A NEW AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF KENT; EMBELLISHED WITH A SERIES OF VIEWS, From Original Drawings, BY G. SHEPHERD, H. GASTINEAU, &c. &c. WITH HISTORICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL, CRITICAL, AND BIOGRAPHICAL DELINEATIONS. BY W. H. IRELAND, Member of the Athenæum of Sciences and Arts at Paris, &c. VOL. II. LONDON: G. VIRTUE, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1829. THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF KENT, &c. &c. THE TOWN, CASTLE, AND PORT OF DOVER. Ar the eastern extremity of Kent, adjoining the sea, stands the town of Dover, where the great high road conducting towards France terminates. It adjoins the parish of Charlton, eastward, in the lath of St. Augustine, and eastern division of this county; being within the liberty of the Cinque Ports, and the jurisdiction of the corporation of the town and port of Dover. This place, written in the Latin Itinerary of Antoninus, Dubris; by the Saxons, Dorfa and Dofris; by later historians, Doveria; and, in the Domesday record, Dovere: most probably derived its name from the British words, Dufir, signifying water, or Dufirrha, high and steep; in allusion to the cliffs whereby it is completely surrounded, with the exception of that part facing the sea. Dover stands at the extremity of a wide and spacious valley, enclosed on either side by lofty and steep hills, or cliffs; and, making allowance for the retiring of the sea from between them, corresponds with the description given by Cæsar in his Commentaries. In the middle space between this chain of eminences, in an opening, lies the Town of Dover, and its Harbour, which latter, previous to the sea being shut out, as late as the Norman conquest, was situated much more inland than at present, as will be further exemplified. Close to the north side of the town and harbour, on the summit of one of these stupendous cliffs, rises the celebrated castle of VOL. II. B 2 |
