King Charles II Tercentenary Walk 1660 -1960 - Dover, Kent. - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Sited at the western end of the Esplanade at Dover is a covered monument that commemorates the return to England of King Charles II in 1660. A plaque on the top of the stone monument reads;

THIS WALK WAS OPENED / ON THE 25TH MAY 1960 / BY / THE Rt. HON. THE LORD CORNWALLIS K.B.E., M.C., J.P. / HER MAJESTY'S LIEUTENANT for the COUNTY of KENT / TO / COMMEMORATE THE TERCENTENARY OF THE / LANDING AT DOVER ON THE 25TH MAY 1660 / OF / HIS MAJESTY KING CHARLES II / ON / THE OCCASION OF THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY

A walk, or promenade, was opened that allowed visitors to walk alongside the beach and descend to the beach via steps. Since been upgraded with a wider promenade, and further again in 2010 with the Three Waves Project along this section of the Esplanade.

This is taken from the dover-kent website;

One of the outstanding royal visits to Dover came on 25 May 1660 when King Charles II landed here, on his way to London to secure the throne after the restoration of the Monarchy. He had been in exile in France and the Netherlands since his defeat by Cromwell’s Parliamentary forces at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. With the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658 the title of Lord Protector passed to Cromwell’s son, Richard. Failing to emulate his father’s iron grip he surrendered the office a year later and Parliament invited the King to return.

Charles was greeted by a tumultuous welcome from the vast crowds gathered on the beach and a salute was fired from the guns of the Castle. This acclamation must have, in some part, been due to a feeling of relief at the prospect of having once more a King and settled government after the turmoil of the Civil War. The King must have been greatly moved by the welcome he received, as letters which he wrote afterwards show. The diarist Samuel Peyps was in the King’s entourage and described the event, and an extract from the Dover Corporation Records gives some further details of this historic scene:

“Memorandum. - That the 25th May, 1660, the King arrived in Dover Roads from Holland with twenty sail of His Majesty’s great ships and frigates, the Right Hon. Edward Lord Montague being General, and landed the same day being attended by His Excellency the Lord General Monck who first met His Majesty upon the bridge let into the sea for His Majesty’s more safe and convenient landing, and at His Majesty’s coming from the bridge, the Mayor of this Town, Thomas Broome, Esq., made a speech to His Majesty upon his knees, and Mr. John Reading, Minister of the Gospel, presented His Majesty with the Holy Bible as a gift from this town, and Mr. Reading thereupon made a speech likewise to His Majesty and His Gracious Majesty laying his hand upon his breast , told Mr. Mayor nothing would be more dear to him than the Bible. His Excellency the Lord General was accompanied with the Earl of Winchelsea and a great number of nobility and gentry of England and his life guard all most richly accoutred.”