and sail making, and ships' stores. Dover is
a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of Canterbury. The parliamentary
borough returns one member. The town is governed by a mayor, six
aldermen and eighteen councillors. Area, 2026 acres.

_History._--Dover (_Dubris_) was one of the ports for continental
traffic in Roman times. In the 4th century it was guarded by a fort
lying down near the harbour, and forming part of the defences of the
Saxon shore (_Litus Saxonicum_). As a Cinque Port, Dover (Dofra,
Dovorra) had to contribute twenty of the quota of ships furnished by
those ports; in return for this service a charter of liberties was
granted to the ports by Edward the Confessor, making the townsmen quit
of shires and hundreds, with the right to be impleaded only at Shepway,
and other privileges, which were confirmed by subsequent kings, with
additions, down to James II. During the middle ages Dover Castle was an
object of contention both in civil wars and foreign invasions, and was
considered the key to England; the constable of the castle, who from the
reign of John was appointed by the crown, was also warden of the Cinque
Ports. The castle was successfully defended in 1216 against the French
under the dauphin Louis by Hubert de Burgh, who was also the founder of
the Maison Dieu established for the accommodation of pilgrims. The title
of mayor as chief municipal officer first occurs about the middle of the
13th century, when the town was governed by a mayor and twelve jurats.
The Cinque Ports were first represented in the parliament of 1265; Dover
returned two members until 1885 when the number was reduced to one. In
1685 Charles II. confirmed to the inhabitants of Dover a fair beginning
on the 11th of November, which had been held of old in the town, and
granted two others on the 23rd and 24th of April and the 25th and 26th
of September.

After the decay of Richborough harbour the passage from Dover to
Whitsand, and later to Calais, became the accustomed route to France,
and by a statute of 1465 no one might ship for Calais except at Dover.
The guardians of the harbour were incorporated by James I. in 1607.

See S. P. H. Statham, _History of the Castle, Town and Port of Dover_
(London, 1899); and _Dover Charters and other Documents_ (London,
1902).

BATTLE OF DOVER

This famous and important naval victory was won off the town of Dover by
the ships of the Cinque Ports on the 21st of August 1217, during the
m