IV. FAILURE AND NEW PROJECTS.
The failure of the great harbour works of Henry VIII. was dramatic. The King had scarcely turned his back on Dover, to deal with other urgent affiairs, when one of those devastating south-west gales, which occasion illy sweep these coasts, brought the shingle round ArchclifTe Point, and the great unfinished mole, then rising out of the sea at low tides, acted as a trap to c-atch the l)each, which not only choked the new harbour mouth, but quickly formed a bench of beach fronting the t(jwn, i)arring the mouth of the River Dour. In the latter i^art of the year 1539 it seemed probal)le that the great harbour work at ArchclifT would be a failure, and John Bowles, then Mayor, sent a pitiful petition to Henry VI H., praying for help to re-open the haven through the town. The King, who then was lukewarm about this port, referred the matter to a local Commission to make inquiry, the following being the terms of reference : —
" A Commission of Enquiry about a Mole or Harbour for Shipping at Dover, 7th May, 1540." The Commissioners appointed were Sir Richard Dering, Lieutenant Covernor of Dover Castle, Sir Anthony Aucher, Treasurer of Dover Harbour Works, John Bowles, Mayor, John Warren, Jurat, Robert Xethersole, Jurat, and Sir John Thompson, Rector of the Parish of St. James. They were directed to enquire into the occupations of the people, the reasons for the decay of the fishery, and more particularly whether the making of a quay or lock from low-water mark into the town would improve the passage and attract to Dover tho.se travellers who were taking their passage acro.ss the Straits from Folkestone, Hythe, Romney, Rye, and Sandwich.
The Commissioners sent a very dutiful reply, with profuse thanks, to the King for his benevolence to Dover, but they avoided giving any opinion as to the proposed quay and lock into the town, because, presumably, they still hoped that the King (^ould be induced to spend further sums in finishing the great pier, or mole, which had only been brought up to sea level. But the King was not to be tempted to .spend further money in that direction, yet he was disposed to help the port in a smaller way in making the suggested quay and lock. The idea was to cut through the bench of beach, to make a deep channel for the river through the town, so that by means of a lock ships might be raised to the level of a landing quay on the side of the new channel. That was a visionary scheme, and the practical mariners of Dover, of whom there were many in the Corporation and some on the Commission, seeing the impossibility of navigating their ships, in rough weather, into such a place, evaded the question, whereupon the King took the opportunity of abandoning Dover Harbour entirely.
From the time when Henry VI H. finally abandoned Dover Harbour, about the year 1542, there weie no harbour works undertaken until 1582, when t^ueen Elizabeth appointed a Harbour Commission. During that interval of forty years, efforts were made, from time to time, to induce the Crown to undertake further works, but nothing was done.
To the credit of all the Tudor monarchs it should be acknowledged that they never omitted to give full consideration to any appeals which related to the maintainance of the Port of Dover. The reigns of Edward VI. and Mary were so short and so occupied by other affairs that nothing effectual could be undertaken ; but Queen Mary granted to the Corporation a charter of " Rivage and Feriage," which was useful, while the harbour was choked up and passengers had to be landed in the Bay, because it authorised the Corporation to licence landing boats and charge fees for bringing passengers and baggage ashore. Previously when the bar blocked the harbour mouth passengers and their baggage were landed by unauthorised boatman, who shamefully robbed the passengers, and brought the Port into bad repute.
In Queen Mary's reign there were two plans put forward for improving the harbour, and for the one scheme, which was to deepen the river and make the harbour in the valley of the Dour, the Queen authorised collections to be made in the churches throughout England, but very little money was raised ; consequently, no works were commenced.
In December, 1581, a practical step was taken by Queen Elizabeth, who ordered an enquiry lo be made at Dover by the examination of " the most .sensible ancient and skilful! men." The evidence taken was to the effect that, in the opinion of the local witnesses, it was the building of Henry VIII. 's pier that caused the bench of beach to accumulate across the Bay, for they said that before that Pier was built out there was a clear sea in front of the town from ArchcUfif up to the Castle. Owing to that evidence, no attempt was made to build out on the King's foundations, and it was resolved to make as good a harbour as thev could close to the shore.