Dover: Lock and Key of the Kingdom

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 called Kingsford Court.