Dover.uk.com

The Admiralty Harbour

XVIII. THE ADMIRALTY HARBOUR. 

When the Admiralty Pier was commenced in 1847, as the beginning of the proposed great Harbour of Refuge, the Dover Harbour Commissioners took no part in the matter, although they could not fail to be interested in a great structure which was designed to entirely enclose their undertaking. This greater work was commenced without ceremony, and in 1871 was suspended without any definite prospect as to when, if ever, it would be continued. When it was resumed, in 1897, the Admiralty had derided that the works to complete the harbour and entirely enclose the Bay should consist of: — (i) The extension of the existing Admiralty Pier in an E.S.E. direction, 2,000 feet; (2), the erection of an arm extending from the east cliff at Langdon Hole seaward in a south-westerly direction, 3,320 feet; (3), the construction of a breakwater 4,300 feet long, threequarters of a mile from the shore, forming on the south the main shelter of the harbour, separated from the eastern arm by a 600 feet eastern entrance, and on the western side separated from the Admiralty Pier Extension by a western entrance 800 feet wide. At the lowest tides the depth of water at these entrances is about 42 feet. Also, under the cliff between the Castle and Langdon Hole, there is a sc.i wall 3,850 feet long, reclaiming an area of over twenty acres, used for stores and workshops. The whole work from shore to shore, and parallel with the eastern shore, represents a massive line of masonry two and a half miles in extent. The three sections of the work above mentioned are solid structures of enormous strength, consisting of great concrete blocks, faced with granite above low water. The blocks weighing from thirty to forty tons each were made in the adjoining yards at East Cliff and the Pier. Some of the smaller blocks were made at Sandwich. The magnitude of the work may be gathered from the fact that the greater part of the walls which enclose the bay, mea.sured from the base on the sea-bed to the top of the parapet, are upwards of 90 feet in height, of which nearly 70 feet is under water. The harbour has been designed to moor twenty battleships and a great number of smaller craft of the Xavv. The construction of the harbour was most efficiently done by Messrs. S. Pearson and Son, from the designs of Messrs. Coode, Son and Matthews, Major Pilkington, C.B., R.E., being the Engineer-in-charge under the Naval Works Act. The building commenced in 1897, the bulk of the work was done in about eight years, but the official opening of the harbour did not take place until the 15th October, 1909, when the ceremony was performed by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George V. 'I'he Dover Promenade Pier, which projected from the shore into the centre of this harbour, was purchased by the Admiralty in 19 13 for ;^8,ooo. This great Admiralty Harbour, spanning the Bay from Langdon Hole to Cheeseman's Head, encloses all the more ancient harbour works, and through its main entrances pass, in addition to the ships of the Navy, the traffic of the commercial port anfl the ever-increasing number of Channel passengers. Even this is not finality. The port that has existed two thousand years must grow in accordance with the re(]uirements of the new conditions of national defence, travel and commerce ; and every lover of the old Town and Port mu.st hope that while the railways, on the one side, may continue to prosper on the growing passenger traffic, and the Admiralty Harbour, on the other hand, develops to fulfil its great destiny in guarding the avenue to the heart of the Empire, the local Port Authority of Dover may hold an increasingly useful position, providing accommodation commensurate with the growth of local commerce, and convenience for such imports and exports as new industries in this part of Kent may demand. 
end link