Friday 14 October 2011

Night Panorama of Dover Priory Rail Station from the Western Heights, Kent, UK

A night-time view of Dover Priory Rail Station taken on Sunday, October 17th, 2010, from the Western Heights:

Victorian Dover Priory Train Station seen from the Western Heights. Also known as Dover Priory Railway Station. Opened 22 July 1861 as temporary terminus of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR).
(Click this Dover Priory Rail Station at Night text link to see the largest size)


The Victorian Dover Priory is also referred to as Dover Priory Train Station and Dover Priory Railway Station.

The two columns of orange blobs on the left-hand side of the photo are reflections from off the carraige roofs of trains parked in the freight area of the station.

Below the centre of the photo a covered foot-bridge (approx. 350 yards away) joins platforms 2 and 3 on the left to platform 1 and the Booking Hall on the right. Platform 3 is the outermost of the detached platforms and has a silver-topped train parked alongside it.

Trains to Deal, Ramsgate, Canterbury East, and London Victoria leave Dover Priory through the tunnel at the top of the photo.

Trains to Folkestone Central, Ashford International (Channel Tunnel, Chunnel), and London Charing Cross leave the station through a tunnel beneath the Western Heights.

To the right of the Booking Hall is Priory Station Approach Road with the Priory Hotel (pub) on the other side (with light trails).

The approach road joins Folkestone Road out-of-shot to the right. The silhouettes of houses on Folkestone Road (which runs left to-right across the photo) can be seen in the bottom right-hand corner.

Above the roundabout at the top of the approach road are Priory Steps that lead up to a ridge on the other side of which is Tower Hamlets and Robsons Yard (where I live!)

The grounds of Dover College are to the right of the Priory Steps.

Half-way down the hillside - between the viewer and Folkestone Road - is the North Military Road (with its "Piggy Steps") which runs up to the Napoleonic and Victorian North Entrance, out-of-shot to the left. These are part of extensive fortifications embedded into the Western Heights.

Another component of this "Forgotten Fortress" is the Drop Redoubt, the outer moat of which is immediately behind where the photo was taken from.

A Dover District Council webpage on the regeneration of Dover states:

This project is now well advanced with public realm and highways improvements along Folkestone Road and Station Approach. The High Speed Rail Link began its operations in December 2009 an is already well established with business commuters.

History of Dover Priory Train Station:

The Victorian Dover Priory opened on 22 July 1861 as the temporary terminus of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). It became a through station on 1 November 1861 with the completion of a tunnel though the Western Heights to gain access to the Western Docks area, where LCDR created Dover Harbour station.

Initially the station was known as Dover Town but was renamed in July 1863.

More information (including sources used) can be found on this photo's original webpage at:

Night Panorama of Dover Priory Rail Station from the Western Heights

Also see:

Oliver Cromwell 70013 Steam Locomotive, Dover Priory Rail Station
Canterbury Tornado 60163 Steam Locomotive, Dover Priory Rail Station
The Funeral Locomotive of King George VI, Dover Priory Rail Station
Dover Priory Rail Station, Folkestone Road, from the Western Heights

For a partial view of the old Dover Marine Railway Station building see:

Lord Warden House at Daybreak, Admiralty Pier, Western Docks, Dover

A Dover Panorama and Urban Dover history photo.

All photos relating to trains and rail transport are indexed under the Dover Priory Rail Station, Railway and Railway Station category labels.

Clickable thumbnails of most railway-related photos from the main Panoramio Images of Dover website are available on this blog on the Urban Page (also linked to below the blog title).

The main site 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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