|
Pencester Gardens may never have been built if some of
the proposed schemes for this area had come to fruition.
When Pencester Road was laid out in
1860, it was intended to build a street, to be called
Neville Road, from Pencester Road to Eastbrook Place
but this never happened. About 1880 the land was acquired
with the intention of using it for a Dover station in
connection with the Channel Tunnel, which was then being
planned to run from St Margarets.
When that project failed it was suggested
that it be used for building a new Town Hall but in
the end facilities were improved at the Maison
Dieu instead. Other plans included a recreation
ground and a relief road to ease congestion in Biggin
Street. In its later years the site was used as
a timber yard.
In November 1922 the land was purchased
by the Corporation and the new gardens were laid out.
Pencester Gardens opened in 1924, as well as the usual
lawns and flowerbed there as also a play area for children
and a miniature golf course. The gardens have been a
pleasant green space in the centre of the town since
then, and have provided a venue for many fetes and funfairs.
In 2000 a pavilion for band concerts
and other performances was built to commemorate the
new Millennium.
The Millennium Path, which runs around
the pavilion, was completed in 2001. The path is made
up of 100 flagstones each commemorating an event in
Dover's history, each one sponsored by a local resident
or business. |
|
Pencester Gardens in the 1930s. Compare this view with the modern view
(below) from the same standpoint in 2001.
Pencester Gardens May 2001. The spire of the new Millennium Pavilion almost
exactly replicates the spire of new St James's Church, which was destroyed
during World War 2.
A flagstone from the Millennium Path.
|
