Early on Tuesday morning Castle Street, Dover was the scene of one of the most disastrous fires that have occurred in Dover for several years. At the time of writing there is no distinct evidence as to how it broke out but the centre of conflagration was the carriage manufactory of Messrs Hills and Son. There the work of destruction has been complete and the fire has also done much damage to the stables of Mr. Leney and the back building of Mr. R. H. Forster, Chemist.

The alarm seems to have been given a few minutes before four and with terrible rapidly the fire spread so that a few minutes after that time the Carriage Factory which runs to Dolphin Lane was in a blaze. Mr. J. Hill the occupier of Dolphin House that immediately joins the Carriage Factory says he awoke at twenty minutes to four and then all was quiet. Twenty-five minutes later a noise and a glare on the window aroused him. He was at once aware that there was a great fire, he aroused the house and very quickly got into the back of the premises and he found that the whole structure of the factory that adjoins Dolphin Lane was like a burning cage. Miss. Pepper one of the daughters of Mr. R. V. Pepper was sleeping in a bedroom at the back on the third floor of their house in Castle Street when about the same time she awoke and found a great fire raging in the back but a short distance from her window.

By this time the whole neighbourhood was aroused and there being a great many houses near it was a terrible awakening. In some cases the inmates were so terrified that they could not dress and in the others the shock to the system was so great that they were scarcely able to do anything to help themselves. Police Constable Bass who discovered the outbreak gave the alarm to the police promptly and Superintendent Sanders and his Fire Brigade were soon on the scene. The police were on the spot at a quarter to four o’clock and had hydrants fixed in about five minutes. The water supply at first was not very effective-in fact it had no effect on Castle Street until the hose was carried up the fire escape ladder. It seems the hydrant’s were defective and the water instead of going into the hose came out of the bottom of the stand pipe, and in one case opposite 29 Castle Street the pavement was washed up by the water. A good supply was obtained at the back and an hour later when the fire was in full career threatening the entire neighbourhood the military arrived on the scene with three fire engines.

One was fixed in Castle Street taking water from the river by Brace’s Mill and the other two in Dolphin Lane pumping from the river by the office of Messrs Leney’s Brewery. It was generally admitted that the force of water from the engines was more effective than that from the water mains and there is no question but that great credit is due to the soldiers both officers and men, for the plucky way in which they worked. As soon as the Fire Brigade officer Mr. Graham the foreman started of to inform Mr. Hills who resides in Park Avenue and in the meantime Mrs. Graham seeing her furniture, which was not insured in danger at once began carrying it downstairs. She made three journeys to Pay’s on the other side of the street and the last time she was nearly suffocated with the smoke. Spectators speak of the scene of the fire at this time as being most terrifying. Mr. Pay who lives nearly opposite was one of the first to see the fire and he assisted the police in getting the fourteen horses out of Mr. Leney’s stables.

The fire seemed to have broken out in the corner of the Carriage Manufactory near the stables and it very soon got hold of the latter. It terrified the horses so that their noise was distressing. It was a very difficult task to get them out. Another eyewitness tells us that he was on the scene as soon as the alarm was given and that the fire appeared to have started in the place described. It spread so rapidly that the whole place was alight and the flames issuing from Castle Street windows in less than half an hour. The police directed their first attack on the opening near Mr. Leney’s stables, as that was the seat of the fire. They got ladders and tried to work down on it from above but the heat was too fierce to allow it. After spreading to Castle Street the fire worked round Dolphin Lane opposite the gasworks yard and in a very short time the Carriage Factory was down, the large workshops being reduced to blazing heaps of debris and the blackened outside walls threatening to fall.

The excellent way that the block on the Castle Street frontage is built was the only reason why it was saved. Mr. Pepper on the one side and Mr. Forster on the other formed the two boundary walls of a fiercely heated oven, and if the walls had not been thick and strong they could not have escaped. As it was both the houses escaped with but slight damage from fire. The water did a good deal of harm and a portion of the upper part of Mr. Forster’s house was caught by the flames and a good deal of damage was done to his out buildings and a stable in the rear. The occupants of the house at Dolphin Lane at the back of the carriage works were in great danger and very hurriedly cleared out their furniture. Between the factory and Dolphin House, occupied by Mr. Hill there was a small carriage house with rooms over, which have not been recently used. The fire got into this place and was threatening Dolphin House because it was not possible to get into the closed rooms. At length Mr. Hill knocked a hole in the roof and the fire was stopped at this spot the hose being carried through the entrance lobby. Nothing at all seems to have been saved out of the carriage factory where there were about forty carriages in different stages of construction but three or four carriages, which were in the showroom were taken out safely.

As far as we can learn there was no accident’s at all during the morning and there was plenty of time for all to escape. In fact the only dwelling house actually burnt out was that of the foreman of the factory, which was on the first floor overlooking Castle Street. We believe all the property was insured except the household furniture and the tools of the coachbuilders. The whole of the hands of the carriage factory must of necessity be thrown out of employment. The destruction of the Dover Proprietary Library is a calamity that will cause general regret because it contained works of great value. After the fire had transverse the workshops they made their first attack on the library owing to its being situated on the second floor just in the sweep of the flames. Very soon it was evident to onlookers that the interior was fast becoming a wreck and the smoke and fire shortly debauched from the windows over Castle Street. There was no check to the destruction until the whole of the interior had been gutted. There may be some of the works left in a damaged state but the greater portion is totally destroyed.

We are indebted to Mr. J. Bolton for the loan of a copy of the catalogue that is corrected down to March 1886. The collection consisted of valuable works on - Antiquity and Topography - Biography - Memoirs and Correspondence - Lexicography- History and Geography - Voyages and travels - Poetry and Drama - Novels and Romance - Law and Parliamentary Papers - Divinity and Ecclesiastical History - Natural History and Science - Atlas’s and Maps - Periodicals - Miscellaneous - and Foreign Literature. 

Many of the works on Antiquity were we believe very rare. Amongst these was a valuable copy of the Antiquities Rutupinse date 1745, which was given to the Library, also a complete set of the publications of the Camden Society from the commencement of 1838 - Antiquities of Canterbury - Doomsday Book of Kent - Darells Dover Castle - Puckles Castle and Fortress - Worthington’s Plan of Dover Harbour - Lyons History of Dover - Histories of Deal - Faversham - Folkestone - Gravesend - Maidstone - Rochester - Sandwich - Thanet - Tunbridge Wells - Weald of Kent - Surrey - Ports and Forts of Kent - Kentish Genealogies - Lambard’s Perambulation of Kent - Hasteds Histories of Kent - Knockers Grand Court of Shepway - Ruskins Seven Lamps of Architecture and many other works which it would be difficult and in some cases impossible to replace. 

The list of biographical works was a very full one including some rare works and some of the best modern ones. The collection of Lexicography included the dictionaries of Lowndes - Rose - Lempriere - Ure - Hadyn - Murray - Bailey - Crabb- Collier - Johnson -Todd - Lower and Lewis. The Catalogue of History runs over many pages forming a rare collection, while many of them are the best modern writers. The histories of own county include those of Rapin - Tindall - Froude - Macauley - Hume - Smollett and others. The travels too are a very choice selection. A very fine collection of British Poets is gone. The novels and romances are of the old and curious sort, modern fiction not being very largely represented but there were complete sets of Dicken’s - Scott - and Disraeli’s novels.

Under the Head of Law reports are one on Harbours of Refuge and a Charter relating to Cinque Ports dated 1668, and another dated 1662 - also a parliamentary report on Dover Harbour dated 1819. In the natural history section was Mantell’s Geology of Sussex. Amongst the miscellaneous collection is a poll book for Dover of 1841. This library was established in 1844 and was the rallying point of the best informed leading men of Dover of the generation that is now passing away. The news that this valuable collection of books has come to this sad end will be a source of regret to many old Doverites who are now located in various parts of the world. The regret at the loss of this valuable collection is keener on account of the fact that enterprise could have saved the books had some one had the presence of mind to throw them into the street as the fire was raging quite half an hour before they were burnt. It is not possible to estimate the value of the books, but they are insured for £1,000. They were the property of the proprietors of the library who number about 50 gentlemen.

The President of the Library is the Rev. J. B. Bampton - the Vice President Dr. Parsons - the Rev. F. A. Hammond is the Librarian - Mr. Alexander Bottle the Treasurer - and Mr. J. Bolton, King Street, is the Secretary. A special meeting of the committee of the library met on Thursday afternoon at Mr. Lewis’s office, Castle Street, to consider the circumstances in which they are placed. The fire was practically extinguished at ten o’clock but the police found it necessary to keep the hose going all day to prevent outbreaks and during last night the library again ignited but was soon got under, the police being on watch all night. The damage done by the fire is roughly estimated at £2,5000.

The fire. A concert is being arranged to take place on Friday 13th inst. in aid of the employees of Mr. Hills, Coach Builders, Castle Street who has lost their valuable tools by the fire which occurred on Thursday morning last. The proceeds will be handed over to the Mayor for distribution. It is also proposed to give another concert in recognition of the valuable services of the military at the fire on the following Friday January the 20th. (1888)