The Kingsford
family seem to have come to Dover in the early 1800s.
In 1802 Edward Kingsford is mentioned in the Freemen’s
Rolls as purchasing his freedom for £20. In Pigot’s
Directory for 1823 Edward Kingsford is listed as a brewer
at
Archcliffe Fort Brewery,
and in 1828-9 Alfred Kingsford is the brewer.
By the time of the 1832 Directory, Alfred has moved
to the Buckland Brewery. Over the years this brewery
is referred to variously as the Buckland Brewery, Kingsford’s
Brewery and Windmill Brewery. The windmill incorporated
into the brewery may have been one built at
Buckland
in 1798 for pumping water. The ready supply of water
may well have been a consideration when siting the brewery
here.
The brewery seems to have been still operating in 1881
but by 1889 it appears to have ceased production. About
1890 the buildings were taken over by G.S. Palmer a
coach builder. This firm went on to build motor car
bodies in the early part of the 20th century. They also
had premises in
Cherry
Tree Avenue where they were building bodies onto
Rolls Royce chassis into the 1930s. The firm finally
closed in the late 1930s a victim of streamlined production
methods and increased mechanisation in the motor car
industry.
The old brewery site was cleared in 1983 to make way
for sheltered flats for the elderly. The old brewery
was remembered in the name of the flats, Kingsford Court.
