VII. FROM JAMES I. TO CHARLES II.
The Art conferring Passing Tolls on Dover Harbour, which was renewed for seven years at the beginning of the reign of James I., expired in 1610. Up to that year the Harbour was in a flourishing financial position, and it having been so recently enlarged and repaired, the new Commissioners had nothing to do with the money that the Passing Tolls Act was producing up to 16 10. They, however, employed an engineer, who, being a new man, discovered defects in the work of his predecessor. The great double sluice at the bottom of the Pent, laid soon after the Pent was enclosed, was, it was asserted, laid on the pebbles, and it had to be re-laid. That had originally cost about _;^r,ooo, but the re-laying was still moie costly. It was also found that the square piles, with which Clark's Pier had been rebuilt, on the south of Paradise Pent, were so low that the shingle came over them into the Harbour, and they had to be interspersed with new piles to raise the parapet. Those two works and minor alterations kept the Harbour artificers busy until the Passing Tolls revenue was suspended in 16 10. There is not much known of the Harbour officials of those times, but an old manuscript mentions that from 1605 until 1613 the Master Carpenter was Mr. Samuel Elfreth, and that " that man, under God, brought the Harbour to perfection."
Charles I., in the first year of his reign, granted a valuable patent unto Sir John Skivington, his wife, and John, his son, during all their three lives; and, after them, it was granted to Sir Thomas Curry, for forty-one years. In that grant there were several provisions to the effect that if, at any time during the existence of that grant, it should seem necessary to repair the Piers and the Harbour at Dover, that Sir Thomas Curry, upon notice given to him by the Lord Treasurer, should repair it for the King's use. The holders of the above-mentioned patent were fortunate enough to enjoy it without being called upon to pay for any repairs to Dover Harbour; and there does not appear to have been any done from the death of Master Carpenter Elfreth in 16 13 until the Restoration, although, owing to breaches in the walls, made hy tempest, repairs were badly needed.
When Charles II. landed here at the Restoration there does not appear to have been sufficient depth of water to admit his ships into the harbour, the King and his followers being compelled to land, by the use of small boats, on the open shore. The King was so impressed with the necessity for improvement in the harbour that he forthwith called the attention of his Ministers to the matter, and his first Parliament re-enacted the Passing Tolls statute for eight years, but with the condition that an Inspector appointed by Trinity House should, once a year, during the continuance of the Act. certify that the money raised was properly spent. The amount raised was but ^g,ooo, and little t^eyond repairs could be accomplished with that sum.
Some years previous to the Restoration the use of Paradise Pent had been abandoned, it having been choked u]) with mud and sand, whicli the Commissioners made no effort to remove. Their policy was to push the harbour seaward, leaving the original harbour to .silt up and become a part of their building estate, to yield ground rents. In the beginning of the reign of Charles II. the Paradise Harbour Pent had become a marsh. Between the Paradise Harbour and the sea there was sloping shore, about 200 yards wide, leading down to the water. This, during the reign of Charles 1., was called the Strond or Strand. Along this Strond, Strond Street was constructed in the Stuart Period, lined, on the eastern side, by good class dwellings and warehouses. Eastward of these was laid out a sea-side road, later called " Custom House Quay," with a retaining wall next the water, which was claimed as the private wharfs of adjoining property owners.
The loss of Paradise Pent had decreased the quantity of backwater available for sluicing, and to regain it the Commissioners built a rough chalk wall across Great Paradise Harbour from the Black Bulwark, near Clarence Place, to the bottom of the Pent, forming a floating basin. In addition to proxiding more backwater this floating ba.sin was furnished with gates to admit vessels from the tidal harbour, and it was intended to put another pair of gates in the wall of the Pent to admit vessels to the upper water, which had become inaccessible since the Paradise Harbour had been disused. Unfortunately, trade was so slack at the beginning of the Restoration Period that the Passing Tolls granted for eight years from 1662 only produced £9,000, instead of the £22,000 expected, so that the basin walls were left in a very rough state, and the construction of gates into the Great Pent had to be postponed.