III. THE WESTERN HARBOUR.
The making of the Harbour near Archcliff was commenced in the latter part of the reign of Henry VH., the Corporation having found it impossible to maintain wharfage and shelter for ships on the Eastern side of the Bay. The old Wyke had served as a useful wharf in calm weather, but it was of no utility at other times; and the Eastern branch of the Dour having been choked up, there was no backwater to keep the little Eastern Harl)our clear. During the Fourteenth Century Sandwich had been a rival to Dover, but in the Fifteenth Century that haven began to silt up, and Dover being in the same y)light, the Corporation saw hope of retrieving the prosperity of the Port by the construction of an entirely new harbour at Archcliff Point, The records of Dover for that period are very scanty; but, as far as they go, they indicate that the Corporation, as the Harbour Authority, combined with the Master of the Maison Dieu (who, by a Charter of Henry III., had an interest in the Port), to make shelter for shipping at the Western horn of the Bay. Sir John Clark, the Master of the Maison Dieu, took steps to obtain the King's patronage. " Hollingshed's Chronicle," written a generation later, says:
"There was a round tower built by one John Clark, Priest, M.aster of the Maison Dieu, about the year 1500, at the south-west side of the Bay, which served somewhat to defend the ships from the ra^e of south-west winds, but especially to moor ships that were tied thereto. Manv great rings were fastened to the tower for that purpose, as it mav be seen, since it showeth there at this hour, and thereby tliat part of the Bay was made so pleasant, as ever after that corner of the Bay hath been called, and is at this day, ' Little Paradise.' Nevertheless, tkis was thought very insufficient for the number of ships which usually lay for harbour in the Road."
That provision, however, had to serve for about thirty years. The fact has been overlooked that the entrance to the first " Little Paradise " was not easterly, but was cut through Archcliff Point direct into the sea. It .seems that before the Harbour works commenced there, in the reign of Henrv VII., Archcliff Point came out much further than now towards the south-east, forming a natural shelter. John Clark's first wall extended Archcliff Point, forming a little enclosure under Bulwark Cliff, into wnich he cut an entrance through Archcliff Rock, leaving a part of the rock on the south-east side of the entrance whereon stood the little Church of Our Lady of Pity, which had previously been joined to the mainland, but afterwards was described as standing on Chapel Rock. It was on the eastward side of Chapel Rock that John Clark built one of his round towers which had mooring rings fixed on it, and on the westward side of the entrance was Archcliff new point. Mr. James Hammond, who acted as engineer of the Harbour when he was " Clerk of the Cheque " in 1727, obtained special information on this subject, both from excavations made on the spot and from documents not now existing. He wrote : "It is certain that Dover Harbour had formerly an entrance between the Bulwark Cliff and the Chapel Rock through to Paradise Harbour."
The Western Harbour Works were extended under the patronage of Henry VIII. The first steps thereto were taken in the year 1532, owing to a petition presented to the King by the Corporation in the early part of that year. The credit of its initiation has been given to the Rev. John Thompson, Rector of St. James's, who had a large share in this work, and was rewarded for it by being made Master of the Maison Dieu ; but the original projectors were four Jurats, viz., Edward May, Robert Justice, Richard Towerby, and John Stewart. At their request, the Rev. John Thompson wrote for them a petition and embodied their ideas in a plan of works which they deemed necessary to improve the little harbour at Archcliff. Hollingshed wrote:
"The Mariners liked the plan and the memorandum of their proposals, and they agreed that humble suit should be made to the king for his gracious favour and aid in making a good haven there ; and they represented that it would best advance their cause if Sir John Thompson ('Sir' being the usual title of clergymen in those times) would present their petition and plan to the King, together with a supplic;ition in the name and on behalf of the Corporation, setting forth the reasons and devices thereof. But Sir John told them that he was poor and could not afford at his own charges to follow the suit. They, therefore, collected amongst themselves four pounds ten shillings, which they delivered to Sir John Thompson, which he accepted, and forthwith proceeded to the Court, and obtained access to the King, who heard his suit with great favour, and conversed about the plan and proposals, which he provisionally approved."
Henry VIII., no doubt, well remembered Sir John Clark's little harbour, from which he embarked in 1520, and the King required little argument to convince him how badly it needed enlargement. He commanded Sir John Thompson to return to Dover, and to come back as speedily as possible with some of the best mariners of the town. The following continuation of the story is from "Hollingshed's Chronicle" : —
"The Mariners of tlie town immediately assembled themselves and made a choice of Mdward M;ue, Robert Justice, Richard Towerby, and John Stewart, as the fittest and faithfullest persons to use conference and to be emplovcil in that course, being all mariners of good experience. These four, and the said Sir John Thompson, without further stay resorted to the Court, with whom when the King had communed, he conceived of the necessities of the haven to be had there, and of the probability of good success, in the enterprise; and because his Majesty understood the pjor state of the town, he delivered, at that time, out of his coffers unto them, £500 wherewith he willed them to make a beginning of the work. At that time his Majesty bestowed on Sir John Thompson the Mastership of the Maison Dieu, which was a hospital in Dover valued at £120 a year. The King also at the same time appointed the said John Thompson to be the jirincipal surveyor of the Harbour works, and under him, Ivlward Maie, and the other three before named to be overseers. The work, according to the design of Sir John Thompson, was to erect a huge wall (which he called a Pier) from Archcliff Chapel, being the south-west part of the Bay, directly towards the east in the main sea, about 131 rods in length, so as by that means the harbour was to be guarded from the rage of all weather coming from the north, north-east, north-west, and southwest, with tlie entrance only at east-south-east, whereunto when ships were once brought they might there be safe in all weather, at one side or the other ; but the Pier was not finished by 250 feet so far as the foundation thereof (called the Mole-head) was laid, which founda'ion consisted of great rocks brought from a place near at hand, called HayclitTe, or the Castle Quay, or Folkestone. This was constructed of two rows of main posts and great piles of flue or fir 20 feet long set at each side close together, which were let down into holes hewn in the chalk rocks for that ])urpose ; but some of the piles were shod with iron nnd driven into the main rock of chalk with a great engine called a ram. These posts and piles were combined and held together with iron bolts, and were filled between with mighty blocks of chalk, as also with beach and other earth ; but the bottom consisted altogether of great rocks of stone, which if they had not been brought thither by a special device must needs have been extremeh' chargeable, for most of them were of 20 tons apiece. This special device is now common, but it was before that time rare or unknown. It was invented by a poor, simjde man named John Young, who, first with a nutshell, afterwards with an eggshell, and lastly with a small vessel, made proof what weight those things could raise and bear in water, and having by that experiment made trial that stones of great weight might be raised and carried in the water by greater vessels, he discovered his experiment to such as were officers on the work, who presently put in practice the same device, and making provision of greiit and strong barrels and pipes of wood, carried them to Folkestone, and at Tow water fastened thereunto with chains such huge stones as lay on the shore where the quarry of those rocks is, so as when the flood, or full sea, came the barrels and pipes with the stones thereto fastened rose and swam ; and if the stones were of such size that two or three empty casks could not lift the weight, then did they add a barrel or two more which would not fail to do it, and then drag with small boats the barrels and the stones attached to the place in the wall where they were to sink them ; and so the work, which was most difficult in appearance, was made easy. And for this device the said John Young had a yearly stipend given him by the King during his life. With these great stones, by these means was the greatest work done; and with great cost and labour those piles were filled between, a great boat, with nine keels, called a Gaboth, being used to bring chalk lor the filling from the north side of Paradise Harbour. On that part of the Pier stood a fort named the Blackbulwark. That which was done bv this pier on the one side, with the help of nature (the cliffs) on the other, two sides made an excellent sheltered harbour for the time it continued and had maintenance. The King on his part spared no charge, for he spent hereabouts ;!^'5o,ooo ; nor did he forbear any travail that might further the work, for in person he repaired there divers times. Although the harbour was fifty miles at the least from his Court, yet his Majesty had such care that the building should be so well performed, that no expert man in such work, either on this side or beyond the seas, but, if possible, he was brought thither, or, at the least, conferred with ; and during the time of all this work the King's coffers seemed to stand wide open. But, alas ! the King's care and the travail of his officers were so confined to the work present, that the provision for its future maintenance was utterly neglected. The King's absence at Boulogne, his sickness on his return, and, finally, his death, followed by the nonage of his son, Edward VI., made an end of all this work, which, falling into a state of decay, there was no reparation until the time of Queen Mary."
Such is Reginald Scott's account of Henry VIII. 's harbour building. From State papers, it appears that his work was of a fourfold character: — (i) The repairing of Clark's Wall, which was done in 1534; (2) The building of a north-«ast wall from the I-imekiln Cliff curving round to near the end of Clark's Wall so as to form a new harbour mouth; (;,) Digging out the mud and beach which had choked up Paradise Harbour, clearing an area between the harbour walls, measuring 500 feet from the mouth of the harbour to the Limekiln side of it, and 400 feet across ; and (4) Constructing a stone mole (from near the end of Clark's restored wall), extending about 1,400 feet in an easterly direction to shelter the road and harbour's mouth, as well as to prevent the shingle working round into the enclosed harbour. This was the " Mighty Pier," which Henry VIII. believed would be the salvation of Dover Harbour. Unfortunately, he carried very' little of the extended Pier above water owing to the cost and difficulty of constructing such works in those days ; but if he had completed it and made provision for its maintenance, the Harbour Bar problem, which continued to trouble Do\er for three centuries later, raight then have been solved.