The Crypt, The Fire, & The Bronze Age Boat, Dover

 

(credit to Kent Online for this photo, all others featured were taken and are owned by Phantom Adventures, Lauren Hawman & Jamie Gilbert)

The Crypt Tavern Fire

We first noticed this plaque when we walked through the subway to get to the seafront for the Andalucia, however, in a single week this plaque was covered up due to the renovations taking place and we have no idea if it'll still be there when it's completed. We didn't think to take a photo on the walk past, but we came back the next week specifically for it to find it gone, so we've borrowed the photo from the unveiling taken from Kent Online as seen above.

The Crypt was a restaurant, named as such due to the discovery of the crypt nearby but we will go into that in a moment. It was a favourite during WWII and boasted 4 storeys of various bars and restaurants including the basement, and the top floor was accommodation. The Crypt changed hands various times until 1977 when on the 27th of March a dog walker phoned the fire brigade and reported smoke coming from the building. Seven people died including one of the firefighters, sadly a lot of the deceased were children who were staying in the flat upstairs.

The medieval undercroft remains intact but has been sealed, and the site of the former building remains empty after the structure was demolished. A plaque was placed 42 years later as a memorial to those who died that night and is located on the subway wall just underneath the plot where the tragedy happened. We sincerely hope that the plaque remains in the new renovation as this tragic piece of history deserves to be remembered as more than just the eyesore that locals claim the site is today. 

King Street, Bench Street, and the real Crypt

Nearby, mere buildings away, you can see the historical remains of this street and how it used to be before it became the slightly run down market area of Dover. Failed amusements, demolished buildings, little restaurants and hairdressers is what is left here, but if you look closely there is still a reminder of the daily life Dover held before us.

Originally, this street was King Street, the latter end toward the seafront housing the 'bench' which was the site where the King's Custom had set up in order to complete monetary transactions such as settling debts and early banking. It was this which paved the way for the site to become Bench Street, especially as the Market held here moved up the road to what is now known as Market Square.

Bench Street, a narrow street, was made twice as bad by St Nicholas Tower, originally thought to be part of a church, but later proven to be the seaward entrance to the monastery St Martin le Grand. This holy site was dedicated to St Martin, St Nicholas, and St John and was what had led to the assumption that the tower was part of St Nicholas' Church, but it was the dedicated tower of the monastery which remained and blocked the lane. It was used for various things such as accommodation and even a prison as was the practise back in these times, it even changed name to Garret's Tower due to becoming the residence of Mayor Garret.

In 1836 they decided to widen Bench Street by blowing up the remnant of the monastery with gunpowder. By doing this they revealed the crypt underneath which is believed to have been destroyed for the new road, but the site itself was under the old post office. This differed from the crypt located under the Shakespeare Hotel (named as such as it was thought the bard himself visited the establishment), which of course became the Crypt Tavern from above. 

It was in 1922, John Lukey the wine merchant (possibly the same building as above!) having acquired the adjacent buildings including the Shakespeare Hotel, that the building was divided into restaurant, bar, shop, and living quarters. 1923 brought planning permission to preserve the portion of medieval crypt below, then listed as 'portions of St Nicholas's Church' which were discovered during building works. Permission was granted and this space became the Crypt Restaurant. The space boasted features from the original crypt, however most interestingly it was the space in front of the Shakespeare Hotel, which is now the underpass, which has the most history.

In 1992, work started to create the underpass/subway to cross the bypass in order to get safely from town to the seafront. The remains of the crypt were rediscovered alongside the Bronze Age Boat in this spot, the latter is immortalised with the above blue plaque at the site. You'll note how there is no mention of the crypt that inspired the nearby tavern, but we dont know quite how far the underground burial chamber ran, nor the entrances to get there, we walk on top of an awful lot of history at this section.

It's chilling to think that this walkway with its lovely tiles depicting ships goes through a long forgotten medieval crypt! Whether or not this mural will still be here when renovations are done we don't yet know, but it too might become history!

Considering we frequent this part of Dover a fair bit, we never knew about any of the above until we stumbled across the plaques, so this highlights just how important a dedication to a spot is or else the history would be lost.

A slightly different post than the usual, it was intended to be part of a larger entry but once we'd found the history on this site we decided it needed its own post.

DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images our ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source.. 

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