White Cliffs

Lore & Background

The cliffs mark the point where Great Britain is closest to continental Europe; on a clear day the cliffs are visible from France, approximately 20 miles (32 km) away. Julius Caesar remarked upon their appearance when he invaded Britain in 55 BC. The cliffs served as a natural defensive barrier, reinforced by the building of Dover Castle in the 11th century. The cliffs gained symbolic importance during World War II, as a symbol of Britain's resolute defence and as a welcome sight for the evacuees from Dunkirk. It is thought that the name Albion, an ancient or poetic term referring to Great Britain, was derived from the Latin albus (meaning 'white') as an allusion to the white cliffs.

In Their Own Story

In 55 BC, in the earliest recorded mention of the cliffs, Julius Caesar described them in his "Commentarii de Bello Gallico" as rising steeply from the sea and defended by armed Britons, preventing his forces from landing. A possible Iron Age hillfort has been discovered at Dover, on the site of the later castle. The area was also inhabited during the Roman period when Dover was used as a port. A lighthouse survives from this era, one of a pair at Dover which helped shipping navigate the port. It is likely the area around the surviving lighthouse was inhabited in the early medieval period as archaeologists have found a Saxon cemetery here, and the church of St Mary in Castro was built next to the lighthouse in the 10th or 11th century.

Reader's Guide

The White Cliffs are at one end of the Kent Downs designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In 1999 a sustainable National Trust visitor centre was built in the area. The Gateway building, designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects, houses a restaurant, an information centre on the work of the National Trust, and details of local archaeology, history and landscape. The chalk grassland environment above the cliffs is excellent for many species of wild flowers, butterflies and birds, and has been designated a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Rangers and volunteers work to clear invasive plants that threaten the native flora. A grazing programme involving Exmoor ponies has been established to help to clear faster-growing invasive plants, allowing smaller, less robust native plants to survive. The ponies are managed by the National Trust, Natural England, and County Wildlife Trusts to maintain vegetation on nature reserves.

Did You Know?

• The cliff face reaches a height of 350 feet (110 m) and stretches for eight miles (13 km).
• The chalk was deposited during the Late Cretaceous, between 100 million and 66 million years ago, at a rate of about half a millimetre a year.
• The cliffs are visible from France on a clear day, approximately 20 miles (32 km) away.
• In 2001, a large chunk of the cliff edge, as large as a football pitch, fell into the Channel.
• After a 120-year absence, ravens returned to the cliffs in 2009.