Newly Discovered Picture`s of Dover Packet Yard 1946
- 6 December 2010 19:3783482My sister in law has photograph`s of her father when he worked down the Packet Yard dated on the rear as 1946, and I`ve only just got to see them as she viewed them as just family picture`s. Of course, when these picture`s were taken, we can be sure that the photographer would never visualise the background as ever changing, but today we all know how much it can. The picture`s you`re about to see have never been shown in public before and hopefully, maybe someone out there may recognise someone. They`re all taken in the Wellington Dock area and you`ll notice where the De Bradelei Wharf shopping complex now operates, though this shot is looking opposite towards Snargate street. In the picture above, can be seen The Hippodrome in Snargate street, and maybe someone can identify the structure in the foreground, presumambly under repair which resembles a pontoon bridge?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 6 December 2010 19:4183483This photograph shows the workforce on top of the structure in the first picture. My father in law, Nelson Halstead, is third from left standing. He and his family later moved into Seven Star Street flats when newly built down the Marine Station area.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 6 December 2010 19:4383484fascinating picture colin.
2 things here, do you know why it was called the "packet yard", did a regular small ferry service operate from there?
what made me think that is the old "isle of man steam packet company".
secondly, i seem to remember seeing a plaque on the old hippodrome site saying that it had been bombed during 1939-1945 unpleasantness?
the photo seems to show that it was largely undamaged in 1946, do you know any more on this? - 6 December 2010 19:5083486The mail came to Dover back in Victorian times when the railways were built, but I`ll let others give a more accurate description on here Howard as it has quite a history and with the ferries as well. I thought the Hippodrome was destroyed in the war, but it does look okay in the print.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 6 December 2010 19:5883489Cropped it to get in closer, and maybe someone can identify the vessel in the Wellington dock which appears to have L. SAVILE midships and R N 7 something on it`s bow.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 6 December 2010 20:0183490In your top photo Colin ,I think it is the lock gates geting repair.
- 6 December 2010 20:0483491Thanks Vic, I never gave them a thought. I think I was too pre-occupied with it being the first post war year. I`m sure you`re right mate.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 6 December 2010 20:2183497there is a post on the front page giving info on this.
- 6 December 2010 20:3783504The top one does look suspiciously like the lock gates on the old trainferry berth in the W Docks
Been nice knowing you :) - 6 December 2010 21:0783514I must say all of you have some great photos of Dover pass ,well done to you for keeping them, because without them the history of this great town would be gone for ever.
- 6 December 2010 21:2883518We can now view the gate with the future De Bradelei in the background. (Thanks Paul for above).
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 6 December 2010 21:3583519The future father in law in the middle here. He died back in 1984, and if all his family still remember him well as I do, then what about all these other Dovorian`s who he was working with? They must have family or freinds still residing in Dover surely?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 6 December 2010 23:2183534I do know some of the faces but can not put aname to them, at that time I was repairing the dockside cranes.
- 7 December 2010 15:3783584The Hippodrome was badly bombed during the war, the worst side was the 'street' side, away from the camera.
Bob thinks the 'L.Savile' was a tender boat taking passengers to the liners...---------------------------------------------------
Lincolnshire Born and Bred - 7 December 2010 16:2883593Fascinating photos, Colin, a real find. Reference the vessel in #5 with L Savile on the side, have been for a Google and found some interesting stuff. I could see that she was a tender so that gave me a good start (see that Bob came to the same conclusion).
She is a real old veteran built for the Great Western Railway in 1891 as a liner tender, ferrying passengers to and from passenger liners at anchor in Plymouth sound. She was named the Sir Richard Grenville and then briefly the Penlee before being purchased by Dover Harbour Board in 1931 and renamed the Lady Savile.
She would have performed the same function in Dover, ferrying passengers and mail to and from passenger liners calling in briefly en route to New York or wherever.
Your photo shows her in 1946 after completion of war service. Where she went during the war I know not but there is a reference to a "Lady Saville" at Greenock under "various craft" allocated to Western Approaches Command, which may possibly be her.
DHB sold her in 1947 to the Essex Yacht Club who used her as their headquarters until 1975 when she was replaced by another Dover veteran, the Trinity House pilot cutter "Bembridge," and went off to the breaker's yard at Queenborough.
At the Essex Yacht Club:
The arrival of Bembridge:
Plus very interesting article and close-up on this site:
http://www.dover.freeuk.com/port/commercial_harbour.htm - 8 December 2010 02:5483648Extract from a DHB publication of 1931, the year that the Lady Savile was introduced.
One also notes from this publication that Sir Leopold H. Savile K.C.B. was the Admiralty representative on the Harbour Board at the time and it seems reasonable to suppose that the vessel was named in honour of his lady wife.
This follows the contemporary DHB policy of naming Harbour Board vessels in similar vein e.g. the tugs Lady Brassey and Lady Duncannon.
Interesting to note that eighty years ago the train service was such that it was possible to disembark by tender from an anchored liner and be in London within two and a quarter hours.
- 8 December 2010 17:2783717Blacksmiths at the Packet Yard, c.1930s :
---------------------------------------------------
Lincolnshire Born and Bred - 8 December 2010 20:5083733This is the last of the 1946 shot`s to show, the other three being general views of repairs taking place. I gather the inside of these lock gates were hollow, and assume they were watertight inside? Was there a reason for this as opposed to being hollow, (besides weight)?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 8 December 2010 21:0083735Thanks for all that additional information Ed, it`s amazing how much local knowledge is still out there waiting to be discovered. I`ve got an odd picture coming up from the Eastern Docks in a mo. Thank you Kath for your pics also, which explains the Hippodrome still in existance. Those blacksmith`s look a tough lot, and I bet there was an even larger workforce in that area in the pre war era than the post war period.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 8 December 2010 21:2283741Another shot from the father in laws collection, this one being taken from the Eastern docks end, and showing the aerial ropeway in the background. It was 5 miles long, and ran from Tilmanstone colliery to Dover where the Harbour Board built a 5000 ton capacity bunker to recieve it. It was opened on 14th February 1930, and built to reduce the East Kent Light Railways stranglehold on the transport of coal. It remained standing till the 1950s, though I don`t know when it ceased operation. I`ll leave Ed or other`s to do the detective work on the vessel in the foreground.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
