St James Church
Originally a Saxon church, St James is believed to be one of the three unnamed Dover churches listed in the Domesday Book. The present structure, or what remains of it, is 12th century. The church was also used by The Court of Shepway, the governing body of the Cinque Ports, who met here under the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, as did, from 1526, the Court of Lodemange, the body which licensed Cinque Ports Pilots. During the war with the Netherlands in 1652, a local blacksmith was paid to erect ironwork around the building to convert it into a temporary prison for captured Dutch seamen. The Barons of the Cinque Ports held their last meeting here in 1851, presided over by the Duke of Wellington, the then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.
Towards the end of the 1850's, it was becoming apparent that a much larger church building was required to accommodate the increasing number of parishioner's. However, it soon became apparent that it was not possible to build a sufficiently large enough building on the site, and it was decided to build the new St. James church some 200 metres further north, along Maison Dieu Road. The old St. James church building became vacant in 1862, but in 1865 the use of it was granted to a small congregation of persecuted French protestants, until, in 1868, it was decided to alter and refurbish the old church building and in 1869 the Old St. James was refurbished.
On Sunday 19th March 1916 a German seaplane dropped several bombs on the town killing 7 and injuring 30 persons. One bomb burst in the garden of a house on the corner of Woolcomber Street and Trevanion Street and pieces penetrated the roof of the church, causing a great deal of damage. After the extensive shelling and bombing that Dover endured during the Second World War, both old and new St. James churches were in ruins and the decision was made in 1948 not to replace either of them. In 1950 the church tower collapsed and what remained of the old St. James' was kept as a "tidy ruin" in commemoration of the people of Dover who, like the church, had suffered immensely and it has survived in that state for the last 60+ years.
The site of the St James church is a scheduled monument as such the cache has NOT been placed within the boundary of the site.
Lying flat at the top of the steps, leading from the church doorway, you will find the remains of a gravestone to a Mr PIGOU. A date in February can be seen; ABth, CDEF aged GH years.
H = R
B plus C = S
D = T
F = V
B plus A = W
G minus B = X
The cache, a generic nano pot, is located @ N51 07.RST E001 19.VWX
If anybody would like to expand this series, please do, but could you let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication. There is also a Church Micro Stats & information page found via the Bookmark list.
For full information on how to expand the series by Sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him. See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
goes to WulfyGeo, Osbornr & Kentish Maid