Dover as a health-resort and place of residence : its climate, etc. / by Charles Parsons.

  • Parsons, Charles.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dover as a health-resort and place of residence : its climate, etc. / by Charles Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    13/40 (page 9)
    510 8' n., and long. i° 19' e., at the mouth of the river Dour, a small stream issuing from a valley which is overspread with the houses of a large proportion of the inhabitants. In this direction building operations are still rapidly extending. 3. Altitude and Sheltered Position. It is pretty well understood that the temperature of a locality is regulated in a great degree by its elevation above the level of the sea—the greater the height the greater the cold, and vice versa. It has been calculated that for every 300 feet of altitude the mean temperature is diminished one degree. The town of Dover is built so near to the level of the sea as to be only a few feet above high-water mark, and is therefore fully exposed to the benign influence of the breezes that sweep the surface of the straits. It is also flanked and fully protected in the rear by the rising heights of the chalk range. On the n.e. lie the South Foreland and the hill on which Dover Castle stands. The latter immediately over- hangs the houses at East Cliff, and is at this point about 340 feet high, whilst near the Turnpike it is at least 50 feet higher, and reaches to 390 feet. This range of hills opposes an effi- cient barrier to the keen penetrating winds which blow from the n. and n.e. during the winter and early months of spring, whilst on the western flank the Western Heights and the Alkham range afford ample protection from the northern and north-westerly blasts. In fact, it is no uncommon sight during the prevalence of n. and n.e. winds to see the bay dotted with vessels of every kind, riding peacefully at anchor under the shelter of the South Foreland cliff, whilst the sea beyond is covered with white-crested waves. The walk beneath this cliff along the beach is so sheltered that even a piercing n.e. wind of considerable force is wholly unperceived by the loiterers on the shingle and rocks below; and should the day be bright and the sun shining the temperature is not surpassed even by the ‘Undercliff’ of the Isle of Wight. But