The White Cliffs of Dover By Christopher Hocking

The White Cliffs of Dover are cliffs that form part of the English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation. The cliff face reaches up to 350 feet (110 metres) and is white because it is made of chalk and streaks of black flint.

The White Cliffs of Dover represent a symbol of home and war time defence. On a clear day you can see the coastline of France.

How were the cliffs formed? Around seventy million years ago this part of Britain was submerged by a shallow sea. The sea was full of Coccoliths, which were tiny algae. When the algae died, their remains sank to the bottom of the ocean and combined with the remains of other creatures to form the chalk that shapes the cliffs today. Over millions of years, the seabed became exposed and is now above sea level. The resulting edge of chalk is the iconic White Cliffs of Dover.

History There are two shipwrecks at the base of the cliffs. The first is visible from the first viewpoint on the beach in Langdon Hole and is all that remains of the iron-screw steamer The SS Falcon, owned by the General Steam Navigation Company. This vessel was carrying a cargo of hemp and matches which unsurprisingly caught fire and ran her aground in 1926. You can still see the thick steel hull and ribs today. The other wreck that can be seen whilst walking across the cliffs, is the Preuβen. This German trade vessel was the largest five-mast, full-rigged ship ever built and wrecked on the 7th November 1910 due to a miscalculation in speed, causing it to collide with R.M.S Brighton.

Dover Castle is a medieval castle founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" because of its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England.

In 1803 Dover became a garrison town which meant that there were hundreds of soldiers living there. This meant that there was a need for barracks and storerooms for the additional troops and their equipment. The Royal Engineers created a complex barracks of tunnels and at the height of the Napoleonic Wars the tunnels housed more than 2,000 men.

Wartime Defence The outbreak of World War II in 1939 saw the tunnels converted first into an air-raid shelter and then into a military command centre and underground hospital. In May 1940, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey directed the evacuation of French and British soldiers fro Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, from his headquarters in the cliff tunnels. Air fights around the cliffs of Dover earn the white cliffs the nickname of “Hellfire Corner”.

My nanny lives near Dover and we visited the castle when we went to see her. This is me and my sister with my dad at the top of the castle.

Famous connections There’ll be bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover was a famous World War II song made famous by Vera Lynn in 1942. It was written after British and German aircraft had been fighting over the cliffs in the Battle of Britain. https://youtu.be/_FawMg0NXpg

Thanks for watching!