The modern port facility features a large artificial harbour constructed behind stone piers and a defensive concrete breakwater.

The port is owned and operated by the Dover Harbour Board, a statutory corporation formed by royal charter in 1606 by King James I.

Known as Dubris during the Roman occupation of Britain,[4] the port has always enjoyed a significant strategic position due to its proximity to continental Europe and as the location of the sheltered River Dour estuary between two imposing chalk cliffs.

In the Roman era a walled town was built on the West Bank of the River Dour and the port grew into an important military, mercantile and cross-channel harbour.

After the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, Dover flourished as the only designated port of entry for foreign pilgrims and as a point of departure for the third and subsequent crusades.

Although few concerted attempts to manage the shingle deposits blocking the harbour entrance were made during the late Middle Ages, a short pier and two defensive towers were constructed at the port in years immediately prior to Henry VIII's departure to the royal summit known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

In the 1580s, under the direction of Thomas Digges and championed by Sir Walter Raleigh, early port infrastructure work commenced to address siltation through the use of sluices and the development of an enclosed pool of water known as the Great Pent, by means of which the harbour could be periodically scoured.

[9] The later construction of Wellington Dock, designed by James Walker in the early 1830s, occupies the approximate footprint of the Great Pent.

After the threats of the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the Admiralty selected Dover as the most suitable location of a harbour of refuge for the fleet between the dockyards of Chatham and Portsmouth.

Envisaged as the Western Arm of the proposed haven, completion of the massive first stage in 1871 effectively stopped the silting of the harbour mouth as it cut off the drift of shingle from the direction of Folkestone.

The yard began to shrink after World War II and was closed in 1964 to make way for port redevelopment and a car ferry terminal.

The Eastern Docks also used to be served by the following, all now defunct: An adjacent freight terminal (with three loading cranes) is scheduled to be repurposed under port redevelopment plans but can currently be used by ships of up to 180 metres (590 ft).

[21] Marina facilities, primarily targeted at recreational sailing and power boating, are provided in both the historic Wellington Dock and adjacent to the cruise terminal and cargo wharves.

BBC's long-running automotive magazine Top Gear filmed an episode at the former hovercraft dock, in which the presenters used amphibious cars to cross the English Channel.