Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
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Queen Elizabeth I visited
Dover on 14 July 1573 on her progress through Kent. The procession to
Dover from Folkestone must have presented a marvellous and glittering
cavalcade to any observer. The Queen was accompanied by the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Lord Warden
of the Cinque Ports, each with their own entourage.
The procession was so long that as the tail of it was
going up Folkestone Hill, leaving Folkestone, the head was descending
the Western Heights down
through Cowgate into Queen Street.
There were about 1,000 important people on horseback and a similar number
of two wheeled wagons each drawn by six horses. It is likely that the
Queen stayed at Dover Castle
before proceeding on to Sandwich. Before she left she was presented with
a richly enamelled gold cup bearing the Cinque Ports arms.
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It was during Elizabeth’s reign that the Cinque
Ports performed their final service in the naval defence of their
country. In late July 1588 England was threatened with invasion by the
Spanish Armada and the Cinque Ports were ordered to send five ships and
one pinnace, but actually provided two ships and one pinnace. Dover equipped
the ‘Elizabeth’, a ship of 120 tons, with 70 men and supplies for fifty
days. These vessels, with eighteen from the east-coast towns, formed the
auxiliary squadron to the Channel squadron, and were posted to Dover.
This small squadron took part in the action off Gravelines (near Calais)
on 29 July. Five fire ships had been prepared in Dover Harbour but were
not used as Sir Francis Drake gave some of his own ships to use instead
to save time. By the next day the Spanish fleet had been broken by the
English attack and was being scattered by the prevailing westerly wind.
The destruction of the Spanish Armada, 1588.
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