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Boundaries, Limbs, and Liberties

III. BOUNDARIES, LIMBS, AND LIBERTIES.

In Saxon and Norman times Dover was a self-contained Borough, having no outlying limbs and liberties, excepting a small semi-circle area outside the wards, which had been the fringe of the Borough from Roman times. That outer border was within the boundary' of the ancient town, but outside the limits, which, at a later date, were enclosed by the walls. Those ancient bounds were ridden, ceremoniously, once in every seven years. 

The following is a statement of the Bounds of Dover as they existed in the 17th Ed. IV., 1478: — "These are the metes and bounds of the franchises of the town and port of Dover (one of the ancient towns of the Liberty of the Cinque Ports), which they were wont to ride once in seven years, with the Mayor, Jurats, and certain of the Combarons of the town, with the voung ])eople of the same, according to the cu.stom of the town and port of Dover, used and approved from the time whereof the memory of many is not to the contrary : — 

" From the Market Cross of Dover to Snargate, and from Snargate down to a low-water mark and as far into the sea as a man on horse can ride with a .spear and touch ground. And so from thence to Hound Hyethe by the low water mark, and from thence up to Franchise Stone adjoining the lands of Elphynes. and from thence along the Dyke, and as the Dyke leadeth down into .St. Nicholas Close, and through the hither end of the same, and from thence into the highway leading to Hofam ; and from thence to Rich Close, and from Rich Close to St. Bartholomew's lands, and so to the further end of St. Andrew's Close, and from thence over the King' highway, and so to go through the close of Highe Adame at the further end next unto St. Bartholomew's lands, and so over the water down to the Cross and Haithorne there, and so through the lane to Croches Crosse, and from Crorhes Crosse to the Castell Crosse, and from thence over Mayle Hill, along under the Butts there to the Franchise Stone at the Castle Hill, and from thence alongest above Hunt's garden and so to the Cliff, and from thence straight down unto the low-water mark and so far into the sea as a man can ride with a horse and a spear and touch ground, and from thence along the low-water mark straight against Snargate, and so unto Snargate, and from Snargate to the Market Cross again, as the metes and bounds more plainly appeareth time out of mind, used and accustomed." 

Owing to the difficulty of identifying the ancient places named, and the absence in the directions of the cardinal points, some portions of the circuit above described are obscure, which the following outline prepared for the guidance of the Corporation when making the circuit of the bounds in 1764 will make a little clearer: — " From Snargate south east to low-water mark ; from thence west-south-west to the hither part of High Cliff, called Hounds Hyethe ; from the top of High Cliff north-west to the mark stone in the Folke stone Road ; from thence west-north-west to the top of Gorse Hill to the stone at the corner of Maxton Lane ; from thence north to the West Hougham Road; from thence west-north-west to Winless Down ; from thence north-east to the top of St. Bartholomew's Hill; from thence east to St. Bartholomew's Close sheer-way; from thence east-south ea.st to the mark stone on the London Road ; from thence north-east across the brook up the Sandwich Road to the stone at Cross Vents ; from thence east to the top of Mayle Hill; from thence south-south-east through the Castle gate postern ; from thence south-east along the top of the Castle ditch by Hunt's garden (now called Shoulder of Mutton Field) to the Cliff, crossing The Mote Bulwark down to low water mark; from thence west-north-west in a right line with Snargate to where the bounds set off." As the whole of the Harbour was anciently within the limit where a man on horseback could touch ground with a spear, it was held that everything within the old North and South Pier-heads was within the jurisdiction of the Dover Corporation. 

The walls of Dover were not the Borough boundary, but works of defence erected at points best calculated to secure the safety of the Town. The first walls of Dover were, of course, the Castle walls, and the ancient Civil inhabitants clustered beneath their shelter; but when the estuary of the River Dour had partially silted up, leaving habitable land on the seashore, Withred, King of Kent, provided a Church and dwellings for the Canons of Dover on the west bank of the river, and, the Civil population following them, the King built a wall along the shore so that they might live in peace and security. That was the first wall of the town of Dover authentically mentioned in history. The fact is stated by Barrel in the history of Dover Castle written in the reign of Elizabeth, Darrel having extracted it from a Castle record now lost. Modern writers have stated, without any authority at all, that the Romans built the walls of Dover. To the gate that stood at New Bridge they have given the name of Servius Gate, and to the one up Adrian Street, Adrian's Gate; but older records name the gate at Xew Bridge Boldware Gate, and the one up A.drian Street, Upwall Gate. The Roman name given to the gate at Xew Bridge may be disposed of by recalling the fact that the mouth of the valley was a deep and wide estuar)' in the Roman Period, and it may also be remarked that at a time when there were no inhabitants in the valley a gate on the edge of a cliff, as Upwall Gate was situated, would not have been built by the Romans. 

The Saxon wall along the seashore during a lapse of about six centuries must have fallen into decay, and when the French pirates began to be troublesome, in the Thirteenth Century, it became necessary to rebuild it. It was on that occa.sion carried over the west branch of the river and con tinued a little way down Snargate Street, where old Snargate was built, nearlv opposite Chapel Street. As there was alwavs a danger of maurauders landing at Archcliff and coming over the ^^'estern Heights slopes into the Town, the wall was then, or a little later, carried roimd the back of Last Lane, enclosing the lands of .St. Martin-le-Grand, and, turning east, crossed Biggin Street, and went as far as the western branch of the river. From that point to as far as the slopes of Castle Hill the swampy remains of the old estuary and the eastern branch of the river offered a sufficient protection, and the wall about 180 yards from Biggin Street turned southward on the west bank of Westbrook until it reached Stembrook, where the river passed inside the Town wall, and the wall continued south until it joined the sea side wall, so enclosing in its circuit that part of the Town which was the ancient seat of Municipal government. A century later the reclamation of land from the sea under the Western Cliff made it necessary to extend the Town waU from old Snargate further down the shore, to prevent enemies from landing under the cliff between ^Vellington Lane and the place where Snargate was built in 1370. Up to that point the sea still flowed to the foot of the cliff; and from thence the Town wall was carried up the cliff for which reason the gate in Adrian Street, which was built at that time was called Upwall Gate. Houses having been built on that slope, the wall from Upwall Gate took a wider sweep westward, enclosing a region then called " Above Wall," where a new highway was made, coming from the ford at Wellington Lane, up lower Adrian Street, along Chapel Place and York Street (then called Priory i-ane) to the Priory, which was outside the walls. 

In the Fourteenth Century, this Town Wall had twelve gates, all of which were removed at the times here men tioned, (i) Butchery Gate, which was a water gate off Townwall Street, removed in J 819; (2) Servius, otherwis* lioldware Gate, New Bridge, also a water gate, finally demolished in 1762; (3) Old Snargate, the ford gate, off Wellington Lane, superseded in 1370 ; (4) New Snargate lower down the street, built in 1370 and taken down in 1683; (5) Adrian, otherwise Upwall Gate, removed about i68o;(6) Cowgate, top of Queen Street, taken down in 1776; (7) St. Martin's Gate, a postern at the rear of St. Martin's Church '^'ard, disused at the Reformation; (8) Biggin Gate, owing to its cramping the entrance to the town it was taken down in 1762; along the return wall by the river side there were two towers, names doubtful ; (9) Dolphin Lane Gate over Dolphin I>ane, removed at an early date, the foundations being found near the Brewery about 100 years ago; (10) Fisher's Gate, leading from the lower part of St. James' parish to shipyard below East brook ; (ir) Cross Gate, which led to the -sea oi)posite the Fox Inn; and (12) East Brook Gate leading from the Eastern Harbour up to St. James' Church. The three last mentioned gates were removed early in the Tudor period, but the walls between them remained until the beginning of the Nineteeth Century. In addition to the two towers before mentioned, there was a tower named Standfast, adjoining Butchery Gate, in Townwall Street, which in the Eighteenth Century was used as a prison, and in the early Nineteenth Century as a watch-house and police station. The foundations of most of these gates, towers, and con necting walls may, in many places, be found underground, and much of the stonework of these walls may be seen in modern buildings near where the walls stood. * 

Dover's more extended liberties and limbs, as one of the Cinque ports included the incorporated limbs of Folkestone and Faversham ; and the unincorporated liberties of Margate, Birchington, Ville de Wood, St. John's and St. Peter's, Broadstairs, including nearly the whole of North Thanet ; also Ringwould and Kingsdown near Dover. In later years the unincorporated liberty of Margate grew up, as a sea-side town around St. John's Church and was incorporated as a Mimicipal Borough in 1859. 

There is a statement as to the walls of Dover in Hammond's MSS. which agrees with the above, except that it states that the wall, when it reached the Castle Cliff, was continued north, taking in St. James's Church and Churchyard, then it passed across the field at the foot of Castle Hill to the house called Upmarket, and from thence went across Day Stone and beside St. Mai-y's Church yard to Biggin Gate. This latter part of the route has never been traced by the excavation of the foundations, whereas the route that gives the wall on the east side crossing the lower part cf St. James's parish was carefully traced by examination and excavations in the year 1846 by the Rev. F. A. Giover, Rector of Charlton, and Mr. William Bachellor, who was then writing his "History of Dover." Both accounts may have been correct although relatmg to different periods. Possibly, the north western loop was abandoned soon after it was built because the Castle was a sufficient protection on the north, and the gradual ehifting of the river bed made it difficult to maintain on the west. 
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