128 



authorities say this bench was in old Severus Gate, which stood 

 where Cuff Brothers' premises now are, and where Eench Street 

 and Snargate Street join. Be this as it may, it would in either 

 case be an appropriate name for the street. 



There is one more tower, which I wish to speak of, that is 

 not to be seen now-a-days, though there is much to remind us of 

 its existence. It is called the Round Tower, which well describes 

 its appearance, but is not a very dignified title for a place of 

 defence. In one of the colored glass windows in tYie Town Hall 

 we see a representation of the embarkation of Henry VIII. at 

 Dover, on his way to meet the King of France on the Field of the 

 Cloth of Gold. Very conspicuous in this picture, and also in the 

 old print from which the idea is taken, are two round towers. 

 About one of these a good deal is known, and wo can read all 

 about its builder in old records of the town. When the Rev. John 

 Lyon wrote his History of Dover, he mentions that part of this 

 tower was still standing in 1813; and in 1865, during some 

 excavations in that locality, the fonndations of it were exposed 

 to view, and some local antiquaries having gone to see it, possessed 

 themselves of a portion of the masonry as a relic of the past. 

 We shall always be reminded of this old tower when we see the 

 name of "Round Tower Street" and "Lane." The builder was 

 Sir, or as we should say now-a-days. Reverend John Clarke, Master 

 of the Maison Dieu. He saw the necessity for bettering the 

 harbour, and took the lead in the works, being supported in his 

 endeavours by King Henry VII. First, he had constructed a bank 

 of earth and chalk firmly compacted together, forming a headland, 

 so as to increase the area of smooth water, which the sailors had 

 made use of as a small harbour near Ar or Archclitf. At the end 

 of the bank Sir John Clarke built a round tower, into the sides of 

 which were fixed iron bolts and rings, to which mariners could 

 moor their vessels. In an old print to be seen in the Biitish 

 Museum this place and tower is entitled the "Dover Wyke," or 

 place of safety. So safe and snug were the vessels in this newly 

 formed basin that it soon received the name of Paradise, and for 

 two hundred years after it went by the name of Paradise Pent. 

 When this Pent became useless and was drained off and built upon 

 the street was naturally called Paradise Street, and so it remains 

 to this day. But how was it that this nice arrangement of the 

 Clerical Engineer became useless ? Simply from the amount of 

 shingle, which gradually silted up and formed a barrier at the 

 mouth of the haven, and even forced its way over the bank which 

 formed the headland. After Clarke's death another engineer, also 

 a Cleric and Master of the Maison Dieu, tried to prevent this 

 accumulation, and with that view lengthened the headland, curving 

 it at the end, and erecting another tower; but this was soon 

 destroyed by the waves, and the shingle continued to increase in 



