Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
"Early in December the supply of labour far exceeded the demand, and the Market Place was thronged day after day by the unemployed"
Could be today, but this is from a fascinating booklet I received today !!
Dover Year Book and Official List for 1886 by J Bavington Jones
Never heard about it before but it is a great resource, I'll do some scans later and see what else there is of interest
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Looks very interesting
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Is that Mike Webb in the above photo.?
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
The Year Books are very interesting Paul.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
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Sounds like a dodgy establishment - Druggist !!
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
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We have one of their mineral water bottles. The name was actually Forster, the ad contains a misprint.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
From the Dover Express, 1888
Terrible Fire in Castle Street.
Early on Tuesday morning Castle Street, Dover was the scene of one of the most disastrous fires that have occurred in Dover for several years. At the time of writing there is no distinct evidence as to how it broke out but the centre of conflagration was the carriage manufactory of Messrs Hills and Son. There the work of destruction has been complete and the fire has also done much damage to the stables of Mr. Leney and the back building of Mr. R. H. Forster, Chemist.
The alarm seems to have been given a few minutes before four and with terrible rapidly the fire spread so that a few minutes after that time the Carriage Factory which runs to Dolphin Lane was in a blaze. Mr. J. Hill the occupier of Dolphin House that immediately joins the Carriage Factory says he awoke at twenty minutes to four and then all was quiet. Twenty-five minutes later a noise and a glare on the window aroused him. He was at once aware that there was a great fire, he aroused the house and very quickly got into the back of the premises and he found that the whole structure of the factory that adjoins Dolphin Lane was like a burning cage. Miss. Pepper one of the daughters of Mr. R. V. Pepper was sleeping in a bedroom at the back on the third floor of their house in Castle Street when about the same time she awoke and found a great fire raging in the back but a short distance from her window.
By this time the whole neighbourhood was aroused and there being a great many houses near it was a terrible awakening. In some cases the inmates were so terrified that they could not dress and in the others the shock to the system was so great that they were scarcely able to do anything to help themselves. Police Constable Bass who discovered the outbreak gave the alarm to the police promptly and Superintendent Sanders and his Fire Brigade were soon on the scene. The police were on the spot at a quarter to four o'clock and had hydrants fixed in about five minutes. The water supply at first was not very effective-in fact it had no effect on Castle Street until the hose was carried up the fire escape ladder. It seems the hydrant's were defective and the water instead of going into the hose came out of the bottom of the stand pipe, and in one case opposite 29 Castle Street the pavement was washed up by the water. A good supply was obtained at the back and an hour later when the fire was in full career threatening the entire neighbourhood the military arrived on the scene with three fire engines.
One was fixed in Castle Street taking water from the river by Brace's Mill and the other two in Dolphin Lane pumping from the river by the office of Messrs Leney's Brewery. It was generally admitted that the force of water from the engines was more effective than that from the water mains and there is no question but that great credit is due to the soldiers both officers and men, for the plucky way in which they worked. As soon as the Fire Brigade officer Mr. Graham the foreman started of to inform Mr. Hills who resides in Park Avenue and in the meantime Mrs. Graham seeing her furniture, which was not insured in danger at once began carrying it downstairs. She made three journeys to Pay's on the other side of the street and the last time she was nearly suffocated with the smoke. Spectators speak of the scene of the fire at this time as being most terrifying. Mr. Pay who lives nearly opposite was one of the first to see the fire and he assisted the police in getting the fourteen horses out of Mr. Leney's stables.
The fire seemed to have broken out in the corner of the Carriage Manufactory near the stables and it very soon got hold of the latter. It terrified the horses so that their noise was distressing. It was a very difficult task to get them out. Another eyewitness tells us that he was on the scene as soon as the alarm was given and that the fire appeared to have started in the place described. It spread so rapidly that the whole place was alight and the flames issuing from Castle Street windows in less than half an hour. The police directed their first attack on the opening near Mr. Leney's stables, as that was the seat of the fire. They got ladders and tried to work down on it from above but the heat was too fierce to allow it. After spreading to Castle Street the fire worked round Dolphin Lane opposite the gasworks yard and in a very short time the Carriage Factory was down, the large workshops being reduced to blazing heaps of debris and the blackened outside walls threatening to fall.
The excellent way that the block on the Castle Street frontage is built was the only reason why it was saved. Mr. Pepper on the one side and Mr. Forster on the other formed the two boundary walls of a fiercely heated oven, and if the walls had not been thick and strong they could not have escaped. As it was both the houses escaped with but slight damage from fire. The water did a good deal of harm and a portion of the upper part of Mr. Forster's house was caught by the flames and a good deal of damage was done to his out buildings and a stable in the rear. The occupants of the house at Dolphin Lane at the back of the carriage works were in great danger and very hurriedly cleared out their furniture. Between the factory and Dolphin House, occupied by Mr. Hill there was a small carriage house with rooms over, which have not been recently used. The fire got into this place and was threatening Dolphin House because it was not possible to get into the closed rooms. At length Mr. Hill knocked a hole in the roof and the fire was stopped at this spot the hose being carried through the entrance lobby. Nothing at all seems to have been saved out of the carriage factory where there were about forty carriages in different stages of construction but three or four carriages, which were in the showroom were taken out safely.
As far as we can learn there was no accident's at all during the morning and there was plenty of time for all to escape. In fact the only dwelling house actually burnt out was that of the foreman of the factory, which was on the first floor overlooking Castle Street. We believe all the property was insured except the household furniture and the tools of the coachbuilders. The whole of the hands of the carriage factory must of necessity be thrown out of employment. The destruction of the Dover Proprietary Library is a calamity that will cause general regret because it contained works of great value. After the fire had transverse the workshops they made their first attack on the library owing to its being situated on the second floor just in the sweep of the flames. Very soon it was evident to onlookers that the interior was fast becoming a wreck and the smoke and fire shortly debauched from the windows over Castle Street. There was no check to the destruction until the whole of the interior had been gutted. There may be some of the works left in a damaged state but the greater portion is totally destroyed.
The Carriage Manufactory referred to is now Jenni's shop.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
cooper's sheep and wheat dressing!!
why would anyone want to dress a sheep?
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
I'm not sure about the Dog flavour biscuits either !!
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Ah, theres the stone on my guess where image !!
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
And here's a 1900 photo with crates of those bottles outside the door. Spooky to hold in your hand something in a 100-year old photo.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Why wont the picture show, Paul? It said it uploaded OK.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Love the old bottle Peter. I used to collect old bottles, I may have to start again
