Night Panorama of the Ferry Port and Eastern Docks of Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

This night-time and panoramic view of Space City in Dover Harbour was taken on Wednesday, 19th of January, 2011, from the cliff-edge south of Dover Coastguard Station overlooking the Straits of Dover and English Channel beyond:


(Click this Dover Ferry Port and Eastern Docks text link to see the largest size)

The Eastern Docks and Ferry Port (1) occupy the bottom two-thirds of the photo with the actual cross-channel car and freight terminals out-of-shot to the left (as is the Eastern Arm pier that once bounded the Camber).

Various roads, some with light trails, surround the darkened square office block just below the centre of the photo: The Fan, North Exit Road, North Return Road, Dock Exit Road (etc.)

Above and to the right of the office block is the multi-storey car park atop the Booking Hall (Arrivals Hall, Reception Hall).

Official websites of companies operating cross-channel ferries are at P&O Ferries, Seafrance (under administration as of November 16th, 2011), and DFDS Seaways (Norfolk Line, Norfolkline). Photos of their ships appear, or will appear, under the P&O Ferries, Seafrance, and DFDS Seaways category labels (see all ferry images).

White Cliffs of Dover
Lightoller and 8 East Cliff

Above the Booking Hall, the Jubilee Way A2 Bypass sweeps down from a low-point in the White Cliffs of Dover (dimly visible down the right-hand edge) called Broadlees Bottom and turns back on itself over the Ferry Port before 'touching down' at a roundabout near the docks entrance where it is joined by the A20 dual-carraigeway.

The A20 runs parallel to the seafront after entering the town from behind Shakespeare Cliff and meets the roundabout below Athol Terrace after passing the houses of East Cliff (Marine Parade).

Charles Lightoller lived at 8 East Cliff after joining the Royal Navy's Dover Patrol (2) in 1916. He was the second mate and senior surviving officer of the 1912 RMS Titanic iceberg disaster.

In Lightoller's time during World War I, the Eastern Docks was "H.M. Dockyard, East Cliff" (3) and used for the dismantling of ships. In 1920 the Stanlee Shipbreaking & Salvage Co. Ltd. took over as commercial ship breakers and the following year they broke-up the battleship, HMS St Vincent, a veteran of the Battle of Jutland:

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:


(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).

Night Panorama of the Western Docks in Dover Harbour, St Martin's Battery, Kent, UK

This panorama view of the Western Docks of Dover Harbour was taken from the Victorian and Second World War coastal artillery gun emplacements of St Martin's Battery, Western Heights, at 5.25 am on Tuesday, 24th of August, 2010:


(Click this Western Docks of Dover Harbour text link to see the largest size)

At top-left, the Western Entrance from the English Channel (Straits of Dover) to the harbour is formed by the Southern Breakwater on the left and the Admiralty Pier on the right.

The cruise ship berthed at Cruise Terminal 1 (CT1) on the Admiralty Pier (right of top-centre) is the MS Saga Ruby.

MS Saga Ruby at CT1

The passenger ship has just completed the "Treasures of the Anglo-Celtic Isles" cruise that called at various ports in England, Scotland, Wales, Nothern Ireland, and Eire (Ireland).

The cruise began at Dover on August the 11th and had the following itinerary: Dover, Edinburgh, Kirkwall, Portree, Greenock (Glasgow), Belfast, Holyhead (Wales), Dublin, Cork, Falmouth, Guernsey (Channel Islands), Dover.

A close-up of the MS Saga Ruby was taken a little later from the Prince of Wales Pier. Click on the thumbnail or MS Saga Ruby Cruise Ship and Neptune Catamaran in the Western Docks.

See all ships belonging to Saga Cruises photos.

Elsewhere in the main 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 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: