DOVOR, or DOVER, a borough and market-town, one of the cinque ports, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the lathe of St. Augustine, eastern division of the county of KENT, 16 miles (S.E.by S.) from Canterbury, and 72 (E.S.E.) from London, containing 10,327 inhabitants. The ancient British name of the town was Dwyr, derived from Dwfyrrha, a steep place. By the Romans it was called Dubris, and by the Saxons Dofra, and Dofris, which in Domesday-book are softened into Dovere. In the time of the Romans Dover was a sea-port, and at one period was surrounded by walls having ten gates. This is supposed to be the place at which Julius Caesar first endeavoured to effect a landing; but finding the coast dangerous, and the cliffs covered with warriors, he landed about eight miles to the eastward. The Romans attached considerable importance to this position, and the celebrated Roman road Watling-street, which passed over Barbara-downs, and Canterbury, in its course towards the western parts of the kingdom, commenced here. At a very early period the Saxon invaders made themselves masters of the castle, and constructed works which are yet in existence. Edward the Confessor granted to Dover a charter of privileges, and in his reign the institution of the cinqueports is supposed to have taken place, and Dovor to have been made one of them. Earl Godwin was governor of the castle, and considerably strengthened its fortifications. After the battle of Hastings, many of the natives fled to Dovor castle, as an impregnable fortress, which was however taken by the Conqueror, who put the governor to death, and destroyed the town by fire. According to Domesday-book, Dovor equipped twenty vessels annually for the king's service, in consideration of being exempt from all tolls and taxes, arid of various other privileges. Some authors have supposed that the house of the Knights Templars, in this place, was the scene of King John's humiliating surrender of his crown to Pandulph, the pope's legate, when he bound himself as a feudatory vassal of the see of Rome; but it is more probable that this ceremony took place at St. John's, in the adjoining parish of Swingfield, where there was a preceptory of Knights Templars, founded previously to 1190. In 1216, Lewis the Dauphin having landed at Stonar, near Sandwich, and captured several strong places, besieged Dovor castle, but was unable to take it; and in the reign of Edward I. a great part of the town, with some religious houses, was burnt by the French, who were nevertheless soon driven back to their ships. According to the town records, Dovor, in the reign of Edward II., was divided into twenty-one wards, each of which was compelled to provide, at its own charge,_a ship for the king's service, and in return the town had the exclusive privilege of a license for a packet boat, to convey passengers to and from France. In 1382, Anne, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV., and afterwards consort of Richard II., arrived here. When the Emperor Sigismund disembarked at Dovor,in 1416, on a visit to his cousin, Henry V., he was formally met at the water's edge by the Duke of Gloucester and several of the nobility, with drawn swords, in order to oppose his landing, should the object of his visit prove to be of a hostile nature. In 1520, the Emperor Charles V. was met here by Henry VIII., whence both monarchs proceeded to Canterbury, and there kept the festival of Whitsuntide. Henry, aware of the importance of Dovor, then called "the key to the kingdom," contributed £80,000 towards the erection of a pier, which was completed in the reign of Elizabeth, at which period the harbour likewise was constantly undergoing improvements. Its more effectual preservation is to be ascribed to the charter of James I., under which were appointed eleven commissioners (the lord warden of the cinque-ports, the lieutenant of the castle, and the mayor of Dovor, being always the principal), as special conservators of the port, incorporated under the title of "Warden and Assistants of the Port and Harbour of the Port of Dovor;" and their powers have been repeatedly enlarged by acts passed in subsequent reigns. In 1814, on the restoration of Louis XVIII. to the French throne, his Majesty George IV. (then Prince Regent,) accompanied that sovereign to Dovor; and, in the same year, Alexander, Emperor of Russia, and Frederic William, King of Prussia, with the veteran Blucher, and other distinguished foreigners in their train, embarked at Boulogne onboard his majesty's ship the impregnable, bearing the flag of his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, as admiral of the fleet, and landed here on a visit to the Prince Regent. The town, which is built in a semicircular form, is seated in a beautiful valley, between stupendous cliffs of chalk-stone, from the summits of which the view of the sea in front, with the opposite coast of France, is grand and beautiful. It is well built, many of the houses being excellent, and most of them modern; it has one principal street, more than a mile long, and several inferior ones, which are well paved, and lighted with gas, under an act passed in the 3rd of George IV. A theatre and assembly-rooms were erected in 1790. On the parade are warm, cold, and shower baths of salt water, with every accommodation for sea-bathing; also good libraries and reading-rooms. The many respectable families which frequent the town during the summer, have rendered it a watering-place of great celebrity. The environs are delightfully picturesque, and there are several fine views in the neighbourhood. The castle is of very ancient foundation, being attributed by the vulgar to Julius Ctesar, but by respectable antiquaries to Claudius. It is situated on a lofty eminence, about half a mile northward from the town, is approached by a bold ascent, occupies a site of thirty acres of land, and consists at the present time of two courts, defended by wide ditches, and communicating with the towers within, by means of subterraneous passages. The lower court, excepting on the side next the sea, is surrounded by an irregular wall, called the curtain, and flanked at unequal distances by numerous towers of different shapes and ages. During the lapse of years they have all undergone very considerable alterations. That which Godwin erected, in the time of Canute, has long been removed, nor was its site known for ages, until recently discovered in making a new road; Chilham or Caldescot tower is the third from the edge of the cliff, dnd at the back of it was a postern upon the vallum which joined the Roman and Saxon works, with a subterraneous passage into the castle, through which Stephen Pincester is said to have led the reinforcement that enabled Hubert de Burgh successfully to withstand the Dauphin, in the reign of John. This tower was built by Fulbeft de Lucy, whose family came over With the Conqueror, and originally named after the manor of Chilham, the possessors of which are still bound to keep it in repair; but Caldescot having succeeded to the command, it subsequently went by his name. In the front of this building is a house for an officer, called the Bodar of the castle, under the lord warden of the cinque-ports, who has power to take within his jurisdiction, and keep in custody in this tower, crown and other debtors. Fiennes, or New-gate tower, called also the Constable's tower, has been used ever since theConquest as the governor's apartments; it stands upon the site of a more ancient tower, said to have been built after a design by Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, who was employed by the Conqueror in making designs for castles, and superintending their erection. Crevignor, Craville, or Earl of Norfolk's tower is opposite the north entrance of the quadrangle of. the keep, and near it is a subterraneous passage leading to a vault, which is sufficiently capacious to contain a large garrison, and is protected by a draw-bridge, moat, and round tower: the tower in the ditch, and the adjoining subterraneous works are supposed to have been constructed in the reign of John, by Hubert de Burgh, then constable of the castle, who bravely defended it, in I2l6, against the aggressions of the French. Fitzwilliam's, or St. John's tower is the next in order; it was named after Adam Fitzwilliam, who accompanied the Conqueror to England and received from that monarch the scarf from off his own arm at the battle of Hastings, as a reward for his distinguished bravery. Avianches, or Maunsel's tower stands in an angle formed by the curtain wall, and is one of the noblest relics of the Norman towers; it was named after two constables, or governors, the latter of whom was lord warden in the reign of Henry III.: the first floor was a kind of vault, arched with stone, and open in front, and in the wall, which is very thick, is a gallery, or passage, ascended by stone steps, where archers could range one above another, and, through, small apertures, command the ditch on either side, as also the approaches to it from the curtain. Through the gallery is an ascent to a platform over the top of the vault, partly surrounded by a wall, and having a spiral stone staircase, which leads to the top of the tower. Near the entrance denominated the Palace Gate is a stately fabric, named, in the reign of Edward IV., Suffolk tower, from de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk; adjoining which is the old arsenal tower, and farther on were formerly the king's kitchen and other offices. Alt this side of the castle presents a modern appearance, the back part having been cased over, and the front being hid by barracks erected in 1745. The keep, or palace tower, built after a design by Gundulph, stands near the centre of this court: the entrance, originally on the east, is now on the south side; it opened by a grand portal, now walled up, into the state apartments, in general lofty and spacious, which, as was usual in castles in earlier days, were on the third story. The staircase has two vestibules, and was guarded at different heights by three strong gates. Ascending by the vestibule on the right hand, is a room apparently designed for the warden of the first gate, and opposite is another, probably the chapel, adorned on every side with beautiful arches, richly embellished with zigzag and other work. Above this is a third, similarly ornamented, and under the chapel and the first vestibule is the dungeon, in which at different times persons of distinction have been confined. In the walls of the keep are galleries with holes, through which an enemy might be fired at, but so constructed as to protect the defenders. The second floor was intended for the use of the garrison, and the ground-floor for stores. Part of the castle is used for a gaoL In the north angle a well, for ages arched over, has been recently found, and is probably that which Harold, before his accession to the throne, promised on oath to deliver up to William, Duke of Normandy; there are also four other wells, each three hundred and seventy feet deep, within the Saxon lines of defence. The more recent works are, batteries mounted with heavy ordnance, casemates in the chalk rock, magazines, covered ways, and subterraneous passages, with accommodations therein for two thousand men, light and air being admitted through holes cut in the chalk and other apertures, extending to the front of the cliff. The old road to Deal having become so hollow as to afford protection to an enemy approaching the castle from the town, a new one has been constructed under the direction of the board of ordnance, to the top of the hill, which is completely commanded by the batteries. Near the edge of the cliff is a curious piece of brass ordnance, twenty-four feet in length, cast at Utrecht, in 1544, and called Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol, having been presented to her majesty by the States of Holland: it carries a twelve-pound shot, and it has been affirmed that, if loaded well and kept clean, it would carry a shot to the French shore. Dovor castle was formerly extra-judicial, but as several of the franchises are lost or in disuse, the civil authorities have of late years exercised a jurisdiction within its limits, independently of the lord warden: it is- still extra-parochial. During the late war with France, the western heights of this town were strongly fortified upon the modern system; the works are so admirably arranged, and the position so advantageous, that, whilst a small garrison would suffice for its defence, a large army can be disposed of within the walls. There are three entrances to the heights, one by Archcliff fort, another by the New Military road, and the third from the head of the town, by a staircase of very peculiar construction, called the Grand Military Shaft. The immediate entrance to the harbour is protected by Archcliff fort, at the. extremity of the pier, and Amhurst battery at the north pier head. A new military road has been constructed to the fortifications of the western heights, the lines which connect these extending from the eastern redoubt to the sally-port west of ArchclifF fort. Thus the whole line of defence round the town is complete, from the castle to Shakspeare's cliff, so called from the sublime but somewhat exaggerated description given by the great dramatist, in his tragedy of King Lear. There is a military hospital of recent erection at the west side of the town. An hospital of ancient foundation, called the Matson, Dieu, was converted into a victualling office in 1555. As a port, Dovor derives its chief importance from its proximity to the continent, and, at a large annual expenditure on the harbour, receives and protects ships not exceeding five hundred tons burden: this expenditure is defrayed out of an annual revenue applicable to the reparation and improvement of the harbour, arising from land granted by royal charter, or devised by will, and let on lease, and from the duty paid on tonnage, &c. During the war this port was famous for privateers, and supplied the service with many cutters and some transports; the docks are well constructed, and there are several good store-houses, and a custom-house. The passage to and from the continent, especially Calais and Boulogne, is a very lucrative source of employment to the inhabitants: steam packets sail daily to Calais and Boulogne. The foreign trade is very trifling, but the. coasting somewhat considerable, and many vessels are employed in the fisheries. The number of vessels which entered inwards from foreign parts, in 1826, was six hundred and ninety-one British, and three hundred and eight foreign; and that which cleared outwards, seven hundred and fifty-one British, and three hundred and seventy-six foreign. In 1828, one hundred and twelve ships belonged to the port, of which, thirteen were upwards of one hundred tons burden. A large quantity of grain is shipped at this port for the London market, and there are several corn mills in the vicinity. At Buckland and River, near the town, are paper-mills, and some, business is done in the tanning of leather.: The market days are Wednesday and Saturday, and. there is an annual fair on the 23rd of November. The first charter of incorporation was granted by Edward I.; another was offered by Charles II., but not accepted. The old charter was probably surrendered to Charles II., and, in 1684, a new one was granted, according to the provisions of which the town is now governed, though the charter is lost The corporation consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, thirty-six common council-men, with a recorder, town elerk, and other officers. The mayor, who is coroner for Dovor and its liberties, is chosen on the 8th of September. The borough was formerly divided into twenty-one wards, but now comprises only thirteen. It returns two members to -parliament: the right of election is vested in the freemen by birth, marriage, apprenticeship, purchase, and gift, the number of whom, resident and non-resident, is upwards of two thousand three hundred; the mayor is the returning officer. A court of record of unlimited extent was granted by charter of confirmation in the 20th of Charles II., to Dovor, as well as to the rest of the cinque-ports; the judges of this court are the mayor and jurats; the town clerk issues the processes. Sessions for the town and liberties, which latter comprise the parishes of St. Mary the Virgin, St. James the Apostle, Hougham, or Huffam, and Charlton, in Dovor; the parishes of St. John the Baptist, St. Peter "the Apostle, Birchington, and the vill of Wood, in the Isle of Thanet; and Ringswould, near Dovor, twice a year, or oftener if occasion require, in the town-hall over the market-house. A court of requests was established by an act passed in the 24th of George III., for the recovery of debts not amounting to forty shillings, and upwards1 of two shillings, the jurisdiction of which extends over the town and port of Dovor, including also the parishes of Charlton, Buckland, River, Ewell, Lydden, Coldred, East Langdon, West Langdon, Ringwould, St. Margaret's at Cliff, Whitfield, otherwise Beansfield, Guston, Hougham, or Huffam, Caple le Fern, Alkham, and the liberty of Povor castle. Dovor formerly consisted of the parishes of St. James the Apostle, St. John, St. Martin the Greater, St. Martin the Less, St. Mary the Virgin, St. Nicholas, Snd St. Peter, the churches of all which have been demolished, and the parishes themselves merged into those of St. James and St. Mary. The living of St. Mary's is a perpetual curacy, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in the patronage of the Parishioners; the church was built by the prior and convent of St. Martin's, in this town, and has some portions in the Norman style of architecture: The living of St. James is a discharged rectory, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, rated in the king's books at £4. 17. 6., and endowed with £400 private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty; the church belonged to the castle, and to this day the courts of Chancery and Admiralty for all the cinque-ports and their members are held in it. According to tradition, Lucius, the first Christian British king, built a church within the castle, and endowed it with the duties of the port; of this edifice, the chapel is demolished, but the steeple, in which several Roman bricks are visible, and the principal parts of the external walls, forming the body of the church, are yet standing; it was dedicated to St. Mary, and subsequently called " the Lady of Pity's chapel:" there is still a chapel in the castle for the garrison. There are places of worship for General and Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. A charity school for the maintenance and education of forty-five boys and thirty-four girls was founded in 1789, and is supported by voluntary contributions, in addition to an endowment of £900 five per cent, stock, producing together on an average about £220 per annum: a new building was erected for it in 1820, sufficiently spacious to accommodate two hundred boys and two hundred girls, together with a house for the master and mistress. A school of industry for girls was established in 1819; and there are likewise an infant school, a dispensary, and a savings-bank. Apriory of secular canons was founded herein the seventh century, which in 1140 was changed into a Benedictine priory, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £232.1. 5%. The remains of a preceptory of the Knights Templars at Swingfield, near Dovor; and of their successors, the Knights of St. John, are now a farm-house; the eastern or oldest part was the chapel, the east wall of which has three windows of early English architecture, and three Norman ones above them: various other fragments of the original edifice are still apparent, and the remains of foundations to a considerable extent may yet be traced in different parts df the farm-yard. Dr. White Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough, who died in 1728; and Earl Hardwicke, Lord High Chancellor of England, who died in 1764, were natives of this town. The CiNquE-PORTS, or five havens, viz., Hastings, Sandwich, Dovor, Romney, and Hythe, so named from their supremacy over the other ports opposite the coast of France, still retain that designation, although two other ports, viz., Rye and Winchelsea, have been added. They are not mentioned collectively in Domesday-book, but Dovor, Sandwich, and Romney, only as privileged ports, whence it has been inferred, that at that period there was no community in these ports; yet John, in his charter to the cinque-ports, expressly refers to charters in the possession of the barons, granted to them by various kings, from the time of Edward the Confessor. Hastings, which, together with Hythe, was added by William the Conqueror, has always been esteemed the first port in precedency; Rye and Winchelsea were added after the Conquest, but more in the character of appendages than equal ports. The members of Hastings are Seaford, Pevensey, Hidney, Rye, Winchelsea, Beaksbourn, Bulverheath, and Grange; those of Sandwich, are Fordwich, Reculver, Sarre, Walmer, Ramsgate, and Deal; of Dovor, Faversham, St. Peter's, Woodchurch, Goresend," Kingsdown, Birchington, Margate, Ringwould, and Folkestone; of Romney, Lydd, Promehill, Oswarstone, Dangemarsh, and Old Romney; of Hythe, West Hythe: Tenterden is a member of Rye, and Winchelsea has no member. Most of the coast from the north side of the Isle of Thanet to Hastings is within the jurisdiction of the cinque-ports. Anciently they were all safe and commodious harbours, but great alterations have taken place in some of them: the harbours of Hastings, Romney, and Hythe, are entirely destroyed, and the rivers Rother and Stour are becoming gradually more difficult of navigation. Dovor harbour, by the annual expenditure of a large sum, is rendered capable of admitting ships of moderate burden, and will probably survive all the other ports. By an inquisition taken at the court of admiralty held near the sea-side at Dovor, in June 1682, it was found that the jurisdiction of the admiralty of the cinque-ports extended from Shore-beacon, in Essex, to Red cliff, near Seaford, in Sussex. The offices of lord warden of the cinqueports and constable of Dovor castle are now invariably united. The lord warden has right of warren over a very extensive tract, called the Warren, and appoints warreners to preserve the game. The freemen of the cinque-ports are styled "Barons," and in former times enjoyed great dignity, being ranked amongst the nobility of the kingdom. Before the formation of two houses of parliament, the members were called over in the following order, viz., on the first day the lower class, as burgesses and citizens; on the second, the knights; and on the third, the barons of the cinqueports and the peers; whence it may be concluded that the barons ranked with the peers, and above the knights, and that these two superior orders, previously to the investiture of knights and citizens with legislative authority, composed the national council. The barons of the cinque-ports have the honour of bearing the canopies over the king and queen at the coronation, where none but noblemen (except certain of the royal domestics) and privileged individuals form part of the procession, and at the feast after the coronation, they dine at a table on the right hand of the king. In the 34th of Henry VI., the perquisites for this service were at a brotherhood allotted to each of the cinque-ports alternately; and in the 25th of Henry VIII. it was decreed that the canopies should be taken by the ports in this order,-Dovor and Romney; Rye, Sandwich, and Hythe; Hastings and Winchelsea. In some of the ports the resident freemen have a voice in the election of the canopy bearers, but those of Dovor are chosen by the mayor, jurats, and common council-men. Although the services rendered by the cinque-ports have ceased with the alteration in naval affairs, yet for a long period they were eminently useful. During several reigns they fitted out fleets which formed a great portion of the royal navy, and were engaged in many renowned actions. By their aid, John, who had been obliged to flee to the Isle of Wight, recovered his kingdom, and soon afterwards Hubert de Burgh, with " forty tall ships " belonging to the cinque-ports, defeated a French fleet of eighty ships, carrying reinforcements for Louis the Dauphin. In the reign of Edward III:, the shipping of- the cinque-ports conveyed the armies of that warlike prince to France, and guarded our coasts; and in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., the "Ports Navy"was frequently employed on similar services. The records which mention the number of vessels that were, or ought to have been, furnished by the cinque-ports and their appendant members, vary; but the general number (before large ships were introduced into the navy) which these ports furnished was fifty-seven, manned and equipped at their own cost, for the space of fifteen days, and if their services were needed longer, they were victualled and paid by the king. Hastings provi4ed twenty-one ships, armed and manned with twenty-one men each, besides a boy; Dovor the same number; Sandwich, five ships; New Romney, five ships, and Hythe, five ships, all equipped as above, making the whole number of mariners one thousand two hundred and fifty-four. The last charter granted to the cinqueports was in the 20th of Charles II., who not only confirmed the preceding charters, but conferred on the freemen additional privileges. This was confirmed by James II., and under it the ports are now governed. The arms of the cinque-ports collectively are the same as those of Dovor, and each of the other ports separately.