Dover The Port of Dover provides much of the town's employment, as does tourism. First recorded in its Latinised form of "Portus Dubris", the name derives from the Brythonic word for waters ("dwfr" in Middle Welsh. The same element is present in the town's French ("Douvres") and Modern Welsh ("Dofr") forms (though the modern Welsh name is in fact a borrowing from, and an adaptation of, the English name Dover), as well as the name of the river Dour and is evident in other English towns such as Wendover. The current name was in use at least by the time of
Port of Mainz the centre of Roman life in the area for many centuries. The facilities included a trade port at the 'Dimesser Ort' (in the area of the current port), and a military port (in the area of the current old town), from which the vessels of the Roman river navy patrolled the Rhine. During the gradual Roman retreat from their remaining possessions in front of invading German tribes, some of the naval vessels were abandoned in a section of the port (likely around 407 AD, when the city was sacked for the second time). Their remains rested in the earth and