Netherlands 918 Combat Boat 90 Fast Assault Craft Bow, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

A Dutch Combat Boat 90, pennant number 918, berthed against Crosswall Quay in the Tidal Harbour of Dover Marina:


(Click this Combat Boat 90 Bow text link to see the largest size)

Soon after the shot was taken, two Royal Marines (1) arrived and were taken onboard by a member of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (2).

The Dutch boat can carry 18 amphibious troops and has rails fitted on the stern deck to hold a vehicle.

This Dover Harbour photo was taken during a cycle ride (3) at 2.18 pm on Thursday, 3rd of February, 2011, from in front of Dover Lifeboat Station (home to the Dover Lifeboat, RNLB City of London II).

Netherlands CB90 Stern

The caption to the second photo of the vessel, Stern view of Netherlands Combat Boat 90 Assault Craft in Dover Harbour, has a different video and secondary photo to those below.

In 2010, Sweden's Dokstavarvet Shipyard successfully modified 2 Combat Boat 90's to be lifted into davits of LPD's ("landing platform dock") of the Royal Netherlands Navy (4) and the UK's Royal Navy (5).

During trials scheduled to last 6 months, the two boats and a full Swedish boat squadron were embarked on, and deployed from, a Dutch Navy LPD as a fully integrated element of the amphibious forces (6) aboard.

On the 9th of May, 2011, the Royal Navy subsequently announced (7):

MS Emerald Princess Cruise Ship berthed at the Admiralty Pier, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

The MS Emerald Princess berthed at CT2 (Cruise Terminal 2) on the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks, her bow pointing in the direction of the Western Entrance and English Channel beyond:


(Click this MS Emerald Princess Cruise Ship text link to see the largest size)

Western Docks at Night

The Emerald Princess is in the Inner Harbour (ex-Commercial Harbour) of Dover Harbour, bounded by the out-of-shot Prince of Wales Pier.

To the left of the passenger ship is the Southern Breakwater and the Pride of Calais, a P&O Ferries cross-channel ferry about to enter the Eastern Entrance.

Towards the bow on the right is the Cruise Terminal 1 building; near the stern is part of the Admiralty Pier Turret (alt. Dover Turret), an enclosed Victorian armoured fortification built in 1882.

On highter magnifications a half-moon can be seen towards the top right-hand corner of the photo; partial view of a sky-blue double-decker bus.

The photo was taken at 1.07 pm on Tuesday, 10th of May, 2011, from the upper level of the Admiralty Pier.

The Emerald Princess is part-way through a 16-Day "Northern Europe Passage" cruise From Fort Lauderdale (USA) to Copenhagen. Full itinerary (schedule):

MS Empress Cruise Ship from the Admiralty Pier Turret, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

The MS Empress berthed at CT1 (Cruise Terminal 1) on the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks, her bow pointing in the direction of the Western Entrance (night photo) and English Channel beyond:


(Click this MS Empress Cruise Ship text link to see the largest size)

Western Docks at Night

The photo was taken at 12.57 pm on Tuesday, 10th of May, 2011, from the upper level of the Admiralty Pier near the Admiralty Pier Turret (alt. Dover Turret: an enclosed Victorian armoured fortification built in 1882).

The Empress is in the Inner Harbour (ex-Commercial Harbour) of Dover Harbour, bounded on the far side by the out-of-shot Prince of Wales Pier.

The MS Empress is on a 10-night positional cruise from Lisbon to Copenhagen, taking the ship north for the 2011 summer season around the Baltic Sea. Full itinerary:

Lisbon, Portugal (04 May); Leixoes, Portugal (05 May); La Coruña (La Coruna), Spain (06 May); Bilbao, Spain (07 May); Le Havre (Paris), France (09 May); Dover, England (10 May); Ijmuiden, Holland/Netherlands (11 May); Hamburg, Germany (12 May); Copenhagen, Denmark (14 May).

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The MS Empress (1) (2)

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:


(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.

Constable's Gate
St Mary-in-Castro

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):

Night View of the Unique St Edmund's Chapel, Priory Road, Dover, Kent, UK

A view of St Edmund's Chapel taken on Saturday, January 8th, 2011, from above the chapel forecourt on Priory Road:


(Click this text link to see the largest size)

This 13th century building, some 28 feet by 14 feet, may not be the world's smallest church but it is the only one dedicated by one English saint, St. Richard of Chicester, to another English saint, St. Edmund of Abingdon (Edmund Rich, or Eadmund of Canterbury, consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury on 2 April 1234).

The chapel was consecrated by St. Richard of Chicester on March 30th 1253, dissolved in 1544, and was subsequently put to various uses "including a victualling store for the Navy, a store room, and a (blacksmith's) forge".

St. Edmund's Chapel was restored during 1967-1968 and Saturday morning Eucharists are held there.

The pathway on the right is "St Edmund's Walk" which connects Priory Road to the shopping precinct in Biggin Street.

Two Priory Road houses in front of the chapel were hit by shell-fire in 1943 during the Second World War (World War II) and demolished. One of the buildings used to be "Bicknell's" (H. R. Bicknell), a newsagent and tobacconist.

A plaque in the forecourt of St Edmund's Chapel states:

MS Spirit of Britain and the White Cliffs of Dover, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

After wandering around in small circles in the North Sea off Deal and Sandwich for a couple of hours, the MS Spirit of Britain super-ferry finally entered the Eastern Entrance of Dover Harbour at 11.05 am on Sunday, 9th of January, 2011:


(Click this MS Spirit of Britain text link to see the largest size)

The above view, with the White Cliffs of Dover as a backdrop, was taken at 11.19 am and shows the brand-new cross-channel ferry in the last stages of maneuvering prior to berthing.

The Eastern Arm pier running behind the Spirit of Britain juts out from the Eastern Docks cross-channel ferry terminal (out-of-shot to the left).

At the other end of the Eastern Arm is the Eastern Entrance to the Straits of Dover and English Channel (the other side of Eastern Entrance is formed by the Southern Breakwater).

The strange-looking object on top of the cliffs right of centre is the South Foreland lighthouse. The top of the darker Old South Foreland lighthouse, built in 1793, can be seen near the right-hand edge of the cliffs. Both lighthouses are over 5000 yards distant.

This zoomed photo of the Spirit of Britain was taken 1900 yards away from near the lighthouse end of the Prince of Wales Pier (see all lighthouse photos).

A similar view of the MS Pride of Calais will be uploaded anon.

Abridged extract from a P&O Ferries blog (1):

The King's Chamber of Henry II in the Great Tower of Dover Castle, Kent, UK

A view of the King's Chamber on the second-floor of the Keep, or Great Tower (night view), of Dover Castle after "a major transformation by English Heritage to re-create the splendour of a royal court in the late 12th century" (1):


(Click this Palace King's Chamber text link to see the largest size)

An explanation for the size of King Henry II's bed was given by Steven Lang (Head Custodian of Dover Castle) at a meeting held in 2010 (2):

The beds seem unusual and are small by today's standards. In Henry's reign people would not lie down to sleep. They were afraid that if they fell asleep and their mouths opened the devil would enter their bodies. With a shorter bed they could sleep in more of a sitting position and this would not happen.

An additional reason given by a Dover Castle English Heritage guide (Keith Ashley-Thomas) is that sleeping sitting up reduced wood smoke inhalation - but only for those who could afford such a luxury at night, of course!

As well as being a bedroom, the King's Chamber is where Henry II could have had private meetings and audiences. It was also known as a "Solar" (3):

The Throne of Henry II in King's Hall, Great Tower of Dover Castle, Kent, UK

A view of the King's Hall on the second-floor of the Keep, or Great Tower (night view), of Dover Castle after "a major transformation by English Heritage to re-create the splendour of a royal court in the late 12th century" (1):


(Click this Palace King's Hall text link to see the largest size)

The middle throne is in blue and gold and stands about 1.5 metres (five feet) tall, while the gold-on-red backcloth is five metres (16 feet) high. Topping the whole thing off is a canopy.

Keith Ashley-Thomas, an English Heritage guide who appears in the original Trebuchet Siege Engine photo (not yet uploaded), said the canopy contains stars of gilded leather and had been made by the Royal School of Needlework. A little research found this entry (2):

2009 for the re-presentation of The Great Hall, Dover Castle. Six large pieces were produced in an extremely short timescale including the King’s Hall backcloth; a canopy and tester; the Guest Hall backcloth and a standard and altar frontal. These were completed with the help of volunteers from the RSN Certificate Course.

On the left of Henry II's throne is a smaller one whose original would have been used principally by Prince John (later King John (Lackland): see the Knights Templar Ruins photo when uploaded) as another son, Prince Richard (later Richard I, Coeur de Lion, or Richard the Lionheart), spent much of his time abroad.

The seat to the right of King Henry II's throne was for Princess Alice of France (or Alys, Countess of the Vexin) who appears to have been more than just the ward of Henry II.

MS Disney Magic Cruise Ship at Sunrise, Western Entrance 2, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

A post-sunrise view of the MS Disney Magic as it manouevres into position to berth alongside CT2 (Cruise Terminal 2) of the Admiralty Pier in the Western Docks of Dover Harbour:


(Click this MS Disney Magic Cruise Ship text link to see the largest size)

The bow of the MS Disney Magic is pointing towards the open waters of the Straits of Dover and the English Channel through the Western Entrance (bounded by the Admiralty Pier behind the ship and the out-of-shot Southern Breakwater further to the left).

The photo was taken at 5.55 am on Sunday, 18th of July, 2010, from the lighthouse and cafe end of the Prince of Wales Pier.

The view is similar to that shown in the "MS Disney Magic Cruise Ship at Sunrise, Western Entrance 1" photo (linked to below), except this one shows more of the side of the ship and less of the stern (a better picture all round, I think).

The MS Disney Magic has just finished a 11-Night Northern European Capitals Cruise which called at Oslo (Norway), Copenhagen (Denmark), Warnemünde/Rostock (Germany), St Petersburg (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), and Stockholm (Sweden).

Later in the day, the ship began a cruise with a similar itinerary, except it called at Tallinn (Estonia) instead of Helsinki.

Ship information:

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: