Friday 11 November 2011

Unitarian Church Listed Building at Sunrise, Adrian Street, Dover, Kent, UK

A post-sunrise view of the octagonal Georgian (1) Unitarian Church on Adrian Street seen from the A256 York Street central reservation at 6.53 am on Monday, 29th of August, 2011 (2):

Georgian octagonal church built 1819 by Thomas Read, architect. Vestry. First Dover Sunday School. Free Christian Church, Baptists. Memorial plaque to congregation members who died in World War I.
(Click this Unitarian Church text link to see the largest size)


The A256 dual carraigeway runs between York Street roundabout to the left, and the Folkestone Road roundabout (fronted on the east by the Dovorian Restaurant and the Golden Lion pub) to the right. Ye Olde Bicycle in the bottom right-hand corner is mine!

Behind the church on the left are part of the Western Heights hills (below the Drop Redoubt and above Cowgate Cemetery).



Abridged from the Dover Unitarian Church website (3)


The Unitarian & Free Christian Church in Dover has been Unitarian since 1828. Freedom of belief and the form of worship was unanimously agreed by the membership in 1916 and this liberal tradition is upheld today.

We meet as a group of friends seeking truth, freedom and tolerance in rational worship and fellowship on the first and third Sunday of every month at 3pm.

The Church was founded in 1643 by a dissenting group who refused to subscribe to unreasonable beliefs. They were persecuted and some were imprisoned in Dover Castle.

In the early 1800's these 'General Baptists' became Unitarian (asserting the Oneness of God). They questioned belief in a Trinity and considered the religion of Jesus (Love God and your neighbour) more important than a religion about Jesus. They rejected Original Sin, the Virgin Birth, and the condemnation of non-believers.

The first Sunday school in the town of Dover opened at this church in 1803. The present Chapel, built in 1820, is a grade II Listed building and participates each year in Heritage Open Days.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

MV Minerva Cruise Ship passing in front of Dover Castle, Inner Harbour, Kent, UK

The MV Minerva photographed from the Turret on the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks at 4.02 pm on Wednesday, 28th July, 2010:

From Copenhagen (Denmark), going to Kirkwall (Orkney Islands). Owner: Swan Hellenic Cruises. IMO: 9144196. Ex-Okean, Saga Pearl, Explorer II, Alexander von Humboldt. View from Admiralty Pier Turret.
(Click this MS Minerva cruise ship text link to see the largest size)


The MS Minerva had previously been berthed at Cruise Terminal 1 on the Admiralty Pier (out-of-shot to the left). The passenger ship has completed the 180 degree turn shown half-a-minute earlier in the MS Minerva & Dover Castle (1) photo and is now heading for the Western Entrance of Dover Harbour and the English Channel beyond.

The Minerva had arrived from Copenhagen (Denmark) earlier in the day at the end of a 15-night, "Treasures of the Baltic" cruise and is leaving port at the start of a 15-night, "Sagas of Fire & Ice" cruise.

Itinerary (schedule): Kirkwall (Orkney Islands, Scotland), Lerwick (Shetland Islands, Scotland), Helmaey (Vestmannaeyjar Islands, Iceland), Reykjavik (Iceland), Grundarfjordur (Grundarfjörður, Iceland), Isafjordur (Ísafjörður, Iceland), Akureyri (Iceland), Thorshavn (Torshavn, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, Denmark), and Edinburgh (Scotland).

A video from Swan Hellenic featuring the MV Minerva:

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Saxon Church and Roman Pharos on Harold's Earthwork, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

The East Roman Pharos (on the right: a lighthouse and watchtower) and Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro sit in a shallow depression on top of a huge horseshoe-shaped mound called "Harold's Earthwork":

Roman Pharos (lighthouse) was built AD46 in port of Dubris when Aulus Plautius was governor of Britain under Emperor Claudius. St Mary-in-Castro church also known as King Lucius Church. Both Listed Buildings.
(Click this St Mary-in-Castro and Pharos text link to see the largest size)


The rampart is rimmed by a the ruins of a low parapet wall, visible either side of the buildings, that was once connected to the composite Norman and Saxon Colton Gate (behind the viewer; alt. Colton Gateway, Colton Tower).

Harold's Earthwork was raised by Henry III (Henry of Winchester, Plantagenet) and lies south of Henry II's Keep, or "Great Tower", out-of-shot to the left (1).

The photo was taken at 5.31 pm on Sunday, 26th of June, 2011.

Click to see all photos of the Pharos and St Mary-in-Castro; also see all Dover Lighthouse and Church photos.

Dover Castle is a Grade I Dover Listed Building and Dover English Heritage site; the Pharos and St Mary-in-Castro have separate Grade I listings.

The following notes are divided into three sections - Pharos and Church, Pharos, Church: