White cliffs of Dover

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Coordinates: 51°08′N 1°22′E / 51.14°N 1.37°E / 51.14; 1.37

The white cliffs of Dover are cliffs which form part of the British coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation. The cliff face, which reaches up to 106 metres high, owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk (pure white calcium carbonate) accentuated by streaks of black flint. The cliffs spread east and west from the town of Dover in the county of Kent, an ancient and still important English port.

The cliffs have great symbolic value for Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard. Because crossing at Dover was the primary route to the continent before air travel, the white line of cliffs also formed the first (or last) sight of the UK for travellers.

Contents 1 Location 2 Geology 3 Ecology 4 Defence 5 In popular culture 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] Location

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. Shakespeare Cliff marks the point where England most closely approaches continental Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are easily visible from the French coast.

[edit] Geology

The cliffs are composed mainly of soft, white limestones with a very fine-grained texture, composed primarily of coccoliths, plates of calcium carbonate formed by coccolithophores, single-celled planktonic algae whose skeletal remains sank to the bottom of the ocean and, together with the remains of bottom-living creatures, formed sediments. Flints and quartz are also found in the chalk.^[1]

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 cliff face continues to erode at an average rate of 1 centimetre (0.39 in) 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ecology

Several species of cliff nesting birds nest on the cliff face, including, fulmar and colonies of Black-legged Kittiwake. However, contrary to the words of the famous song ("There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover"), bluebirds are an American species not found in the UK.

[edit] Defence

Behind the cliff face are miles of hidden tunnels that were created during the Middle Ages and later played a role in the defence of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. The tunnels were later enlarged to become the Secret Wartime Tunnels beneath Dover Castle.

[edit] In popular culture

• In Matthew Arnold's 1867 poem "Dover Beach", the cliffs are a sign of reassuring strength. Rudyard Kipling's 1902 poem "The Broken Men" ends with the lines "How stands the old Lord Warden? Are Dover's cliffs still white?" to represent the English exiles' homesickness. The most iconic reference is perhaps the World War II song, sung by Vera Lynn, "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover".
• Other people to cover the song or sing about the white cliffs include Jimmy Cliff ("Many Rivers to Cross"), Glenn Miller, The Righteous Brothers, Kay Kyser, Kate Smith, Blur ("Clover Over Dover"), Coil ("Ostia (The death of Pasolini)"); The Decemberists ("We Both Go Down Together"), Louis Prima, Robson and Jerome, Clutch, Andrew Bird, Current 93, Fatboy Slim and The Late Morning Risers. Other poetry includes Alice Duer Miller's "The White Cliffs", on which the 1944 film The White Cliffs of Dover was based.
• In Ian Fleming's third James Bond novel, Moonraker, a chapter is set at the cliffs. The villain attempts to assassinate Bond and Gala Brand by bombing the cliff so they are showered in debris.
• Guitarist Eric Johnson wrote a well-known composition called "Cliffs of Dover" for his 1990 album Ah Via Musicom. The song won a Grammy, and also later appears in the rhythm video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
• In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the cliffs were named as the 3rd greatest natural wonder in Britain.
• Pink mentions the cliffs as a famous landmark she has visited in her Try This song Humble Neighbourhoods.
• Twenty-eight days before it was released, a Biohazard sign was projected on the cliffs to promote the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later.^[2]
• Jamaica Kincaid references the white cliffs of Dover in her essay "On Seeing England for the First Time." ^[3]
• EPMD references The White Cliffs of Dover in their 1992 hit, "Crossover."
• In The Decemberists's song "We Both Go Down Together" The lyrics read "Here on these cliffs of Dover, so high you can't see over..."

[edit] See also

• Seven Sisters, Sussex
• Beachy Head
• Samphire Hoe Country Park...
• "On a piece of chalk" by Thomas Henry Huxley

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Dover Museum information on the cliffs