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Approximately four miles long, the River Dour is a small chalk stream which passes unobtusively through the urban landscape, its pre-industrial and industrial glories almost silenced as it gurgles under culverts and along footpaths to the Port of Dover.

In 1900, the novelist, poet and critic, Ford Madox Ford in The Cinque Ports: A Historical and Descriptive Record dismissed the River Dour as unworthy of note:

In among the houses one sees at times the poor little river Dour, a pathetic thread of silver that seems to have no real purpose in days like these. One thinks that its whole short course ought to be covered up and itself made to run through culverts. The principal part of its stream is supplied by a nailbourne, and when this chooses to run the Dour boasts a certain head of water. As a rule, it dribbles dispiritedly from Ewell to the sea, a distance of a few miles.¹

However, Ford failed to appreciate the natural beauty of the Dour, which forms an important habitat for brown trout, eels and stone loach, as well as for birds such as herons, moorhens, coots, and kingfishers.² In this article, we will take you from its source at Watersend to the sea, highlighting its importance to the town.

Watersend
The river Dour rises at Watersend, on the outskirts of the village of Temple Ewell (Ewell being the Old English for a river source or spring). Charles Harper described it as the place where “the springs of the little River Dour burst forth and gem all the valley hence to Dover with gracious foliage”.³

A tributary of the Dour, the Drellingore, rises from an intermittent spring in the small hamlet of Wolverton, feeding into the River Dour near Bushy Ruff. It flows from a chalk aquifer and the water course is often dry. A Bronze Age settlement at Wolverton and the remains of a Bronze Age boat near Dover Harbour indicate that the river may have been used by traders to transport goods.

Rising after many weeks of heavy rain, when the water table is high enough for the normally dry bed to contain a stream, the Drellingore has been known to flood parts of Alkham, including the fields from South Alkham to the Alkham Road. Leland in his itinerary of Kent of 1538 wrote of the spring which “brastest owt so abundantly, that a great part of the water cummeth into Dovar stream.”⁴ In 1936, the Dover Express reported that “the trench is about 2ft wide and the water was 6in deep, flowing rapidly”.⁵ According to an old saying:

When Drellingore stream flows to Dover town
Wheat shall be forty shillings and barley a pound.⁶

The saying is often repeated in newspapers and topographical books, and presumably indicates that wheat prices will rise due to scarcity of the crop. In an alternative version, the wheat is only valued at 1 shilling “and bullocks at a crown”.⁷ In his General View of the Agriculture of the County of Kent John Boys had observed that chalky soils when improved were very good for “turnips, barley, clover and wheat”.⁸

Bushy Ruff
At the end of the Alkham Valley, the river flows into a mill pond created in 1794 for Bushy Ruff Paper Mill. Now a lake, it is part of the Bushy Ruff Country Park. It is here that the stream bifurcates with one stream going to Russell Gardens and another to Chiltern Brook.⁹

In July 1861, a Fete Champetre was held at Bushy Ruff attracting 2,000 people. The event included quoits, cricket, running matches, jumping and archery. It was criticised in the press for undercatering for its guests who swarmed around the tea tent complaining vociferously when the cakes and watercress ran out. The fire works were described as “small and ineffective” and at the end “numerous torches threw a lurid glare on the wild scenery, and an anxious and tired company”¹⁰. No mention was made of the lake - no boating!

Russell Gardens
With its Pergola Bridges spanning the river and a large lily pond, Russell Gardens were named after Dover Councillor Hilton Ernest Russell.¹¹

Kearsney Abbey
Disappearing beneath a culvert under the Alkham Valley Road, the river re-emerges in the Kearsney Abbey gardens. The gardens with their lake provide an important habitat for swans and geese, and at one time peacocks, although these were moved in 1974 from their home on the island to Russell Gardens where they had more space.

In 1996, 40 swans and geese were removed from the lakes at Kearsney Abbey to a sanctuary in Surrey when the lakes at Bushy Ruff and Kearsney Manor dried up. Ground water levels in East Kent were at their lowest on record and it was feared that the River Dour would dry up.¹²

Crabble Corn Mill
The river now flows past Crabble Corn Mill, which was built in 1814 to provide flour for the soldiers who were stationed at Dover to protect the country from a Napoleonic invasion.¹³ Charles Harper wrote that “where the Dour flows, all the vegetation is luxuriant, and there are lovely ponds decked with water-lilies beside the Crabble Meadows”.¹⁴

Buckland Paper Mill
The Dour has played an important part in Dover’s industrial past, powering eight corn mills and five paper mills including the Buckland Paper Mill which produced papers for ledgers, writing, and drawing. The mill which dated from around the late 17th/ early 18th century closed in 2000.

In 1986, thousands of brown trout were killed when industrial bleach escaped from a storage tank at the Paper Mill.¹⁵

Barton Path
The river now flows behind the backs of houses along the Barton path. Although built up today, the area was once home to fairs and exhibtions which were held at Barton Meadow. In 1892, Lord George Sanger’s “Oldest, Largest and Grandest Exhibition in the World” visited the meadow with 250 horses, 12 carriages of wild beasts, elephants and camels, and Iasia, the Beautiful Woman of the Nile with her Eygyptian serpents and crocodiles. Two years later, Sanger brought his “Great Hippodramatic and Spectacular Exhibition” which included a military spectacle of “War in the Soudan” and Madame Pauline de Vere, who performed a serpentine dance in the den of African Lions.

Charlton Green
From Barton Path, the river flows along Charlton Green and under Bridge Street, where it reappears on the corner.
In 1863, the council undertook work to clean the river and reported that “if anyone had noticed it they must have been impressed with the idea that this was a great improvement. Besides getting rid of a great nuisance from Park Street, upwards the river looked almost like a trout stream.”¹⁶

Despite these attempts the dirtiness of the river was a frequent complaint in the newspapers. In 1919, Councillor Gatehouse feared there would be an epidemic if the river was left in its current state. Penalties were introduced to stop people throwing rubbish in the river and in 1921 a man was taken to court for throwing winkles from a cart into the river. In his defence, he claimed that the winkles were being strained off and merely slipped into the river. He was fined 5s which was lucky as the full penalty was £5.¹⁷

In 1923, Councillor Fox complained about “That Dirty Dour” “which contained mud and refuse of a varied description, including tins and cans.” Councillor Stevens supported his complaint arguing that the stench was so bad that “the smell that emanated from the river gave him a sore throat” and the council recommended alerting the Medical Officer of Health.¹⁸

In 1929, the store of the Dover Engineering Works which held “large quantities of consumable stores in the form of lubricating oil, grease, cotton waste and a good quantity of wooden patterns” caught alight, and firemen had to pump water from the river to quench the blaze. However, as the sluice gates were closed the river was very low at this point and the firemen had to dig a sump hole in the bed of the stream to draw the water.¹⁹

Nowadays, the river flows over a small weir and then under the retail car park before reappearing again behind the Charlton Shopping Centre. It then passes behind the houses on Goodfellow Way before reaching the intersection of Ladywell and Park Place.

Ladywell
The river now flows under Ladywell which runs along the side of the Maison Dieu. The Maison Dieu was a pilgrims hospital founded in 1203 and the lady well was a holy well which serviced the hospital

By 1900, the Dover Express reported that “the River Dour has long ceased to be ornamental or very useful. In the olden towns no doubt its waters were clear enough to invite the coy trout to haunt it, but now fish would as soon make their home in a sewer.”²⁰ They quipped “They say the Dour rhymes with sewer, but as some pronounce it, it rhymes with sour, both being supposed to be more or less correct.”²¹ However, it complained “But because the Dour is of very little use is that any reason why the townsfolk should abuse it by allowing their sinks to empty into it, by casting therein the offal from slaughterhouses, the mud from surface drains, the useless tins from the provision merchants, and the refuse from the flour and paper mills.” It called for the Corporation to force the mill owners to give up their rights to the dams and stop the pollution.²²

In 1901, Dover Town Council bought the rights to the river for £300 and tore down the sluice gates at Stembrook Mill. In retaliation, the mill owner, Mr Brace, erected a dam of iron and piles forcing the Town Surveyors to send a squad of men to dismantle it. Brace rebuilt it and it was reported in the national press as “The Battle of the Dams”.²³

Pencester Gardens
Emerging from a culvert under Pencester Road, the River Dour flows along the edge of Pencester Gardens. Originally the site of a timber store, the site was purchased by the Corporation for £5,000.²⁴ The Gardens were opened on 6th June 1924 by Major Astor, M.P. The opening ceremony which included music from the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School band and a display from the gymastic squad was attended by more than 635 people. The public paid 3d for chairs at the event and £7 18s 9d was raised which went towards the Dover War Memorial Fund. In the evening, a large crowd gathered to hear the band play again, and the Connaught Male Voice Quartette sung a selection of pieces.²⁵

The Dover Express commented that “now there is a path beside the Dour in Pencester Gardens, further efforts will be made to keep the water in the stream clearer. It may be impossible to do all that is desirable in this direction, but there is a great deal too much filth in the Dour.”²⁶

St James’s
In the Saxon period, the main stream of the Dour divided into two branches, leaving a delta of dry land between them, on which, in later years, the principal part of St. James’s Parish was built.²⁷ Snar Gate, also known as Pier Gate was built about 1370. It was a sluice gate between the river and harbour. In 1588, it was taken down when the new harbour was built²⁸

Today the river disappears under Castle Street and skirts behind shops, near garages along the edges of the St James’s Retail Park carpark. With concrete banks, the river is now channelled along the urban landscape with a few trees and bushes dotting its banks until it passes under Flying Horse Lane. Here the Lord Nelson pub offers a terrace space overlooking the river, before the river disappears again under Townwall Street, where pedestrians using the underpass can get a brief glimpse of the river as it is channelled under ground to Wellington Dock Marina.

Wellington Dock
The River Dour now ends its journey as it disappears into the vast Wellington Dock, named after the Duke of Wellington who opened “Wellington Bridge” in 1846. The Dock was later improved in 1888 to allow vessels of 800 tons.

In 1914, it was reported that “an immense quantity of filth” was brought down by the river into the dock and that the Sanitary Officers should be stricter in prosecuting the townsfolk who were treating the river like an “open drain”²⁹ Mud and weeds from the river also drifted down to the dock. By 1922, matters were no better as the river was “filled with household rubbish in the form of tin cans” and there were fears that the poor water quality would be hazardous to health.³⁰

Today the river is much cleaner, the brown trout swim in the clear water and Dover is proud of its little stream.

This article was written specially for Dover at Night 2025.

References