Station Name: DOVER ADMIRALTY PIER[Source:Nick
Catford]
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Looking north from the end of the pier in the 1890s. The LC&DR line is to the right running on to Dover Harbour and Dover Priory. The SER line is to the left, seen here running through the ground floor of the 1848 Dover pilot's tower. Also seen on the right is a tall signal box built to control the junction which is on the pier behind the photographer. The ‘Lord Warden’ Hotel dominates the scene with the SER's Dover Town station immediately to its left.
pier_old22.jpg) The ‘Lord Warden’ Hotel in 1898. The hotel opened in September 1863 and was aimed at the wealthier cross-Channel travellers. To accommodate them a covered walkway was built between Dover station, seen on the left, and the first floor of the hotel. The walkway linking the two buildings can just be made out in this view. The end of the pedestrian walkway along the pier, which is about 15ft above track level, is seen on the far left.
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Another view of the pier from the ‘Lord Warden’ Hotel, this time in 1901. By now the LC&DR and the SER had amalgamated as the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, and locomotives are seen on each of the lines. This view shows the excellent protection that the west wall gave to the platforms from westerly gales; the wall rose about 10ft above track level. Work has started on the pier extension; the turret, which was at the end of the pier, can be seen to the right of the gantries. This is an original photograph but the same view is usually seen as a hand-tinted postcard. Click here to see that version with the addition of some artistic licence
Photo from Jim Lake collection pier_old38,jpg.jpg)
An SE&CR locomotive with a luggage van is seen backing onto the Admiralty Pier c1902. A second lighhouse is seen on the admiralty pier to the right of the earlier lighthouse. This was a temporary position, by 1905 it had been relocated to the new pierhead.
Photo from John Mann collection pier_old20.jpg) Looking north-west along the Admiralty Pier from an elevated position c1903. Three paddle steamers are seen in this view are ex-South Eastern Railway. The vessel in the centre is from the Belgian State Railways with an ex-London, Chatham & Dover paddle steamer behind. Note the gate on the pedestrian walkway preventing the public from reaching the end of the pier where extension and widening works were underway. The Western Heights defences are seen on the cliff top. The large building in the centre is the Grand Shaft barracks. The Grand Shaft comprised two brick-lined shafts 140ft deep, one inside the other. In the outer wall there was triple staircase, the inner acting as a light well with ‘windows’ cut in its outer wall to illuminate the staircases. The shaft allowed soldiers on the Western Heights to reach the town quickly avoiding a walk of ¾-mile, or double that on horseback.
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The Admiralty Pier seen from the ‘Lord Warden’ Hotel c1903. A locomotive is seen heading towards Dover Town station on the far right. The extension to the pier is progressing well and it has now reached its final length of 4,140ft. Work is underway at the pierhead where an overhead gantry is seen, and at the turret where the pier is being widened. Another defensive position was built on the new pier head. This was known as Pier Head Extension Battery; it was armed with two 12-pounder quick fire (QF) naval guns with a range of 11,750yd. The second lighthouyse seen in the 1902 picture above has been relocated to the new pierhead.
Photo from John Mann collection old4.jpg)
A passenger train is pulling away from the Admiralty Pier and taking the South Eastern route to London in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection pier_old29.jpg) Looking north-west from the public promenade running along the west side of the pier c1903. The passenger platform, seen two pictures below, had not been built at this time. The vessel is The Queen' built by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton, in 1903 for South Eastern & Chatham Railway. She was first cross-Channel turbine steamer. During WW1 'The Queen' was converted into a troop ship and was captured by German destroyer V.80 while on a passage between Boulogne for Folkestone with passengers and mails. She was torpedoed on 26 October 1916.
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The ornate two-level signal box close to the junction of the two lines onto the pier c1905. This was built after the arrival of the LC&DR.
An ex-London, Chatham & Dover paddle steamer (either ‘Dover’, ‘Calais’ or ‘Lord Warden’) is seen alongside the Admiralty Pier in the first decade of the twentieth century. 740 was built at Ashford works and entered service during December 1901. A Wainwright D class 4-4-0, it passed to the Southern Railway in 1923 and was renumbered 1760. It then was renumbered to 31740 at Nationalisation in 1948, and was withdrawn from 70E, Reading South shed, in March 1951 and broken up later that year.
Another ex-London, Chatham & Dover paddle steamer with two unidentified class D locomotives double-heading a freight train on the Admiralty Pier. Both this and the postcard above show the pier before 1906 when the new platform was built.
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In 1906 the widening of the pier around the turret is at an advanced state. The turret itself can just be seen on the far right. All the buildings on the pier are for military use as stores and accommodation for gun detachments. The turret itself was officially declared obsolete in 1898 and later two 6in breach-loading guns were placed on top of the turret; one of these is seen on the far right. The facility was then known as 'Pier Turret Battery'. Click here for a closer view of one of the guns. By this time the lighthouse was obsolete, having been replaced with a new lighthouse at the new pierhead; this is seen in the distance. The construction site on the left is Prince Of Wales Pier. The pier opened in 1902, while construction continued, and in 1905 a railway track was laid along it to connect with the berths
Photo from Jim Lake collection pier_old43.jpg)
People on the promenade look down on the narrow platform beneath as passengers disembark from the train. The SER and LC&DR both had their own platforms, one after the other, beneath the promenade. An Ostend paddle steamer is awaiting departure c1906.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection
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