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The Formation of Castle Street.

In April 1827 there appeared in the then Dover newspaper The Cinque Ports Herald, (Dover had one newspaper then) an advertisement which announced to builders and others that fourteen acres of very eligible building land would be let on lease, the said land being known by the name of Tinkers Close and situate on the rise of the Castle, four minutes walk from the Marine Parade and Baths, and commanding views of the sea harbour and neighbouring country.

We select the forgoing old advertisements as a text for a few remarks because it carries us back to the commencements of a series of improvements that had to do with the development of Dover.

This Tinkers Close was the land that is now bounded by Harold Passage, Ashen Tree Lane, Alfred Place and Laureston place. It is not necessary to describe the way in which the enterprising builder responded to this advertisement because anyone who likes to visit the spot can see for himself that there must have been a great deal more ingenuity in the mind of the writer of the advertisement than in the subsequent designer of the “rural residences and dwelling suited for the purpose of a genteel and fashionable watering place.”

It requires quite an effort of the imagination to picture what the site above mentioned and its surroundings looked like. St. James Church of course, was non-existent and there was not a single house except perhaps a solitary lodge or cottage on the sites of Maison Dieu Road, Pencester Road and Park Street.

The old Castle standing in solitary grandeur looked down upon the fields where the Dauphin of France carried on his siege of the Castle in King John’s reign, and where the Royalists in later days in vein beleaguered the forces of the Commonwealth. No material change had taken place in this district from those primitive times until the enterprising land agent placed Tinkers Close in the Market as a building estate.

Let us sketch in rapid panoramic style what followed.

If there were an original tinkers-hole adjoining Harold passage and on the upper side of this hole, one widow “Hopper” a sort of amazon, had a rude dwelling house from which she was not easily ejected. Looking from this building estate towards the Market Place we observe that there is no Castle Street. Between Dee Stone lane to Dolphin Lane there is a wide marshy area intersected by the Dour and occupied by Humphrey Humphrey’s tannery, Stringers barn and Gardeners cottage. The way to the town is down St. James Street but it is a very narrow way, the residence of Mr. H--? one side and the White Horse public house on the other dispute the passage making it so narrow that a travelling caravan cannot pass.

The idea of forming Castle Street was originated about the year 1829 by Mr. William Prescott who subsequently emigrated to Australia. The entrance to the street from the Market Place, was then occupied by the Antwerp Stables, and these buildings threatened for some time to bar the way. These stables together with the hotel had been bought by Mr. Huntley for a sum of £2,900 and he refused for a long time to allow the new street to run through his premises.

But some six years later the Paving Commissioners obtained an Act of Parliament to improve Bench Street and under the same powers the entrance of Castle Street was bought at the enormous price of £3,100. When this obstacle was removed Castle Street grew apace under the joint efforts of

Mr. J Finnis, Mr. Henry Elve, Mr. Edward Knocker and Mr. William Prescott. It is a sad pity that when they were making Castle Street they did not improve the tannery off the face of the earth and then the property would have doubled in value. The top of Castle Street was linked on “the new way to the castle” which had been formed by the War Department some thirty years before,

After Castle Street came Russell Street and Eastbrook Place and then in more recent years the rural lane at the back of the Maison Dieu Fields was widened and the charming thoroughfare with its ample residence known as Maison Dieu Road sprang up, the handsome mansions of the Victoria Park of a later date. This piece of land was formally called Strangers Field. It was then an open sort of place and the sentry box of the outer castle guard was in a wilder situation than it now is. It was when the locality was in that lonesome state that one night a solitary sentry marched his weary rounds when in the silence of the night he heard footsteps approaching “who goes there” bawled out the sentry - no reply. The challenge was repeated but although the footsteps approached closer there was no answer whereupon the brave defender levelled his musket and fired. A groan was the only response and nothing was seen or heard of the intruder until dawn discovered the dead body of a donkey who had strayed from the adjacent field and had suffered the penalty of trespassing on dangerous ground. What a change on the old hillside since that donkey’s fatal night. Victoria Park the masterpiece of Dover’s domestic architecture looks down upon a wide extent of still more modern buildings.

The old hill has also been pierced to a depth of 230 feet by wells which supply the purest water to the town at the rate of fifty thousand gallons per hour of a later date has been the laying of the beautiful grounds of Castle Mount where a noble collegiate mansion has been erected by Mr. Robert Chignell. Adjoining this is Dover’s latest attraction the Connaught Park and skirting it is the Dover Castle Estate where may be some of the most approved samples of suburban residences.

Happily we have wandered from the early to the latest improvements of Dover the latter proving that the spirit of enterprise which existed in Dover years ago has now become extinct.  

Proposed New Street. June 1871. The board has been asked to sanction the name of Neville Road for a proposed new block of buildings leading out of Pencester Street   The Mayor explained that the Lord Wardenship of the Cinque Ports had once been held by a Neville. It was determined that nothing more appropriate than Neville Road could be suggested.

Neville Road. The surveyor reported favorably upon the plans furnished by Mr. E. W. Fry for the laying out of Neville Road Pencester Street.

New Roads on the Castle Hill Estate. December 16th 1876. The Mayor suggested that the roads on the Castle Hill Estate should be named Godwin Road - Montford Road and Leyburne Road and that the road in front of the Model Cottage Should be called Clinton Place. Councilor Jones seconded the proposal, which was unanimously adopted.

 Street Nomenclature.24th March 1871.At the request of the Mayor, the Town Clerk was directed to communicate with Mr. Matthew’s requesting him to change the name of Guilford Terrace as there was already a Guilford Terrace in the town. 

Un-named Streets.January 20th 1866. A couple of streets at Tower Hamlets at present unnamed were referred to by the Town Clerk and it was ordered that the streets in future be called East Street and West Street. Tower Hamlets derived it’s name from the fact that Tower Hamlets Volunteers were biveted in St. Bartholomew’s School for 10 days every Easter.

Naming Of Streets.1861. It was determined that the Charlton back road from the corner of Eastbrook Place to Charlton Green should in future be known as the Maison Dieu Road and that the new street which will extend from the western end of Dour Street into the Maison Dieu Road should be called Crafford Street. Mr. Hills suggested the grouping of various streets and terraces that were in a single line of thoroughfare. He cited as an illustration of the necessity of adopting such a course, Castle Street where there were no less than four number two’s. Other members pointed out other parts of the town where similar confusion arose from the same evil and it was understood that some order should be brought up at a future meeting for the Boards approval  

Penchester Street 1862. On some plans to build in Penchester Street being brought up and some members are asking to be informed to what circumstances the street was indebted for it’s name the Town Clerk said it was the Earl of Penchester who relieved the Castle when it was besieged by the Dauphin of France and that a nobleman of the same name held the post of Lord Warden in the reign of Edward III or Richard II.                                            

Names of Streets. 1865. The Town Clerk said he had been in communicate with the secretary of the Freehold Land Society with respect to the names of the streets on the Eagle Estate and subject to the Boards approval the following names had been determined upon - Wightred Road, Edred Road, Odo Road and Tolbert Road. The Town Clerk also suggested that the road leading out of London Road near the brewery of Mr. Kingsford should be called Union Road and that the road a little further on leading to St. Radigund’s Abbey should be called St. Radigund's Road. The Board approved of the whole of the suggestions and ordered that the names proposed should be given to the places described.

Black Horse Lane. March 23rd.1866. The Town Clerk gave it as his opinion that Black Horse Lane was not a “Euphonious Cognomen” and suggested that the place should be called something else. The suggestion was not taken up.

Street Nomenclature. March 30th 1866. The Town Clerk having at the previous meeting of the Board submitted the property of giving to Black Horse Lane Charlton, a more “Euphonious Cognomen” it was now determined that it should be called in future Tower Hamlets Road.                                    

Why Bakers Alley?  18th December 1952. Recent reference to Bakers Alley (which is the passage leading from Tower Street to Tower Hill) has provoked a letter from Mrs. M. Goodburn of 14 Wellington Gardens she say’s that originally it was called Slip Alley but about 68 years ago a widow came to live in the end house and opened her front room as a sweet shop.  All the children knew her as “Old Granny Baker” hence the name. She was a very firm old lady but loved the children.  Every May Day the neighbours and she used to make a garland and hang it across the street and after school the children would dance under it.     

Magdala Road. August 21st.1868. An interesting discussion ensued upon the derivation and pronunciation of “Magdala.”  The Deputy Town Council Clerk laid it down that it should be pronounced with the second syllable long, “Magdawla” and the Mayor suggested to Mr. Knocker, with his finger upon his nose that the word itself was probably a corruption of Magdalene.  

Street Nomenclature. March 19th. 1869. A letter from persons carrying on business at the back of Waterloo Crescent drew attention to the fact the road was not named but the board considered it was sufficiently well known as the back road of Waterloo Crescent and determined to make no alteration.    

Street Nomenclature. January 13th. 1871. The town clerk read a recommendation to the effect that the roads recently laid out near Folkestone Road should be named Clarence Road , Dorset Road & Shepway Road respectively and the suggestion was adopted.

Street Nomenclature.  July 21st 1871. A letter and plan from Mr. Kingsford suggesting Erith and Oswald as names for some new streets recently laid out by him at Buckland were received. Councillor Lewis thought it a pity that the names commonly in use at the present day were not more frequently selected for the designation of streets and places in the borough, instead of Saxon and Norman names that had gone out of use for centuries. Councillor T. Robinson who was Oswald. (A laugh) Councillor Lewis believed he was a Saxon of some notoriety, but he doubted whether it was worthwhile to perpetuate his name in a row of modern tenements.

The Mayor (who appeared to speak more in sorrow than in anger) feared that Councilor Lewis composition was not sufficiently imbued with archaeology.  For his own part he thought it much more advisable that such names as these should be given to a new buildings than to bring before the public another batch of Catherine Place or St. Mary’s Street.  Councilor Lewis was looking to a practicable utility rather than to the euphonious or the archaeological and he thought it a pity that efforts should be made to disinter the crawk-jaw names of our ancestors when those in everyday use were so much more intelligible to the unlearned and withal so much more easily got at. (A laugh.) The Mayor repeated his options that the names of Erith and Oswald were suitable for the purpose and no amendment being offered they were adopted.                    

Street Nomenclature.  August 2nd. 1872. Councilor Clark drew attention to the fact that one side of the street leading from the Town Hall to the Red Lion was badly designated as Priory Place and improperly numbered, and it was ordered that in future known as Priory Road and numbered consecutively.

 A New Name for a Street. 18th February 1878. Alderman Pierce proposed that the part of the town now known as the 40 feet road should be called Queen Elizabeth Street to go from Crosswall to Trinity Parsonage. Councilor Dickinson seconded and it was carried.

Road Ahead. The road serving the Kearsney Nursery off Chilton Way, River has been named Sanctuary Close.

Street Nomenclature.  August 30th 1878. A letter was read from the Royal Engineers Office stating that the war department was completing the names of the roads at the heights and as there appears no distinct name for that piece of road past Archcliff Fort it was suggested to call it Archcliff Road or Archcliff Avenue. No decision was arrived at.

Archcliff Road. September 13th 1878. It was agreed that the above should be the name of the road leading from Archcliff Fort to Shakespeare Cliff.

Street Nomenclature. December 19th 1879.

The Town Clerk brought up a list of places having no names for the consideration of the council. The first was the road at the back of Buckland Gas Works leading to the Primrose Hall to St. Radigund's Road .

He (the Town Clerk) proposed to call the thoroughfare Maidstone Road.  In reply to the Mayor the Town Clerk said he had no special reason for selecting that name.

Councillor Kingsford suggested the name Primrose Road and that was adopted and an adjoining locality was to be called Primrose Place. 

The next place name was a short thoroughfare from Townwall Street to the Parade.  That was ordered to be named Wellesley Road.

The road from the top of  Castle Street to the top of St. James Street was named Claremount Place.

The passage leading up the side of St. James Church was named Hubert Passage.

The cross streets from St. James Street to Dolphin Lane adjoining the Gasworks Yard was named Phoenix Lane.

A passage on the London Road near the Endeavour Inn was called Endeavour Passage.  

The road behind the Bull Inn Buckland was named Brookfield Place. 

The road by the Three Cups at Buckland was called Dodds Place .

The road at the back of Buckland is to be called Barton Road.

Tower Hamlets Road is to be continued over the railway bridge.

The thoroughfare leading from Folkestone Road to Clarendon Street by the Engineer Public House is to be called Malvern Road

The road leading up to Winchelsea Street to be called Winchelsea Road..

Councillor Robinson asked what steps inhabitants should take to have the name of a thoroughfare altered.  He thought a good many of the inhabitants of Pencester Street would like the name changed to Pencester Road as it was not a street in the ordinary acceptation of the word. The Town Clerk said the proper course would be for the inhabitants to send a memorial.

New Street Tablets.  May 28th 1880.

There are tablets and tablets - for instance street tablets and memory tablets and there seems to be a connecting link between them.  The new tablets, which Mr. Chamberlain has been erecting in Dover by order of the Town Council seems to be the heads of so many chapters in local history.  I was walking in the streets the other day when a gentleman said, “What an extraordinary name for this long street of yours has. What does it mean?  Mean! said I with some surprise for his ignorance. “Why it means Snargate Street and all that is in it.” 

Why you must be a stranger not to know what Snargate Street means, why it means the Express Office, 185 near the top, it means Mr. Elgar the butcher, Mr. Falconer’s the champion cutter, the Wellington Hotel, Pettitt's Bee Hives, Frazer's Artist Materials, Taylor’s Hats, Jarrett's Clothing, the Apollonian Hall, Courts, the Post Office, Becker the Town Crier, the Grand Shaft, Kings News Shop, Thorps Noted Beef and Holts celebrated Electricity and Barometers shop.

Ha Ha chimed in the stranger I know all that. I saw Taylor’s hat with a little fellow dancing upon it on one of Willing's posting stations at the South Eastern, the persevering deaf board’s man pushed one of Jarrett's bills into my hand. I could not help noticing Thorps neat place, Holt’s electric bell was striking the hour as I passed, and I brought a newspaper at Kings just before I went up the Grand Shaft from the top I could see Pettitt's bees busy with the cliff flowers. But, queried the stranger “I want to know what you mean by the name Snargate. Then I told the stranger something, which I had read in a guide-book about the over-hanging rocks above the street resembling a snare - to which added the gate that stood by Mr. Grossman’s and there you have it Snargate Street.              

There’s New Bridge! Where’s the bridge. When was it new? The bridge is just at the top of Northampton Street and although there is no outward sign of it, the Dour passes under the road there and probably some day when a big sensation is needed a heavy traction engine may smash it in and although it is called “new” it is really old for only a few of the oldest inhabitants can recollect the time when Dover meandered through the shingle, and you had to tuck your trousers up to get over to the beach, and the rope-walk which formally occupied the site now monopolised by Waterloo Crescent. Now not only is this bridge not new, but I learn the materials of which it was built were those of the old Three Gun Battery that occupied the site of Cuff Brothers, the library.

Facing about the name Bench Street suggest the enquiry what Bench? The Borough Bench. If that be the meaning it must be a misnomer for not one of the occupants of that place of political distinction resides in that thoroughfare. Again I have dipped into an old book and I find that in olden times the Wall of Dover skirted the sea end of Bench Street and there at Severus’s gate sat a Dover Matthew at the receipt of custom everyday at noon. Times changed, and the falling off of trade and the increase of smuggling reduced the seat in question to state, which was derisively termed “The Pennyless Bench.” The old name is still retained but the name pennyless cannot now be applied for. Is not Mr. Penny, engraver, one of it’s occupants? Then there’s Townwall Street, so called I imagine because it for a considerable distance skirted the ancient Wall of Dover.

A little further there is King Street, turning up on the left there is Queen Street at the top of which, is on the right is Princess Street. Now without troubling you to seek out “the rest of the royal family” I invite your attention to a little court in this Princess Street, which has been honoured with a tablet; it is Ruffin's Court, who is Ruffin? Those who do not know should be told that it was in this unpretending court that there lived Ruffin, the sexton of old St. Martin’s grave yard over the way, who about the date of the Battle of Waterloo had a chat with Byron there concerning Churchill’s grave and the poet afterwards put the conversation into verse.

Stepping down Market Street the tablet Market Square greets one. It requires rather a free translation of geometrical forms to call this area a “square.”

The name Cannon Street used to puzzle people but as Mr. Welsh has erected a large Cannon on the top of his premises, which he calls Cannon House, but whether this derivation is a “priore” or a “posteriori” I cannot tell. The Rev. Puckle has accounted for the name as having reference to ecclesiastical matters. Biggin Street is another name the meaning of which is not very evident. I recollect the Rev. Puckle gave a theory of a French derivation of this name but common folks think it is a corruption of the Beginning Street as this used to be the beginning of the town when Charlton and Buckland were isolated villages.

There are a great many of the new tablets, which are suggestive but I do not whether I may be permitted to return again to the subject. Signed, Lounger.

Effingham Passage. July 30th 1880. A further report was brought up on the buildings in Effingham Passage. In reply to the Mayor the Town Clerk said Effingham Passage is Christ Church Steps.             

New Street. January 14th 1881. A new street leading to Tower Hamlets from the Town Hall was ordered to be named Priory Hill.           

Belgrave Road. July 14th 1882. A letter received from Mr. James Stilwell Clerk of the Justices advising the road between Belgrave Gardens and the end of Clarendon Street to be called Belgrave Road and the new buildings at Cowgate Hill be called Albany Place. The suggestion was adopted.  

Numbering of Streets. November 1862. It was ordered in accordance with a suggestion previously made by the Board that the houses from Liverpool House to the Gas Works should in future called Liverpool Street, and numbered accordingly but six months notice must be given.  It was also understood that the name places and terraces might also be preserved if the residents desired so that St. James Terrace for example might be called St. James Terrace, Liverpool Street . 

The Streets on the Eagle Estate.                           

February 20th 1864.  A letter from the British Land Society suggesting the names of the streets on their estate at Charlton was read. The names suggested were St. Radigund’s Road and Templar’s Road, it was order that the latter title should be accepted by the Board but as there was already a St. Radigund’s in the borough the substitution of another name for the first should be requested.

The Eagle Estate. March 5th 1864.

The deputy Town Clerk read a letter from the secretary of the British Land Company in reply to a communication from the Town Clerk on the roads in the Eagle Estate recently purchased by the company. The company it appeared were willing to substitute “streets” for “roads” and in place of the name St. Radigund’s they suggested “De Burgh” so that the streets would be called “Templar Street” and “De Burgh Street."  In reply to Alderman Robinson the Deputy Town Clerk said rather emphatically that the name “De Burgh” was not suggested by the Town Clerk.  The historical association of the name was then referred to, and Alderman Robinson who affected profound ignorance of the local records, on being informed that Hubert de Burgh was the founder of the Maison Dieu Hall innocently asked if the figures in the picture at the right hand entrance of the Town Hall (“Adam and Eve” presented sometime since by E. Knocker Esq.) were intended for Mr. De Burgh and his lady? A roar of laughter drowned the reply of the Town Clerk deputy, but Alderman Robinson was heard re-joining that he would not believe on any authority, such hideous deformity to have existed in paradise after which the board proceed to their next business.    

The Local Board.

The Town Clerk in a reply to a question said that the name of a Saxon King who founded the old Church of St Martin's was spelt “Withred” not Widred as seemed to be supposed by the persons who had named one of the new streets on the Eagle Estate and it was therefore ordered that a conference should be had with the builders of new streets bearing the name of Widred so that it might be spelt accordingly to historical precedent.  The Surveyor reported favourably on the plan of Mr. S. C. Tucker for building three houses in Black Horse Lane. Also on the same builder for erecting two houses in Widred (or Withred Road) Charlton.