Bench, during Hilary, Easter, and Trinity terms, in the second and third Geo. IV." Great Britain. Court of King's Bench; by Sir James Dowling (1787-1844) and Archer Ryland (1792-1857), Barristers at Law. Volume I, published 1822 in the second and third years of the reign of King George IV.



The main photo first appeared at:

Night Panorama of Dover Castle overlooking the Seafront and Harbour

To be uploaded:

Guardian of the Road: The Great Tower of Dover Castle at Night

All Dover Castle photos first appear under the Castles, Dover Castle, and History category labels.

The castle, a popular tourism and travel destination, is one of Dover's Grade I Listed Buildings and English Heritage sites.

More Dover Panorama and Night photos.

Clickable thumbnails of all castle- and harbour-related photos on the main Panoramio Images of Dover website are available on this blog at the Dover Castle Page and the Port of Dover Page (also linked to below the blog title).

The Panoramio photos are each accompanied by a Google Earth satellite map. However, the images are smaller than those on the Images of Dover Blog and the captions are less well formatted.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

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