Constable's Gate, Entrance to Lock and Key of the Kingdom, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

The classic view of Constable's Gate, today's pedestrian entrance to Dover Castle and what Matthew Paris (1), a medieval Benedictine monk and English chronicler, once famously described as the "Lock and Key to the Kingdom of England":


(Click this Constable's Gate of Dover Castle text link to see the largest size)

Western Outer Curtain Wall
Rokesley Tower & Canons Gate

The approach to the drawbridge doorway on the Western Outer Curtain Wall of this 12th century Norman castle is via Constable's Road, a junction on Castle Hill Road above Connaught Park and the Zig-Zags Park (both Victorian).

The entrance for vehicular traffic lies further south at Canons Gate, or Canons Gateway.

Constable's Tower was built by John de Fiennes (John de Fienes) under William the Conqueror (2) and for this reason was once known as Fiennes' Tower.

In the 1216 Great Siege of Dover Castle during the First Barons' War against King John (3), the Dauphin Prince Louis, later Louis VIII of France (4), son and heir-apparent of Philip Augustus (one of the most successful medieval French monarchs), unsuccessfully besieged Dover Castle.

The importance of Dover Castle to the Dauphin's campaign is reflected in this 1784 account (5):

Old St James Church Ruins and White Horse Inn, St James Street, Dover, UK

The ruins of 'Old' St James the Apostle Church, Dover, England, showing the west door entrance to the nave:


(Click this Old St James the Apostle Church text link to see the largest size)

This ancient house of religion was destroyed during World War II and is now a memorial to the people of Dover "who suffered between 1939 and 1945" (see below).

The remains of the north wall of the church's square tower are behind and to the right of the doorway.

On the other side of Hubert Passage to the left of the church is The White Horse Inn, ex-The City of Edinburgh public house. An information board once outside the pub stated:

Said to have been erected in the reign of Edward III (1312-1377). In 1365 the premises was occupied by the Verger of St James' Church which stood next door. With the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, the house was no longer connected to the Church.

The houses in the background front onto Castle Hill Road that leads up to Dover Castle.

The photo was taken from St James Street. Running along the bottom is Maison Dieu Road to the left of the junction and Woolcomber Street to the right.

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Old St James the Apostle Church (1)

St James' Church, known locally as 'the Tidy Ruin' was founded in Saxon times and is probably one of the Dover churches mentioned in the Domesday Book:


Georgian Woodcut Engraving of Old St James Church, Dover

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):


(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).

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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.

Dover Castle Keep

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.

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":


(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:

Clock Tower, First Lifeboat Station, and Lord Warden House, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

In the foreground on the left are the Clock Tower and a single-storey structure that was Dover's first Lifeboat Station:


(Click this Clock Tower text link to see the largest size)

Waterloo Crescent
Fairbairn Tubular Crane
Lord Warden House

These two listed buildings (see below) are situated on the seafront esplanade at the landward end of the Prince of Wales Pier (out-of-shot to the left) close to the Georgian Waterloo Crescent, the popular Sue's Seafood Stall, the non-tidal Wellington Dock (with its tubular swan-necked Fairbairn Crane), the King Charles II Commemorative Walk - and not forgetting the pebble-strewn beach, of course!

A building on the other side of the Clock Tower contains showers, wash-rooms, and a launderette for the use of people with yachts and boats berthed in Dover Marina.

Part of a tug belonging to Dover Harbour Board, the DHB Dauntless, can be seen near the bottom right-hand corner on higher magnifications. The tug is berthed in the Tug Haven on the far side of the Tidal Harbour (no sign of the sister-tug, DHB Doughty, though).

Beyond the Tug Haven is the large white Lord Warden House, also a listed building. This was once the Lord Warden Hotel where Louis Bleriot had breakfast after the first cross-channel aeroplane flight on Sunday, 25th July, 1909.

The building became the Royal Navy's HMS Wasp shore station durating World War II and is located at the landward end of the Admiralty Pier (where the cruise ships berth).

This post-sunrise photo was taken at 6.33 am on Monday, 22nd of August, 2011, while on a morning cycle ride (1) along the seafront.

The Victorian Clock Tower, built in 1876-1877 to the designs of George Devey (architect, 1820-1886), was renovated in 2010. However, the flagpole flying the Union Jack flag (the Union Flag), and topped by a weather vane, wasn't restored until sometime after April, 2011.

Also in 2010, a news report said that a proposal to move the Clock Tower had been put on hold (2):

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

A zoomed view from 600 yards of the former Lord Warden Hotel, a Grade II Dover Listed Building, situated at the landward end of the Admiralty Pier in the Western Docks of Dover Harbour:


(Click this Lord Warden House text link to see the largest size)

Notes on the architect and architecture begin at HISTORY and MATERIALS, respectively.

Western Docks at Night

Lord Warden House appears in the Western Docks at Night photo (left).

The three-arched structure behind Lord Warden House began life as Dover Town Rail Station (alt. Dover Town Railway Station, Dover Town Train Station). It then became Dover Marine Rail Station and finally, Dover Western Docks Rail Station.

Today, it is the Cruise Terminal 1 (CT1) building, the first of three on the Admiralty Pier, and provides a reception area for passengers from the cruise ships that visit Dover throughout the summer season.

This pre-sunrise photo was taken from the Victorian and World War II coastal artillery position known as St Martin's Battery (located on top of the Western Heights cliffs) at 5.40 am on the 25th of August, 2010.

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Lord Warden House Listed Building

The following is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence (PSI licence number C2010002016):

Golden Panorama of the Victorian Waterloo Crescent at Sunrise, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

A post-sunrise view of the Victorian (1) Waterloo Crescent on Dover's seafront esplanade, opposite the western end of the beach and harbour, taken at 6.11 am on Tuesday, 16th of August, 2011:


(Click this Waterloo Crescent text link to see the largest size)

As sometimes happens when out and about on a morning cycle ride (2), transitory light conditions can transform familiar sights into something extraordinary. On this occasion, the entire sky was clouded over with the exception of a ragged oval across which the rising sun was slowly moving. The resulting "golden glow" reflecting off of Waterloo Crescent - and every other white object - was really quite breath-taking in its intensity (note how the Western Heights trees in the background on the right are still in shadow - its as if a gigantic torch-beam were being played across the landscape.)

Waterloo Crescent, built between 1834 and 1838, is a Grade II Dover Listed Building consisting of three sections. From left to right these are the western section (originally 5 houses), the central section (originally 19 houses), and the eastern section (also originally 5 houses).

Because this is an oblique view, the divisions between the overlapping sections are perhaps easiest identified by looking at the side view of the roof on the right-hand section and then looking for two other occurrences of the same "truncated pyramid" shape further to the left.

Harbour House and the Tonkin Liu Artworks at Sunrise, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

The white Harbour House and the Tolkin Liu sculptures imbued with the golden glow of a rising sun at 6.59 am on Thursday, 1st of September, 2011 (1):


(Click this Dover Harbour House text link to see the largest size)

Harbour House

Waterloo Crescent

Dover Harbour Board's Harbour House, occuping the western section of Waterloo Crescent, is a Grade II Dover Listed Building designed by the architect, Philip Hardwick and built between 1834-1838 (2). Click on the link or thumbnail for the full listing text.

Harbour House is located on Marine Parade at the western end of the seafront promenade, or esplanade.

Information leaflets about the cruise ships calling at the Admiralty Pier in the Western Docks can be obtained from reception. DHB also operate the Eastern Docks (the ferry terminal).

Full postal address: The Port of Dover, Harbour House, Marine Parade, Dover, CT17 9BU.

The flag flying above left-hand end of Harbour House carries the logo for the Port of Dover.

Port of Dover (3)

The Port of Dover is the cross-English Channel port situated in Dover, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 miles) 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 GBP 58.5 million a year. (3)

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

The Keep, or Great Tower, of Dover Castle from the King's Gateway, Kent, UK

The north-western face of Dover Castle's Keep, or Great Tower, with the North Tower on the left and the West Tower on the right:


(Click this Great Tower of Dover Castle text link to see the largest size)

Dover Castle Keep at Night

The 12th Century Norman Keep was built in the 1180s with AD 1180-1185 often being the range quoted.

The length of the sides and height of the corner towers vary, but the Keep is approximately 100 feet square, over 80 feet high, and has walls up to 21 feet thick. It was designed by Henry II’s architect, 'Maurice the Engineer' (or mason; Latin: Ingeniator).

The North Tower and South Tower (or Flag Tower) both have spiral staircases leading from ground level up to the roof; the East Tower and West Tower do not.

To the left of the North Tower, and about two-thirds of its height, is the Forebuilding (main entrance), the largest of the period in England.

The Keep has three floors (ground, first, and second) that now contain a 2010 English Heritage representation of a medieval Royal Palace and Royal Court.

The largest pair of windows - in line with the top of the Forebuilding - are those of the second floor:

Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse Ruins on the White Cliffs below Dover Castle, Kent, UK

Originally built by King Henry VIII in 1539, this is the inner wall of the Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse viewed from the Upper Terrace at 10.59 am on Tuesday, 12th of April, 2011:


(Click this Mote's Bulwark text link to see the largest size)

In a posthumous account published in 1801 (1), the Welsh naturalist and antiquary Thomas Pennant describes how King Edward IV's expenditure of ten thousand pounds in improvements to Dover Castle led to a belief that no further defences were needed on the seaward side above the White Cliffs of Dover at East Cliff. Pennant then goes on to say:

King Henry VIII was of a different opinion; possibly to guard against a surprise by sea, he built at the foot of the cliff on the shore one of the many little castles he erected in the year 1539, it was called the Mote's Bulwark, and remains garrisoned.

(The "long s", or "f", has been replaced with the letter s for readability)

Originally Tudor, the "little castle" of Mote's Bulwark (alt. Moat's Bulwark) has been extensively modified over the years. The ruins now consist of a lower level semi-circular battery built of squared rubble with a revetted parapet (ie faced with masonry) at near sea-level, and an upper terrace set part-way up the cliff-side containing the West Gatehouse (or Guardroom) shown in the photo.

The Norman Keep or Great Tower of Henry II, Dover Castle at Night, Kent, UK

The north-western face of the Keep (or "Great Tower") with the North Tower on the left and the West Tower on the right:


(Click this Dover Castle Keep at Night text link to see the largest size)

The Keep from King's Gate

The East Tower is behind and to the left of the North Tower, the South Tower (Flag Tower) is out of view, although the Union Jack flag can be seen flying above it.

The Keep, once known as the Palace Tower, was designed by Henry II's architect 'Maurice the Engineer' (or mason) and built between 1180 - 1185. It is 83 feet high, just under 100 feet square, and has walls up to 21 feet thick.

Half-way down the Norman great tower on its north-eastern side (ie to the left) is the Forebuilding with its two chapels.

The Keep's largest pair of windows (difficult to spot at first glance - they're in line with the top of the Forebuilding) are those of the second floor:

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:

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:

West Tower and Upper Floor of Dover's Lost Castle, The Court's Folly, Kent, UK

The Georgian Court's Folly, styled in the shape of the Keep, or Great Tower (night view), of Dover Castle, was built in the early 1800s on the Western Heights cliffs above Snargate Stree by two Wine Merchants, Stephen and Rogers Court:


(Click this Court's Folly West Tower text link to see the largest size)

For much of its history, however, the 19th century miniature "lost castle" has been neglected and the ruins are now hidden under the trees and other undergrowth that cover this part of the White Cliffs of Dover.

Most Dovorians do not know the Court's Folly exists.

A Dover Museum webpage states (1):

...As well as leasing the shop (140 Snargate Street) and premises from Dover Harbour Board, the Courts' leased 2 plots of land behind, from Thomas Rutley and Thomas Papillon. On this land Stephen and Rogers built terracing for vines, tea gardens, 2 summerhouses, and dug an extensive network of vaults into the cliffs behind, with plastered and painted walls and chalk carvings.

Dover Castle Keep

The terracing up the cliffs was laid out as gardens, growing the different varieties of grapes that the wines they sold were made from, and also other exotic fruit such as figs and dates.

A summerhouse was built at the top of the terracing and further along the cliff-face they built a folly in the shape of Dover Castle silhouetted against the sky.

These became tourist attractions and customers could taste-test products sitting on the terracing and have tours of the vaults...

The internal dimensions of the Court's Folly are approximately 10.5 feet deep by 20 feet wide. The external length of the East Wall is actually about 13 - 14 feet deep, with the last 3 feet or so containing a horizontal oval recess (this extension is probably for cosmetic or structural purposes only). The front wall is 16 inches thick and is over 20 feet high. This view shows only part of the lower storey.

Apparently, the oval windows were quite a popular design feature that had originated in an earlier period (2):

Charles Lightoller of the Titanic and the Spanish Prince blockship of Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

The Georgian 8 East Cliff, also known as Elizabeth House and a Grade II Dover Listed Building, is the left-hand four-storey house of the block with "1834" on the parapet:


(Click this Georgian 8 East Cliff Listed Building text link to see the largest size)

In 1899, Charles "Lights" Lightoller went to Liverpool and thought he had signed on as third mate to the Knight Bachelor only to find himself "shanghaied" into serving in the far less desirable Knight Companion instead (1):

I still had malarial fever in my veins, and well I knew it on the train journey down and across London. I arrived at Tilbury Dock feeling like the complete West African dishcloth. All I wanted was to get my head down, and forget I was alive. I had, in my subconscious mind, all the comforts that one associates with the Royal Mail. A nice airy cabin, a bunk with clean white sheets, a boy to attend you, and practically every wish anticipated. Doctor, stewards and all the rest of it.

Arriving at Tilbury Dock, I asked a porter wearily where the Knight boat was lying. He replied, "Oh, just near by, sir. Over the bridge," and suggested he should put my baggage on a truck and run it over. "Right," said I, my one anxiety being to get to my cabin, and try to forget this damnable fever. We trudged along, I simply following the porter, conscious of little but a terrific temperature.

Suddenly the porter stopped. "Well," I said, "why have you stopped?" "Here is your ship, sir." I looked up. What a horror! About the dirtiest thing I'd ever clapped eyes on. Her rusty iron sides streaked with the horrible overflow from the cattle she had evidently been carrying. Smelling like nothing on earth. "But this isn't the Knight Bachelor, surely?" I exclaimed. "Oh, no sir, the Knight Bachelor sailed last week; this is the Knight Companion." Had I had the strength she would certainly have been no companion of mine. However, I was just about at the end of my tether, and thought, "Come, let's get on board, and between some blankets."

...I have often grinned over the way I got shanghaied into that wretched ship.

Charles Dickens and the Victorian Camden Crescent, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

Numbering from left to right, a post-sunrise view (the buildings are actually white) of 1 to 4 Camden Crescent at 6.34 am on Monday, 29th of August, 2011 (1):


(Click this Charles Dickens at Camden Crescent text link to see the largest size)

The photo was taken from Marine Parade on the seafront promenade above the beach of Dover Harbour.

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Camden Crescent Architecture (2) (3)

Camden Crescent is now a Listed Building and runs from the Indian Mutiny War Memorial in New Bridge (the buildings behind the tree on the left) to Wellesley Road (by the Gateway Flats, out-of-shot to the right).

The following extract is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence (PSI licence number C2010002016) (4):

Waterloo Crescent

Originally a complete crescent similar to Waterloo Crescent, but the other houses have been demolished.

Built in 1840. 4 storeys and basement with area. Yellow brick, the ground floor stuccoed and rusticated.

Parapet above 3rd floor, cornice above 2nd floor, stuccoed stringcourse above lst floor. Continuous iron balcony with hood on the 1st floor.

No 1 has a curved front. 3 windows to each house with restored glazing bars.

The full "Listed Building" entry for Victorian - or Georgian - Camden Crescent is appended below.

Rare view of the 1st Century Roman Pharos, Dover Castle, Kent, UK

The East Roman Pharos in the grounds of Dover Castle stands on a huge horseshoe-shaped rampart known as Harold's Earthwork:


(Click this East Roman Pharos text link to see the largest size)

The East Roman Pharos was built 46 AD during the reign of Emperor Claudius while Aulus Plautius was governor.

On the right-hand side of the photo is part of a low perimeter wall that runs all the way around the edge of the earthwork.

The reason the above view of the Pharos (a watchtower or lighthouse) is rare - if not unique, at least as far as the internet is concerned - is because it was taken from the west and from outside of the perimeter wall.

Behind the Pharos is the Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro.

A replica remnant of the West Roman Pharos, known as the Bredenstone, is located on the other side of the River Dour valley on the Drop Redoubt (part of a vast Napoleonic and Victorian hidden fortress embedded into the Western Heights).

The Lost Castle of Dover, The Court's Folly Keep, Western Heights, Kent, UK

The Georgian Court's Folly, styled in the shape of the Keep, or Great Tower (night view), of Dover Castle, was built in the early 1800s on the Western Heights cliffs above Snargate Stree by two Wine Merchants, Stephen and Rogers Court:


(Click this Court's Folly Keep text link to see the largest size)

For much of its history, however, the 19th century miniature "lost castle" has been neglected and the ruins are now hidden under the trees and other undergrowth that cover this part of the White Cliffs of Dover.

Most Dovorians do not know the Court's Folly exists.

A Dover Museum webpage states (1):

...As well as leasing the shop (140 Snargate Street) and premises from Dover Harbour Board, the Courts' leased 2 plots of land behind, from Thomas Rutley and Thomas Papillon. On this land Stephen and Rogers built terracing for vines, tea gardens, 2 summerhouses, and dug an extensive network of vaults into the cliffs behind, with plastered and painted walls and chalk carvings.

Dover Castle Keep

The terracing up the cliffs was laid out as gardens, growing the different varieties of grapes that the wines they sold were made from, and also other exotic fruit such as figs and dates.

A summerhouse was built at the top of the terracing and further along the cliff-face they built a folly in the shape of Dover Castle silhouetted against the sky.

These became tourist attractions and customers could taste-test products sitting on the terracing and have tours of the vaults...

The internal dimensions of the Court's Folly are approximately 10.5 feet deep by 20 feet wide. The external length of the East Wall is actually about 13 - 14 feet deep, with the last 3 feet or so containing a horizontal oval recess (this extension is probably for cosmetic or structural purposes only). The front wall is 16 inches thick and is over 20 feet high. Only the lower half of the right-hand part of the rear wall is still standing, including a fireplace and chimney course complete with sooty residue.

Apparently, the oval windows were quite a popular design feature that had originated in an earlier period (2):

Dover Castle under Snow, Winter 2009, from the Western Heights, Kent, UK

This panoramic view, taken on December 22, 2009, is a 'winter edition' of the autumnal Dover Town and Dover Castle from the Western Heights photo uploaded on November 5th of that year:



Left of centre on the snow-covered skyline is the Norman Keep, or Great Tower (night view), of Dover Castle; further left are three masts (originally four, now reduced to two) of the Second World War early-warning Swingate Chain Home radar station.

Right of centre on the skyline are the Pharos (a 1st Century AD Roman watchtower, or lighthouse) and adjacent Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro.

Just below the skyline towards the right-hand edge of the photo is an end view of the Victorian Officers' Mess (or Officers' New Barracks).

Stretching across the lower half of the photo is the row of large terraced houses of Victoria Park, to the left of which lies the southern entrance to the Zig Zags park; if you know where to look, the West Wall of Old St James Church is also visible (bottom right, in a line under the end houses of Victoria Park).

Within 5 to 150 yards of where this photo was taken from are: Cowgate Cemetery Nature Reserve, the Court's Folly, the 64 Steps, and the Drop Redoubt.

Many of the above-named locations are Victorian.

Filming of the 2009 North Entrance video began here. See:

Victorian Chancel of St. Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Church of England, Dover, Kent, UK

Dover's Church of St Mary the Virgin from the east showing the Chancel/Apse and surrounding graveyard:


(Click this St Mary's Church text link to see the largest size)

St. Mary the Virgin is Church of England and located in Cannon Street (ex Canon Street), Dover. It is a Norman church built between 1066 and 1086 and then restored in Victorian times, 1843-1844.

St Mary's was probably built on the site of a Saxon church, but was certainly built on top of an even earlier Roman structure.

The 'Lady Chapel' is in the right-hand aisle, the Organ in the left. The graveyard (churchyard, cemetery) was closed for burials in 1854.

St Mary's Passage runs along the south side of the church (to the left) and Dieu Stone Lane along the north side (to the right). The photo was taken from Church Street.

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Excerpt from the "History of St Mary's Church" (1)

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin has shared to the full in both the spiritual and civic life of the ancient town and port of Dover. It is situated in the centre of the town in the main street (Cannon Street) and close by the old Market Square, for centuries the hub of activity, and still at the centre of the town's life. The Church has been increased in size three times, and excavations under the floor near the font have shown that it is built on the site of Roman baths.