Buckland Voice - The Community Website for Buckland and North Dover

Buckland is a village near (and now merged with) Dover, England. It is noted for its Saxon cemetery whose finds now belong to the British Museum but are on display at Dover Museum.
English railway contractor, Edward Betts, was born in Buckland.

BUCKLAND -

Welcome to Buckland, a surburb of the town of Dover, in East Kent, Great Britain. The former village was once a seperate village from Dover straddling the River Dour, a few miles outside of the ancient town which once ended at Ladywell where the parishes of Charlton and Dover meet. Today however Dover's High Street continues onwards until it becomes London Road straight up to Buckland Bridge, where the areas oldest pub, The Bull Inn resides. It has become apparent Buckland has lost its identity when you reach this point however hidden behind one of the areas Victorian landmarks, Buckland Mill lies the Church of St Andrews and also an exceptionally old Yew Tree.

The village today straddles the northern area of Dover. I use village loosely as it is a suburb and more a geographically area than a proper place name considering people's addresses in this area are Dover and no mention of Buckland beforehand. The ward of Buckland is the biggest in Dover consisting of much of the town's population, however it is also one of the most deprived. The suburb expanded greatly after the World War II due to the people of Dover needing somewhere to live. This therefore created the Buckland Estate, also known as Buckland Valley on all maps, which is a much nicer name. This area however was funded by Australian, American and Canadian governments hence the road names all bearing names from those countries: for example, Melbourne Avenue, Dunedin Drive, Hobart Crescent...all these names make the area sound somewhat cosmopolitan!

The boundary of Buckland is at Ladywell where the village of Charlton once began, it then straddles up the valley taking in the former villages of Barton, Buckland and then Buckland Estate. At the top of the area the suburb meets Crabble and River on its northern side, and also on its northeastern side the estate of Old Park and the suburbian village of Whitfield. The massive White Cliffs Business Park also straddles this boundary.

St Radigund's is also included on this website and will have its own page. This is a different ward to Buckland but straddles its Eastern side heading up a small valley known as Coombe Valley, hence the name of the road. The roads from here head to the ancient landmark of St Radigund's Abbey named after a German princess and also has country lanes leading to Alkham, Crabble and Hougham. The ward also has Dover's only and last remaining hospital, the Buckland Hospital, another reason why St Radigund's is on the Buckland Voice website as both areas are closely interwined.

Buckland is a village on the edge of Dover which today is now a suburb surrounding the town at the North Eastern side. It has a wide history which started in Saxon times and includes the widely known Saxon cemetery discovered when the areas of Christchurch Way and Maresfield Close were built eitherside of the railway cuttings. The 'village' as it once was, has three churches: Buckland Parish Church of St Andrews, Our Lady of Dover (Buckland Valley) and St Nicholas (Buckland Valley). The area is comprised of Buckland Valley (locally known as Buckland Estate), which was mainly built after World War II to house the population of central Dover which were displaced, Buckland itself, the former village now a suburb running along the London Road and Buckland Avenue, the former 'villages' of Buckland and Charlton which continue down to Charlton Green. It also includes the 'St Radigund's' area where Dover's 'Buckland Hospital' is situated. When including these areas, other churches are also included: Dover Methodist Church (The Beacon Centre), and Charlton Church of SS Peter and Paul. Two community centres, Buckland and the Triangle Centre serve the areas of Buckland and St Radigunds. Buckland Valley has a shopping area centred on Sheridan Road including a Costcutter store. Whereas the 'older' Buckland village has a shopping area centred on London Road and Cherry Tree Avenue with four public houses, 'The Bull', 'The Old Endeavor', 'The Sportsman' and 'The Kingfisher' also locally known as the 'Cherry Tree Inn', its former name. Buckland Estate (Valley) also has a public house called the 'Wheelwrights Arms'. * The Wheelwrights Arms is not the original public house on the site. There was a former Wheelwrights Arms before WWII which was bombed. Luckily no one got hurt however the Landlord managed to scramble through the damage and get all the beer and alcohol out of the wreckage, this was all he wanted to save!*

The ward of Buckland which comprises these settlements across northern Dover, and houses around 7,000 people therefore making the most populated ward within Dover parish. The area has one secondary school, Archers Court and several primaries: The conjoined sites of 'Green Park' formerly Melbourne and Powell Schools, White Cliffs Primary College (formerly St Radigunds School), Shatterlocks Infant School, Barton Junior School, and Charlton Primary School. The former Buckland School site is on London Road, most recently the site of Churchill's Bar and Snooker Club, now a new housing development called 'Churchill Court'. Buckland also comprises the central area of Dover's former paper industry comprising its best known landmark, the former Buckland Paper Mill on Crabble Hill which is soon to be redeveloped into housing, community facilities, business units and opening of the River Dour with a walking route leading Buckland's future into the 21st Century.