fortress at Dover, probably near the spot where the keep or principal
tower of Dover Castle now stands. Previous to the death of Edward the
Confessor it appears to have belonged to Harold, afterwards King of
England; for William, Duke of Normandy, who was then probably devising
measures to secure to himself the English crown, refused to allow Harold
to depart from Rouen, till he had taken an oath to deliver up to him
"the Castle of Dover and the well of water in it," on the decease of
Edward. After the battle of Hastings, the Conqueror marched without
delay to Dover, took possession of the castle, and put the governor to
death. It appears that he also burnt the town, which perhaps might not
have received him with sufficient humility, in order to terrify others
into immediate submission to his authority. The foundation of the
present keep of Dover Castle was laid by Henry II. in 1153, the year
before he succeeded to the English crown on the death of King Stephen.
The ground plan is nearly a square, and the building, in its general
appearance, bears a great resemblance to Rochester Castle, which was
erected according to the designs of Bishop Gundulph--the architect of
the White Tower in the Tower of London--in the early part of the reign
of William Rufus. The walls of the keep of Dover Castle are from
eighteen to twenty feet thick, and are traversed by galleries
communicating with the principal apartments. The summit is embattled;
and the top of the northern turret is 93 feet high from the ground, and
about 465 feet above the level of the sea, at low water. The view from
the top is extremely grand and interesting, including the North
Foreland, Reculver Church, Ramsgate Pier, Sandwich, and a great part of
the intermediate country, with the straits of Dover, the town of Calais,
and the line of the French coast from Gravelines to Boulogne. In 1800, a
bomb-proof arched roof was constructed, and several large cannon mounted
on it. During the late war the fortifications were greatly strengthened,
the old towers on the walls repaired, and additional quarters for
soldiers constructed, in order that the garrison, in the event of
invasion, might be able to withstand a regular siege.
[Illustration: SANDWICH.
(Kent.)]
SANDWICH,
KENT.
Her walls are crumbling down--the gate,
Through which her merchants wont to pour
Is all dismantled: adverse fate
Has cast a blight upon her shore.
Her streets and shipless haven show
The tenure of all things below.
The history of Sandwich, as one of the Cinque Ports, presents a striking
example of the fluctuation of trade, and the uncertain tenure by which
all mercantile property is held, when supported by merely human
ingenuity and enterprise. A very slight operation of nature is
sufficient to paralyse the hand of ambition, and to strike the once
productive landscape with sterility. Harbours, where our forefathers
have counted the thickly crowded masts of stately merchantmen, are now
deserted or forgotten. Many of the channels through which riches were
once poured into this county, have been gradually dried up; while new
ports and harbours have been opened on various parts of the coast, where
commercial enterprise has fixed her abode. But, like their predecessors,
these also may be deserted in their turn, and silently co-operate in
that ever-progressive scheme of nature, by which, as the old and
familiar scenes of our youth become changed or obliterated, others are
called forth to take their place. The existence of a shoal, or the
shifting of a sand-bank, may mar or diminish the prosperity of a city;
and to the great local changes which this part of the Kentish coast has
undergone, the decay of Sandwich, as a harbour, is chiefly to be
ascribed. Where fleets of merchantmen once rode in safety; where the
busy scenes of lading and unlading once offered pictures of maritime
prosperity, the fishing-craft of the place can hardly find anchorage,
and all the characteristics of a flourishing port have disappeared; so
that it may be affirmed, with a truth too evident, that--
"The balance has shifted--prosperity's ray
No longer enlivens her harbour and bay."
The town of Sandwich includes the parishes of St. Clement, St.
Mary-the-Virgin, and St. Peter-the-Apostle. St. Clement's Church is a
very ancient and spacious structure, with a massive tower, a noble
specimen of the Norman style of ecclesiastical architecture. St. Mary's
is also a church of considerable antiquity as well as St. Peter's; but
both have been considerably damaged by time and accident. The Guildhall
is an ancient and handsome edifice. The Free Grammar-School, endowed
with exhibitions, was founded in 1563; and among the charitable
institutions are the Hospitals of St. Thomas and St. John, in which a
number of aged persons of good character, but in reduced circumstances,
are comfortably supported. The Hospital of St. Bartholomew is a
munificent foundation, from the funds of which sixteen decayed tradesmen
of respectable character, and others, members of the corporation, are
supported in comparative affluence.
Sandwich was originally enclosed by walls and partly fortified. It had
eight gates, one of which, called Fisher's Gate, is considered by
architects and antiquaries as well deserving of inspection, for the
excellence of its design and workmanship. It illustrates a period when
the craft had reached its zenith in this country, and when the
Templars--the Vaubans of their day--still exercised the mysteries of
architecture.
Ship-building and rope-making, as well as a foreign trade with Norway,
Sweden, and Russia, in iron, timber, and hemp, are still carried on in
Sandwich though comparatively to a very small extent. The home trade,
chiefly with Wales and Scotland, consists of flour, seed, hops, malt,
fruit, &c.; but of the once celebrated woollen trade of Sandwich not a
vestige is left. The weekly market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, with
a cattle-market every alternate Monday, and annual fairs on the second
of October and fourth of December.
[Illustration: RAMSGATE.]
RAMSGATE,
ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR.
The view of the entrance to Ramsgate harbour, engraved from a painting
by E. W. Cooke, is taken from the southward, and its fidelity will
immediately be recognised by every one who has seen the place. It is
blowing a stiff breeze, which causes a swell; and the fishing smack,
seen entering, is lowering her sails, that she may not have too much
_way_ when she gets within the harbour. To the left is the lighthouse,
which stands near the end of the western pier; and the extremity of the
eastern pier is perceived to the right.
The cost of Ramsgate harbour, dock, lighthouse, and other requisite
buildings, is said to have amounted to L650,000. The form of the harbour
is nearly circular, and its area is about forty-six acres. The length of
the eastern pier, following its angles, or "cants" as they are
technically termed, is about 2000 feet, and that of the western about
1500. Their general width is about 26 feet, including the thickness of
the parapets; and the width of the entrance to the harbour between their
heads is 240 feet. The harbour is maintained by a tonnage duty on all
ships passing, whether sailing on the east or west of the Goodwin Sands,
and by a duty on coals and stones discharged in the harbour.
The light displayed from the lighthouse is stationary, and is only
exhibited when there is ten feet water between the pier heads. In the
day time a flag is hoisted while there is the same depth of water at the
entrance of the harbour. In spring tides, the depth of water increases
to sixteen feet in about an hour from the time that the ten-feet signal
is displayed; in about two hours to twenty feet; and in three hours, or
about high water, to twenty-one feet. In neap-tides the depth of water
at those periods respectively is fourteen, seventeen, and eighteen feet
between the pier heads.
During the summer, Ramsgate is much frequented by visitors from London,
who come by the daily steam-packets to enjoy the benefit of sea-bathing,
for which the beach to the southward of the pier affords excellent
opportunity. Powerful steam-packets ply every day between London and
Ramsgate, and the passage up or down is usually made in seven hours.
There are several excellent hotels and many convenient lodging-houses at
Ramsgate, and the charges generally are moderate. At the close of the
year, when the summer visitants have all retired to their several
homes, another description of persons make their appearance at
Ramsgate--the Torbay fishermen, who generally establish their rendezvous
there from December to June, for the sake of fishing in the North Sea.
It seems probable that Ramsgate, as a port, will continue to increase
very considerably in importance; and, in the event of a continental war,
when steam-vessels are likely to be much employed, its eligibility as a
place for the embarkation of troops, and as a packet station, will
doubtless not be overlooked. It not unfrequently happens, in stormy
weather, that the Dover packets enter Ramsgate with safety, when they
cannot approach their own harbour.
The South-Eastern Railway Company have extended their line to Ramsgate,
and the route, though rather circuitous, secures a large share of
patronage from that portion of the pleasure-seeking visitants of our
coasts to whom the stiff breezes and heavy swell, generally found off
the North Foreland, are the reverse of gratifying.
George IV., on his departure to visit his Hanoverian dominions in 1821,
embarked at Ramsgate; and to commemorate the event, an obelisk was
erected by subscription of the inhabitants. The popularity of Ramsgate,
as a watering-place, was greatly increased by the partiality evinced for
it by her present Majesty, when Princess Victoria, who, with her august
mother, the Duchess of Kent, honoured it with several successive visits.
Camden, in his Britannia, gives the people of the Isle of Thanet, and
more particularly the inhabitants of Ramsgate, Margate, and Broadstairs,
the following character: "They are, as it were, amphibious, seeking
their living both by sea and land, and turning to account both elements.
They are fishermen and ploughmen, farmers and sailors; and the same man
that holds the shafts of a plough, turning up a furrow on land, can also
take the helm at sea. According to the season, they make nets, catch
cod, herring, mackerel, and other fish; go to sea, and export their own
commodities--and those very men also dung the ground, plough, sow,
harrow, reap, and house the corn." The inhabitants of Ramsgate, and of
the Isle of Thanet generally, no longer retain this amphibious
character; the "division of labour," the advantages of which are so
strikingly pointed out by political economists in the manufacture of
pins, has abridged their multifarious pursuits; the same man does not
now till the earth and plough the sea; and few indeed are to be found
who can handle an oar as well as a flail: the consequence is, that we
have better boatmen and better agriculturists.
[Illustration: BROADSTAIRS.
(Kent.)]
BROADSTAIRS.
ISLE OF THANET.
"True to the dream of fancy, Ocean has
His darker tints; but where's the element
That chequers not its usefulness to man
With casual terror?"
CAMPBELL.
This delightful watering-place, nearly equidistant from Margate on the
north, and Ramsgate on the south, enjoys its full share of popularity;
and, judging from many recent improvements, offers increasing
attractions to the numerous visitors who make Thanet's "sea-girt shore"
their summer residence. To those who prefer tranquillity and retirement
to scenes of bustle and holiday festivity, Broadstairs will present many
advantages over its more gay and animated rivals; and to the studious
and contemplative nothing can be more congenial than the society which
generally meet once a year in this interesting spot. To the invalid it
is favourable from the same causes, offering few temptations to gaiety
or indulgence, but affording every facility for retired and intellectual
enjoyment. The sea-view is magnificent; and the numerous vessels which
are constantly passing and repassing give a most agreeable animation to
the waters in front, which are walled in by lofty cliffs, from which the
visitor inhales the fresh sea-breeze, as it first strikes the land, and
carries its invigorating influence through his frame.
Broadstairs has long been the periodical residence of many distinguished
literary men, most of whom have acknowledged the benefit derived from
its bracing climate, and verified their opinion by repeated trials. If
pure air could be as readily administered as certain medicinal
compounds, there would be little necessity for so often deserting the
courts and counting-houses of the metropolis in search of health; but so
long as this "draught" cannot be made up according to nature's
prescription, it is cheering to know that on the coast it may be had
ready prepared, and without "mistake" or "adulteration."
It was while overlooking a scene like that which opens upon the visitor
at Broadstairs, and while sensibly feeling all the salubrious influence
of the breezes, that seemed to welcome and caress him when exchanging
the pleasures of town for poetry and contemplation on the coast, that
the Bard of Hope broke out into these noble and impassioned lines:--
"Hail to thy face and odours, glorious Sea!
'Twere thanklessness in me to bless thee not,
Great beauteous being! in whose breath and smile
My heart beats calmer, and my very mind
Inhales salubrious thoughts. How welcomer
_Thy_ murmurs, than the murmurs of the world!
Tho', like the world, thou fluctuatest, to me
Thy din is peace, thy restlessness repose.
Even gladly I exchange yon spring-green lanes,
With all the darling field-flowers in their prime,
And gardens haunted by the nightingale's
Long trill, and gushing extasies of song,
For these wild headlands and the sea-mew's clang!"
Broadstairs appears, in addition to its attraction as bathing-quarters,
to have formerly enjoyed a considerable share of trade in the fisheries;
but this source of revenue having dried up, recourse was had to
ship-building, which is still carried on to a small extent. Its chief
dependence, however, is on the number and respectability of its
visitors, many of whom retire here for several months annually with
their families, and, by a liberal expenditure, do much to support the
markets and to encourage local industry. The bathing-place is at the
mouth of the harbour, under the cliff, and is provided with every
accommodation to be found at the larger watering-places. There are two
or more excellent hotels, and two extensive public libraries, commanding
magnificent views of the sea and the shipping--from a fishing-boat to a
seventy-four--passing to and from the Downs, at all hours of the day.
The place is still further enlivened, as well as benefited, by the
London steamers, which here land or embark passengers in their way to
and from town.
[Illustration: WRECK IN KINGSGATE BAY.
(Isle of Thanet.)]
KINGSGATE,
NEAR BROADSTAIRS.
"Olim Porta fui Patroni Bartholomaei,
Nunc Regis jussu REGIA PORTA vocor,
Hic exscenderunt Carolus Secundus Rex
Et Jacobus Dux EBOR. 30 Junii, 1683."
So named in consequence of its having been the point at which King
Charles II. and his brother, the Duke of York, disembarked on their way
from London to Dover, as recorded in the preceding inscription. It
consists of a narrow sloping passage, cut through the chalk cliff, and
communicating with the beach for the convenience of the fishery formerly
carried on in this neighbourhood. It was originally known as "St.
Bartholomew's Gate," from the circumstance of its having been completed,
according to tradition, on the festival of that Saint, and therefore
placed under hallowed auspices. The eastern side of this portal,
opposite the sea, bears, in Saxon characters, ~God Bless Barth'lem's
Gate~. It is about a mile from Broadstairs, and in the midst of scenery
which Henry Lord Holland did much to embellish by great liberality and a
correct taste in architecture. His marine residence here was built after
the model of Cicero's villa on the shore of Baiae, near Naples; but being
subsequently purchased by some monied speculator, who had most likely
never heard of Cicero, it was despoiled of its rich Italian marbles,
curtailed and barbarised in its proportions, and metamorphosed into
three insignificant dwellings. Around it were several fantastic
buildings, intended to represent various Gothic ruins; the most
considerable of which was the convent, containing the remains of a
chapel and five cells, which once afforded an asylum to poor families.
Nearer the cliff is a rude Gothic structure, erected on the larger of
the two tumuli, called Hackendown Banks, which, according to tradition,
marks the spot where a sanguinary conflict took place between the Saxons
and the Danes, in which the latter were defeated. On opening these
barrows, graves were found excavated in the solid chalk, of an oblong
oval form, about three feet long, and covered with flat stones. In one
of them were discovered three urns of coarse, black, ill-burnt earth,
which, on being exposed to the air, crumbled to pieces. On a tablet
erected by Lord Holland is a Latin inscription, to the memory of the
Danes and Saxons, who here fought a sanguinary battle for the possession
of Britain; the natives having before been perfidiously and cruelly
expelled. The village of St. Peter, situated on a conspicuously wooded
eminence, is much frequented by pleasure parties from the three
bathing-places adjacent. The church is a fine, venerable structure, the
steeple of which, of great strength and solidity, is remarkable for a
rent from top to bottom, occasioned, it is said, by the shock of an
earthquake, which was severely felt along this coast in 1580.
The North Foreland, the most eastern point of England, and supposed to
be the "Cantium" of Ptolemy, forms a bold projection on the line of
cliffs between Broadstairs and Kingsgate. On this promontory stands the
North Foreland Lighthouse, which has proved an incalculable safeguard to
the navigation of the Downs, which, independently of the near vicinity
of the Goodwin Sands, is attended with great risk in dark and stormy
weather. The lights consist of patent lamps, with large magnifying
lenses twenty inches in diameter, which are lighted at sunset, and kept
burning till after daybreak. From the top the view of the straits and
French coast is most extensive, and on this account it is much resorted
to by strangers. The date of its erection is that of the landing of King
Charles at Kingsgate, already noticed.
The Goodwin Sands, which here protect the Downs from the swell of the
Northern Ocean, are about seven miles from the coast, ten miles long,
and two or more in breadth. They consist of a more soft, fluid, porous,
spongy, but withal tenacious substance, than the neighbouring sands, and
are consequently of such a quality, that when a ship strikes upon them
there is but very little chance of her getting off: the nature of the
sand being to swallow its prey in a few hours, while the surf, which
breaks over them, frustrates all attempts to approach the ill-fated
vessel. When the tide, however, has ebbed sufficiently, these sands
become so hard and firm that cricket-matches have been played upon them.
But woe to him who does not quit so treacherous a field at the proper
moment; for on the return of the tide they are instantly converted into
quicksands, that float to and fro with the waves.
[Illustration: "THE WESTMINSTER" AND "CLAUDINE," ASHORE NEAR MARGATE.]
SCENE NEAR MARGATE.
TWO VESSELS ASHORE.
At night, beneath a cloudless moon,
Yon gallant vessel plough'd her way;
But storms arose:--next day at noon,
A stranded wreck that vessel lay!
So man, beneath a flattering sun,
Puts forth in pride his slender sail;
But while he dreams of treasure won,
His bark is shatter'd in the gale.--W. B.
Along the west side of the Isle of Thanet the sea has made very
considerable encroachments; many of the ancient landmarks have been
washed away, and naturally exposed to the fury of the north and east
winds, great portions of the cliffs have gradually disappeared in the
sea. The same causes continuing in active operation, the effects are
annually perceptible upon the boundary line, which defends this coast
from the Northern Ocean. But the damage sustained in the east is amply
compensated for in the west of England, where a territory fit for the
accommodation of 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants might be gained from the
tide-mark at little comparative outlay. We allude to the projected
improvements on the Lancashire coast, particularly Morecambe Bay, and
the estuary of the river Duddon.
Margate had originally a natural inlet of the sea; and in the reign of
Edward I. Gore-end church, in consequence of the sea's encroachment, was
removed inland. "Margate," says Leland, "lyeth in St. John's paroche in
Thanet, a v. mile fro Reculver; and there is a village and a peere for
shyppes, but sore decayed." Owing to its natural position, Margate has
never been able to establish a foreign trade. In 1787, the old wooden
pier having become ruinous, it was cased with stone, and extended
further into the sea; but a tremendous gale having soon after come on,
the works were demolished; and a fresh act of parliament being obtained
for that purpose, a fine, strong, and convenient mole was erected on a
new plan, where a public promenade, with an extensive prospect, affords
a beautiful source of recreation to the visitors, while at the same time
it shuts out from observation the hurry and bustle of the harbour.
In 1748, a tremendous storm from the southward drove a number of vessels
from their anchorage in the Downs, many of which were wrecked under
these cliffs. The vast sacrifice of life and property thus occasioned
induced the shipping and mercantile interests to think of increasing the
capacity of Ramsgate harbour, an account of which appears in this work.
Winds from the south-east and south-west are those by which the safety
of the shipping in the Downs is most endangered. Vessels breaking adrift
in the latter at night, with strong south-west and southerly gales, says
an experienced naval officer, should run into the North Sea, through the
Gulf Stream; if in distress, and the attempt uncertain, the only
alternative is to run for Ramsgate harbour or on the Sandwich flats.
Along this coast nine lug-boats, called _hovellers_, are employed for
the relief of vessels in distress. They vary from twenty to twenty-seven
tons burthen each, draw five feet water, and are usually manned with a
crew of ten men, who are always on the out-look for vessels requiring
their assistance. By their proverbial courage and exertions, many lives
are annually saved from vessels wrecked on the neighbouring coast and
shoals, and much valuable property restored to its owners. When it
becomes a salvage case, they lay their claims before one of the
commission courts, appointed by the Lord Warden, who make an award
agreeable to the service performed. Several of these boats are stationed
at Margate, Ramsgate, Deal, and Dover; but those of the latter only have
the privilege to enter continental ports, by license from the
Custom-house. In the most severe and boisterous weather several of these
boats cruise in the Narrows of the Channel, and are frequently the means
of rendering, under desperate circumstances, important service to the
shipping interest.
[Illustration: CHATHAM.]
CHATHAM DOCK-YARD.