house were estimated at the clear annual value of 471. 6s. 10d. and at the gross value of 561. 6s. 9d. The site of the Abbey demesnes is still called the Abbey Farm; but the principal building has been new fronted with brick, and other alterations made.

ST. MARGARET's, or St. Margaret at Cliffe, stands within a quarter of a mile from the edge of the cliffs, which are here of considerable height. The Church is an ancient structure of Norman origin; the nave is divided from the aisles by massive columns, sustaining semicircular arches; and is also separated from the chancel by a large and handsome arch of the same figure. The mouldings of the west doorway are much ornamented, and exhibit several sculptures of rude heads. The angles of the tower were formerly ornamented with turrets; but one of them having fallen. about the year 1711, the others have been since taken down, to make the whole uniform. St. Margaret's Bay is only frequented by fishing craft, to defend which, a small pier, or jetty, was made here in the time of Archbishop Morton. In and near this Bay, lobsters are caught, of a small size, but of a very superior flavour.

The Manor-House of WEST CLIFFE, now sunk into a farm, was formerly the residence of the Gibbons, a considerable and ancient family, which gave birth to the Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; and by the female line, to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.

DOVER.

THE situation of DOVER, in respect to the Continent, must have rendered it a post of the greatest consequence even from the most early periods of our history, and there can be little doubt but that the site of the Castle was once a British hill fortress, long previous to the invasions of Cæsar, or to the subsequent conquest of this Island by the Roman arms. "The real existence of such a prior strong-hold," observes Mr. King, " may not only be concluded from its situation on the summit of a cliff, so very proper for the purpose, more than 300 feet in height, and from the peculiar form of part of the outlines still remaining, but may also be very fairly inferred from the old tradition, which says, that here Arviragus, VOL. VII. JUNE, 1807. Uun

the

the British chief, fortified himself, when be refused to pay the tribute imposed by Julius Cæsar; and that here, afterwards, King Arthur also held his residence."

Darell, in his History of Dover Castle, has given currency to another tradition, which assigns the foundation of this fortress to Cæsar himself: and Lambard quotes Lidgate and Rosse, as saying, that they of the Castell kept till this day certeine vessels of olde wine and salte,' which they affirme, 'to be the remayne of suche provision as he (Cæsar) brought into it.' From what we know, however, of Cæsar's operations in this country, as detailed in his own Commentaries, the assumed fact may be considered as wholly devoid of truth; though the ancient PHAROS, which still remains on the upper part of the Castle hill, furnishes unquestionable evidence of Roman workmanship;t and as the importance of this situation must have pointed it out as an object of primary regard, there is a strong presumption, that it must have been one of the first places that the Romans fortified. An accurate observer, perhaps,

Munimenta Antiqua, Vol. II. p. 158.

may

+ "The component parts of this Pharos," says Mr. King, “by a strange coincidence of circumstances, plainly shew its age; for it is (as almost all Roman buildings usually are) composed, indeed, of long, thin, irregular bricks; but in the intermediate courses, as no quarries of stone were immediately at hand, both the facing, and a great part of the interior substance of the wall, was filled up, not, as might have been expected, with flints, and chalk rubbish, from the neighbouring country, but with a harder, and more effectual lasting substance than chalk, though lighter, and fitter for carriage:—for it is filled up, in a most unusual manner, with masses of hard stalactitical incrustations, cut into blocks of various dimensions, that could not well have been met with nearer than the more northern coasts on the east side of this Island, where they abound in great numbers; and which, therefore, could not have been obtained by any Roman commander prior to the time of Agricola, who surrounded the whole Island by a regular navigation for the first time; and who might, therefore, most easily, in his ships, convey, from the north to the south, these curious and desirable materials, for the purpose of rearing this structure."

Munimenta Antiqua, Vol. II. p. 159.

may still trace the outline of the Roman camp, which, in this instance, partook of a customary deviation, according to the nature of the ground, and had more of the oval in its figure than of the parallelogram.

The form of the Roman Pharos is octagonal without, but square within: the sides of the internal square, and each side of the external octagon, being about fourteen of our feet, or about fourteen and a half Roman feet, in dimensions: the thickness of the wall in the lower part, is about ten feet. The foundations were laid in a bed of clay, notwithstanding it is built on a chalk rock; a cir cumstance that has also been observed in other Roman buildings. It has an arched doorway, about six feet wide on the east side: on the other three sides of the internal square were Roman arches, and narrow spaces for windows, about thirteen feet and a half high, and near four feet wide: these have been much altered in şubsequent ages, to convert them into loop-holes. The old arches at the top of these recesses, were turned with Roman tiles, and with pieces of stalactitical concretion cut wedge-shaped, about four times the thickness of the tiles, and placed alternately with them.

The dimensions of the tiles in length are different, but their breadth and thickness are nearly the same: the forms of some of them are very singular, especially in the lower part of the building, and on the eastern front: these are on one side furnished with "winding grooves, and with four protuberant hemispherical knobs, nearly equidistant from each corner; and at one end of each tile, near each corner, is a projecting part, of about an inch and three quarters in length, and an inch and a half wide; whilst at the opposite end, near each angle, a void space is left of the same dimensions; so that by reversing the tiles when laid in the wall, the projecting parts might drop into the void spaces like a sort of dovetail work, and render it impossible for them to give way, and slip from each other, in consequence of any internal pressure. With alternate courses (or a) formed of these and other Roman tiles, and then of small blocks of the stalactitical incrustations, was this edifice constructed from the bottom to the top; each course Uuu 2 of

of tiles consisting of two rows, and each course of stalactites, of seven rows of blocks, generally about seven inches deep, and about one foot in length." Five of these alternate courses are still discernible, notwithstanding an external casing, which was spread over the whole about two centuries ago. The present height of the Pharos is nearly forty feet; but the upper part is of more modern origin; most probably of the time of Sir Thomas Erpingham, who repaired it when Constable of Dover Castle in the reign of Henry the Fifth his arms, being two bars and a canton, sculptured on stone, were then placed on the north front. This curious remain is in a state of great dilapidation, the roof having been destroyed, and the interior exposed to the ravages of the weather. The masonry on each side of the openings is very different from the ancient work, and evinces considerable alteration: the arch over the original entrance is about six feet wide, and nearly perfect; the others have been much damaged, most probably through the idle curiosity of trying the hardness of the materials.

Immediately contiguous to the Roman Pharos, are the ruins of an ancient Church, which is generally stated to have been built by King Lucius in the second century. Whatever may be the fact as to a Christian edifice having been founded here at that early period, the remains of the building are certainly of much later date; though, as in the Church of St. Martin at Canterbury, Roman tiles have been worked up in the walls, particularly of the tower. These remains, with the Pharos, and the foundations of a building, supposed to have been a Roman bath, which have been several times laid open in digging graves near the west end of St. Mary's Church, are all the vestiges of Roman occupation that are now known in this town.

In the Itinerary of Antoninus, Dover is called AD PORTUM DUBRIS. Lambard supposes its name to have been derived from the British Dufyrrha, signifying a steep place; and Camden agrees with him in this derivation. The Saxons called it Dorfa, and Do

fris,

* The substance of the above description is derived from the Munimenta Antiqua, Vol. II. p. 160,-1.