The Dover reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Dover

This article is about the English port. For other uses see Dover (disambiguation).

Dover is a major channel port in the county of Kent. In 1991 it had a population of 34,200. It is the closest English point of proximity to France and continental Europe being only 21 miles (34 kilometres) from the French port of Calais. It is famous for its white cliffs, which are made of chalk. The cliffs gave Britain its nickname of Albion, meaning "white". It is the seat of the Dover district. The football team is called Dover Athletic.

Due to its closeness to continental Europe Dover is one of the busiest cross Channel ports of the United Kingdom, with millions of people passing through the town every year. Regular Ferry services operate from Dover.

History

Dover has been an important port for millennia. In 1992, a waterlogged boat was discovered in a depth of 6 m that dates to the Bronze Age and is one of the oldest seagoing vessels ever recovered. It has been dated by the radiocarbon method to ca. 1550 BC. The Langdon Bay hoard, discovered in 1974 off the Dover coast contains bronze axes of a French type and may represent the cargo of a sunken vessel, thus demonstrating cross-channel trade already for the Bronze Age, if not earlier. Both finds are on display in the Dover museum in market square. The Romans were the first to record the town's existence and named it Dubris, Although there is believed to have been settlements there since before the Roman period. The town was the starting point of Watling Street.

The Romans built a lighthouse in the grounds of what is now Dover Castle in around AD 50, making it one of the oldest buildings in Britain. The "Painted House" is a Roman mansio from about AD 200 and one of the best preserved Roman houses in Britain. In late Roman times, Dover was an important harbour of the classis britannica (British fleet).

On May 26, 1670 Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France secretly signed a treaty here which ended hostilities between their kingdoms.

External links

• Dover Museum

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