White cliffs of Dover
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The white cliffs of Dover |
The
white cliffs of Dover, immortalized in popular song and verse (by
Vera Lynn,
Kate Smith,
Matthew Arnold,
Eric Johnson and others), are
cliffs facing the
Strait of Dover near the major
English port town of
Dover, in the county of
Kent, and form part of the
North Downs. The cliff face, which reaches up to 350 feet high, owes its striking façade to its composition of
chalk (pure white
lime) accentuated by streaks of black
flint. The cliffs have great symbolic value because they face across the
English Channel at its narrowest point towards
Continental Europe - historically a source of threatened invasions, against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard.
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Close up of the cliffs from the walk along the ridge |
The cliffs are located along the coastline between approximately: Latitude 51°06'N, Longitude 1°14'E and Latitude 51°12'N, Longitude 1°24'E.
The cliffs are composed mainly of
coccoliths and trace their origins to the
Cretaceous Period, approximately 136 million years ago, when the area between Britain in the west and Sweden/Poland in the east was submerged under deep tropical waters. Subjected to the great pressures of the sea, the emptied skeletons of
coral,
sponges and other small sea creatures turned to
sediment and began to accumulate on the ocean floor. By approximately 70 million years ago, this process had formed a mass of
silica-specked chalk covering huge areas between Britain and the Baltic Sea — white cliffs like those of Dover (but smaller) are also found on the Danish islands of Mon and Langeland or the coasts of the island of Rügen in Germany. The chalk layer used to lay high above sea level during the ice ages and in many places additionally was covered with glaciers. After the ice ages, they were exposed to the rising sea. Owing to the exceptional softness of chalk, tidal forces have since then significantly eroded this land mass away, in Dover to form the
English Channel.
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Evidence of erosion along the cliff top |
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A map showing the location and extent of the White Cliffs of Dover. |
The cliff face continues to
erode at an average rate of one centimetre per year, although occasionally—most recently in 2001—large chunks of the edge, up to several metres at once, will fall into the channel with little warning. Visitors are therefore urged to remain at least five metres back from the edge.
Behind the cliff face are miles of hidden tunnels that were created during the
Middle Ages and later played a role in the defense of Britain during the
Napoleonic Wars. The tunnels were later enlarged to become the Secret Wartime Tunnels beneath
Dover castle.
Shakespeare Cliff marks the point where
England most closely approaches continental
Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are easily visible from the the French coast.
Several species of cliff nesting birds nest on the cliff face, however contrary to the words of the song, Bluebirds (an American species) are not found in the UK. However
Fulmar and colonies of
Kittiwake can be found there.
In a 2005
poll of
Radio Times readers, the cliffs were named as the 3rd greatest natural wonder in Britain.
*
Seven Sisters, Sussex*
Beachy Head*
Dover Museum information on the cliffs
