HISTORY
Even if it’s your first visit to Dover, it’s immediately familiar. The towering chalk cliffs; the ancient fortress overlooking the town; the passenger ferries leaving the busy port – it’s an iconic view that few Brits can fail to recognise.
Having been an international port for thousands of years, Dover has long been considered essential and therefore vulnerable. The threat from across the Channel has been real on a number of occasions over the centuries, so it’s no surprise to see the huge Dover Castle overseeing the safety of the area.
The first defences were built as far back as the Iron Age, with the Romans and the Saxons recognising the need to protect the area from attack too.
The castle, considered the largest in England, was founded in the 11th century by the Normans and has been nicknamed the ‘key to England’.
The town itself had been a settlement since the Neolithic era, with many artefacts found to suggest that it had one of the largest populations in Kent at the time.
Two of the area’s most impressive ancient finds are on display at Dover Museum: the remains of a Bronze Age boat and a collection of axes of a similar age found at Langdon Bay.
BEST BITS
Being a coastal town there are no shortage of wonderful windswept walks, beautiful beaches and clifftop adventures to be had nearby.
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Kent Life.
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Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Kent Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The choice of leaders
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The return of the son
The Unknown Warrior’s journey from the World War One battlefields via Dover to his resting place in Westminster Abbey is 100 years old this month
We will remember
In a year when we got an inkling of what living through a war means, we remember the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great War
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Just become a grandparent for the first time? Perhaps you need a little guidance, so here are some top tips about how to embrace your new family role
10 GOOD REASONS TO VISIT Medway Towns
A vast Dockyard, a Napoleonic fort and a JCB diggers theme park - let’s visit Chatham and Medway
KENT'S CREEPIEST- GHOST STORIES
Here are 10 tales to make you shiver as we celebrate All Hallows’ Eve
Joking apart
From his home in Broadstairs, Royston Robertson comes up with satirical, topical and sometimes just plain silly cartoons
