Dover

Dover (/ˈdoʊvər/) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France
across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at 33 kilometres (21 mi)
from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. The town is
the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Port of Dover. The surrounding
chalk cliffs are known as the White Cliffs of Dover.

Archaeological finds have revealed that the area has always been a focus for peoples entering
and leaving Britain. The name derives from the River Dour that flows through it.

Archaeological finds have shown that there were Stone Age people in the area, and that some
Iron Age finds also exist.[4] During the Roman period, the area became part of the Roman
communications network. It was connected by road to Canterbury and Watling Street and it
became Portus Dubris, a fortified port. Dover has a partly preserved Roman lighthouse (the
tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain) and the remains of a villa with preserved Roman
wall paintings.[5] Dover later figured in the Domesday Book.

Forts were built above the port and lighthouses were constructed to guide passing ships. It is
one of the Cinque Ports.[6] and has served as a bastion against various attackers: notably the
French during the Napoleonic Wars and Germany during the Second World War.

In 1974 a discovery was made at Langdon Bay off the coast near Dover. It contained bronze
axes of French design and is probably the remainder of the cargo of a sunken ship. At the same
time, this find also shows that trade routes across the Channel between England and France
existed already in the Bronze Age, or even earlier. In 1992, the so-called Dover boat from the
Bronze Age was discovered in six metres depth underwater. This is one of the oldest finds of a
seaworthy boat. Using the radiocarbon method of investigation, the year 1550 BC was
determined as the year of construction of the boat.