THIS photograph above is of the old Alfred Kingsford Windmill Brewery at the foot of Coombe Valley Road at the junction with London Road. The site is now occupied by Kingsford Court flats. Close by is the St Radigunds Road house in which former ambulance officer Joe Harman has lived for 86 years. The photograph taken from across the old brickfield at Magdala Road. by G. T. Amos, is one of the illustrations in Joe's book. "My Dover." just published. The Express has the original glass plate negative taken about 1865.

Above:- A RED letter day for G. S. Palmer and Son, later the Connaught Coach Works and Palmers Limited, with premises in Coombe Valley Road and Cherry Tree Avenue. The occasion was the securing of a big order to build car bodies. The date 1908. Mr W. J. PaImer, son of the founder, obtained an order to build 50 cars based on Peugeot chassis. These were grouped in the yard and out in the road to be photographed. Other mementoes of the firm include the first edition (1923) of a staff magazine, a picture of the coachworks cricket team of 1911 and a photograph of 122 employees of the motor body works staff in 1909.

"Ale is stout and good.

Whether in bottle it be or wood;

'Tis good at morning. 'Tis good at night;

Ye should drink while the liquor is bubbling bright;

'Tis good for man, for woman, and child;

Being neither too strong, not yet too mild"

Thus began an appreciation of Mr Alfred Kingsford's Buckland Brewery in the official South Eastern Railway Guide of 1863 from which the engraving above is taken. The brewery was renowned for its light pale bitter ales which doubtless owed a great deal to the Quality of locally-grown hops, although a great deal was imported, the malt produced on site and the purity of the water raised by the windmill- operated pumps from a deep well.

The guide's author wrote in glowing terms of the Buckland Brewery, its quality Iight pale bitter ales, which earned accolades from medical men of high standing and spoke of the magnificent views of the surrounding countryside from the windmill.

Not much is known about the windmill, which was also used in the processing of the malt used in making a variety of beers at the brewery, but there is a reference in an old newspaper to a new mill being built near the bottom of St Radigund's Road, in April. 1798. The mill was reputedly demolished in 1863, but a local newspaper records that the Buckland Cornmill - which need not necessarily have been the same mill - was offered for sale for £2,200 in 1865 but failed to reach the reserve. The photograph below, believed to date from the 1890s before Magdala Road was built on land adjoining, proves that the mill survived until much later. So far no evidence has been found as to when it was demolished.

Relics which survive include part of one of the short sweeps and the stage from which the miller adjusted the shutters on the sweeps. They were preserved in the remains of the brewery buildings used until recently as a car body repair works. Beyond the mill in the engraving a train heads along an embankment towards the town centre.

Information taken from John Bavington-Jones' book "A Perambulation of the Town, Port and Fortress of Dover", 1906. (Reprint in The Dover Express, Friday 20th March, 1981.)

A Kingsford Brewery advertisement of the 1890's.

From the Dover Telegraph, 4 January 1834.

WHEREAS a Fiat in Bankruptcy is awarded and issued against WILLIAM KINGSFORD of Buckland, near Dover, in the County of Kent, paper manufacturer, miller, dealer and chapman, and being declared a Bankrupt is hereby required to surrender himself to the commissioners in the said Fait named or the major part of them, on the sixth day of January next, at one o'clock in the afternoon precisely, and on the Fourteenth day of February next, at Twelve o'clock at noon precisely, of the same days, at the "BELL INN", SANDWICH, in the County of Kent; and make full discovery and disclosure of his Estate and Effects; when and where the creditors are to come prepared to prove their debts, at at their first sitting to choose Assigners; and at the last sitting , the said Bankrupt is required to finish his examination; and the Creditors are to assent to, or dissent from, the allowance of his certificate. All persons indebted to the said Bankrupt, or that have any of his Effects, are not to pay or deliver the same but to whom the Commissioner shall appoint, but give notice to Mr SURRAGE, Solicitor, Sandwich; or Messrs. W and E DYNE, Solicitor, 61, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

From the Dover Telegraph, 18 January 1834.

BUCKLAND, NEAR DOVER

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY

MR. HARRISSON,

By order of the Assignees of William Kingsford, a Bankrupt, on the Premises, on Saturday the 25th January 1834, at Ten o Clock in the Forenoon.

THREE CART HORSES; ONE CHAISE HORSE; Three Cows; One Stack of Clover; One Stack of Hay; about 2 tons; Fourteen Acres of White and Swedish Turnips; which will be lotted in half Acres, and may be carted off the land. Also a large quantity of Building Stones.

Catalogues to be had at the place of Sale, and of the Auctioneer, Buckland.

From the Dover Telegraph, Saturday February 1st 1834.

VALUABLE BUILDING LAND, AT BUCKLAND, NEAR DOVER.

TO BE SOLD AT AUCTION, BY

MR. C. LAMB.

At the Antwerp Inn, in Dover, on Tuesday, the 25th day of February, 1834, at Three o'clock in the Afternoon precisely, by order of the Commissioners, under a Fiat of Bankruptcy against Mr William Kingsford.

ALL THAT VALUABLE PLOT of LAND particularly adapted for the purposes of Buildings, situate in the parish of Buckland, on the left-hand side of the Turnpike Road from Dovor to Canterbury, and extending from the present Houses in Bartholomew Close, to the Farm Buildings of the said William Kingsford.

The Land will be sold in convenient Lots, as will be expressed in future advertisements.

Particulars may be had of Mr. Surrage, Solicitor, Sandwich Messrs. Shipden and Ledger, and Mr. Edward Elwin, Solicitors, Dovor; and of the Auctioneer, Snargate Street, Dovor.

Dovor, January 30th, 1834.

From the Dover Telegraph, Saturday February 8th 1834.

Valuable Freehold Mills, Capital, Messuage and Garden, Farm and Lands, at Buckland, near Dovor.

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION BY

MR. GEORGE HARRISSON,

At the Royal Oak Inn, Dovor, on Saturday, the 5th March, 1834, between the hours of One and Three in the afternoon., (by order of the Commissioners under a Fiat of Bankruptcy against Mr. William Kingsford.)

ALL THOSE FREEHOLD CORN AND PAPER MILLS, Capital Messuage, Garden, Farm and Lands, situated in the Parish of Buckland, in the County of Kent, and late in the occupation of the said Bankrupt.

Particulars will be given in future Adverticements, an information may be obtained of Mr. Surrage, Solicitor, Sandwich; Messrs. Shipdem and Ledger, Mr. Kennett, and Mr. E. Elwin, Solicitors, Dovor; and of the Auctioneer, Barton Farm, near Dovor.

Dovor, February 6th, 1834.

An interesting century-old map from the abstract of title of the trustees of the will of Dover brewer and miller Mr Alfred Kingsford, who died on 11th December, 1878, to some of his property between Barton Road and London Road. Buckland Brewery is shown at the foot of Coombe Valley Road while the mill is on the opposite side of London Road. The document was sent to the Dover Express, by Mrs Dorothy Dale, of Lorne Road.

Information taken from John Bavington-Jones' book "A Perambulation of the Town, Port and Fortress of Dover", 1906. (Reprint in The South Kent Gazette, April 8th 1981.)