Dover Town Hall
Welcome to the History Room at Dover Town Hall This room has been created to provide you with information on the history of this building, which was founded more than 800 years ago.
The Maison Dieu 1735 (Engraving by Samuel & Nathaniel Buck). Note the tower, great hall and chapel, all still standing today. (Dover Museum Collection)
1203: Free board and lodging for Pilgrims This was the year in which Hubert de Burgh founded a building on this site for use as a free hostel for pilgrims, and for favoured pensioners. Later, wounded or destitute soldiers were also cared for here. It was called the Maison Dieu, Domus dei or God’s house and was run by Augustinian monks.
We hope this History Room has improved the way we tell the story of this building. Before you go please give us your comments on the feedback cards by the door. Detailed handouts on different aspects of the history of the hall are also available at a small charge. Please ask a member of staff for copies.
1203-1544 Pilgrims and Kings In these 300 years the hall received gifts of land and money, which enabled the monks to build a large church and hall, private apartments and many outbuildings. Monarchs such as King John, Edward II and Richard II and Henry VI used it for accommodation or as a meeting place when in Dover.
Medieval Pilgrim badges including several sold at the Thomas Becket Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral
1544-1834 Beer and biscuits for the Navy In 1544, ten years after signing an oath acknowledging Henry VIII as Head of the English church, the monks were required to hand the building and lands to the King. For approximately the next 300 years the site was used as a store and supplies centre or victualling office for the Navy.
1834-1900 Mayors, meeting hall, courts and prison In 1834 Dover Council bought the site and its remaining buildings for conversion into a courthouse and meeting place for the council. Gradually funds were raised to restore and expand the hall into a meeting hall for the town, employing eminent Victorian architects Ambrose Poynter and William Burges to carry out the work. A prison for 50 inmates was built on the site in 1867/8 but this was demolished for the new Connaught hall extension in 1881. Today Today the Town Hall, which is owned by Dover District Council, is used for many different functions such as weddings, meetings, ceremonies, plays, concerts, and elections. Information about hiring any of its facilities can be obtained from a member of staff or by viewing its website on the leisure pages of www.dover.gov.uk These panels have been sponsored by the Town Hall Refurbishment Steering Group made up of representatives from Dover District Council, Dover Town Council, the Dover Society and Thanet Leisure Force. Text by C. Waterman. Designed and produced by DDC Creative Design Services
A recent dinner in the magnificent Stone Hall
Dover Town Hall
The Maison Dieu 1203-1544 The first buildings here were founded by a medieval national hero, funded by medieval kings, run by monks and used by monarchs, chancellors, pilgrims, soldiers, the poor, sick and elderly.
We hope this History Room has improved the way we tell the story of this building. Before you go please give us your comments on the feedback cards by the door. Detailed handouts on different aspects of the history of the hall are also available at a small charge. Please ask a member of staff for copies.
Medieval Pilgrim badges including several sold at the Thomas Becket Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral
Hubert De Burgh Detail from one of the stained glass windows in the Town Hall.
King Henry III (1207-1272). Son of King John and benefactor of the Maison Dieu. He came to the throne as a boy of 8 and was the first English monarch to rule for 50 years. His Regent, Hubert de Burgh, founded this building, which Henry also supported financially.
Pilgrims leaving Canterbury (Stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral)The Shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury was one of the most important shrines in Europe, visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, many of whom would have come through Dover.
Hubert De Burgh, the founder of the hall Hubert de Burgh was one of the most important and influential men in the country during the reigns of both King John and Henry III. He was for a while the Chief Justiciar, roughly the modern equivalent of the Prime Minister and also Regent to the nine year old King Henry III. He was also the first Earl of Kent, Constable of Dover Castle and for 30 years Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He fought and won decisive land and sea battles against the French and prevented them from taking control of Dover Castle in 1216.
The Monks of the Maison Dieu The hall was run by Augustinian monks, an order which encouraged its members to work in the community outside of the closed world of monasteries. An inventory of the hall made in 1535 describes’ Great Chambers’ an infirmary for’ poor priests’, ‘poor woman and men’, stables, a granary, and a brew house and bake house. They also listed 537 ounces of silver and gilt plate, 1600 sheep and 119 cattle. The Master of the Maison Dieu was John Thompson who was described by a contemporary as ‘the worst priest I ever knew’.
The patronage of Kings The building and daily costs of caring for pilgrims and the sick were supported by gifts of land and money from De Burgh and King Henry III. Pope Gregory IX also took an interest in the house, granting it his protection and requiring that the monks follow the Rule of St Augustine. In return monarchs sent pensioners to the house to be cared for and used the hall for important gatherings. The hall’s benefactors were celebrated in prayers and feast days annually for hundreds of years.
Pilgrims and Pensioners The Maison Dieu was ideally placed to provide free accommodation for pilgrims travelling to and from the continent, either to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral or to pilgrimage sites abroad. The hall also housed favoured pensioners such as Richard Waytewell ‘for his good services to Queen Isabella, for maintenance for nothing for life’, and sometimes supplied private rooms such as those of James le Palmere of London in 1360, in return for a gift of money.
Dover Town Hall
The Navy takes over: Beer, bread and ropes 1544-1834
Maison Dieu when in use as a victualling office c. 1800 “The church and a small building at the east end of it and part of the wall which enclosed the park are all the remains that the ravages of time have left us of this house… the windows which were large and lofty have been built up with bricks and the building is now converted into a brew house and bake house for the navy with store rooms for wheat, flour and biscuit.” (Rev John Lyon History of Dover 1813)
We hope this History Room has improved the way we tell the story of this building. Before you go please give us your comments on the feedback cards by the door. Detailed handouts on different aspects of the history of the hall are also available at a small charge. Please ask a member of staff for copies.
(Engraving Dover Museum collection)
Medieval Pilgrim badges including several sold at the Thomas Becket Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral
Making provisions for the navy After the hall and its land, like most monastic sites, were taken by Henry VIII, the buildings fell for a while into private hands. Its flint construction saved it from being demolished for profit and by the reign of Elizabeth I it was described in use as ’Queen Majesties Storehouse’. For about 300 years thereafter there was a brewery and bakery on the site making provisions for the navy.
Michael Russell, Agent Victualler of Dover 1777-81 Artist - George Romney Dover was one of two small naval victualling yards in Kent, the other being at Chatham. The main yards were at Deptford, Portsmouth and Plymouth. In the 18th century the Navy had the task of having to supply its hundreds of ships on an almost world wide basis. Hard biscuit bread was made at Dover and also beer. The daily ration was a gallon per man per day (8 pints). Beer was weaker then! (Dover Museum collection) The Agent Victualler's House Next to the Hall is a striking historic building now known as Maison Dieu House, which was built in 1665 to house the government official responsible for the running of the Victualling site. In 1815 the Ordnance Department took it over and it became the residence of the Commander of the Royal Engineers, then after 1834, a private house. In 1899 the Corporation of Dover purchased it and used for offices until 1953 when it became Dover’s public library. Today it is the home of Dover Town Council.
Maison Dieu House today
Dover Town Hall
A hall for the people 1834-today
The Connaught Hall c.1883 This photograph was taken shortly after the completion of the new hall, which included the large public clock nicknamed the Frying Pan’ by locals. (Dover Museum collection)
View of the restored Maison Dieu 1861 designed by Ambrose Poynter. Stained glass windows designed by his son Edward were added gradually by subscription over the next decade.
We hope this History Room has improved the way we tell the story of this building. Before you go please give us your comments on the feedback cards by the door. Detailed handouts on different aspects of the history of the hall are also available at a small charge. Please ask a member of staff for copies.
(Dover Museum collection)
Medieval Pilgrim badges including several sold at the Thomas Becket Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral
Front view of the Dover Gaol built in 1868 The gaol or prison was built on the site of the original 13th century church to the left of this view. Part of the woman’s prison still remains beneath the main hall. A new Council chamber at the rear of the hall was built at the same time (Dover Museum collection)
In 1834 Dover Town Council bought this site to house their meeting rooms, offices and a courtroom. Slowly, over several decades, the hall was renovated and extended. A new Council chamber, Mayor’s Parlour and a prison were built on the site and in the 1880’s a new Victorian assembly hall, the Connaught Hall, was added. Two architects. Poynter and Burges After ten years of failed fundraising the Council took out a loan to restore the building, much of which was unusable. Ambrose Poynter, an eminent Victorian architect had already made designs for the work but was now too old to oversee it and asked William Burges, another important Victorian architect, to do the work. Burges worked on the building in 1860 when the main hall was restored and later in 1880 when he designed the Connaught Hall extension.
The Gaol There was a gaol on the site for 70 male and female inmates from 1836 beneath the main hall and in part of the old church. New prison standards were imposed by law in 1865 and rather than close the old gaol the council built a new four storey block to house Dover and Folkestone’s prisoners at a cost of £9300 including a new tread wheel house. Fifty cells came into use in 1868 but the gaol was closed only nine years later when the Home Office took over all local prisons. The Connaught Hall extension After standing empty for four years the Gaol was pulled down and a large hall, Police station, kitchens, offices, court meeting rooms and a new Mayor’s Parlour were built on that part of the site. William Burges was chosen to carry out the work and completed his designs just before he died in May 1881. His work was completed by his partners, Pullan and Chapple. The total building cost was £17,500 and the hall was opened in 1883 by the Duke of Connaught and is still in use today.
Mayor’s Parlour c.1990
Function inside the Connaught Hall c.1920 (Dover Museum collection)
Dover Town Hall
Plan of the Maison Dieu 1834
We hope this History Room has improved the way we tell the story of this building. Before you go please give us your comments on the feedback cards by the door. Detailed handouts on different aspects of the history of the hall are also available at a small charge. Please ask a member of staff for copies.
Sale particulars of The Maison Dieu site 1834 This plan of the Maison Dieu site in 1834 was made for the Ordnance Department of the government who had decided that they no longer needed the site and put it up for sale. The plan, which was included in the 1834 sale particulars shows in detail how the old medieval Pilgrim’s Hall and surrounding land had been converted for use into yards , a carpenter’s shop, a forge, sawpits and stables. The Agent Victualler’s house, now Dover Town Council Offices, was also included in the sale and can be clearly seen with its acre of garden at the rear of the house. (Dover Museum collection)
Medieval Pilgrim badges including several sold at the Thomas Becket Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral
These panels have been sponsored by the Town Hall Refurbishment Steering Group made up of representatives from Dover District Council, Dover Town Council, the Dover Society and Thanet Leisure Force. Text by C. Waterman. Designed and produced by DDC Creative Design Services
