White Cliffs of Dover
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51°08′N 1°22′E / 51.14°N 1.37°E
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 350 feet (110 m),[1] owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk 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.
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 Great Britain most closely approaches continental Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are easily visible from the French coast.
Geology
The cliffs are composed mainly of soft, white chalk 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. Flint and quartz are also found in the chalk.[2]
The cliff face continues to weather at an average rate of 1 centimetre (0.39 in) per year, although occasionally large pieces will fall. This most recently occurred in 2001, when a large chunk of the edge, as large as a football pitch, fell into the channel. Visitors are, therefore, urged to remain well away from the cliff edge.[3] In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the cliffs were named as the third greatest natural wonder in Britain. White cliffs like those of Dover are also found on the Danish islands of Møn and Langeland or the coasts of the island of Rügen in Germany.
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.
In popular culture
- In the 1991 film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner, the cliffs are the landing point of Robin of Locksley's water craft; a welcoming sign of home for the returning prisoner of war.
- 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.
- 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.
- Jamaica Kincaid references the white cliffs of Dover in her essay, "On Seeing England for the First Time."[4]
- Blur Song: Clover over Dover
- Fatboy Slim song "Wonderful Night": "Your crew was riding for the White Cliffs of Dover"
- Clutch song "Profits of Doom": "Born with a moustache and a supernova, tossed off the cliffs of Dover."
- Other poetry includes Alice Duer Miller's "The White Cliffs", on which the 1944 film The White Cliffs of Dover was based.
- In Shakespeare's King Lear, Gloucester, blinded and despairing, asks to be led to the edge of the cliffs of Dover.
- The cliffs were referenced in the popular World War II song "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover". The song was originally performed by Vera Lynn and has been covered by many artists.
- The cliffs were referenced in the song, "Many Rivers to Cross" by reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. The song was featured on the album The Harder They Come, which was a soundtrack for the film of the same name.
- On the 2005 album Picaresque by the Decemberists, the cliffs are the setting for a suicide pact in the ballad "We Both Go Down Together".
- In 2010, girl group Girls Can't Catch filmed their music video for "Echo" on top of the cliffs.[5]
- Grammy Award-winning guitarist Eric Johnson's critically acclaimed, platinum-selling 1990 recording, Ah Via Musicom, produced the single "Cliffs of Dover (song)", for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
See also
- Albion
- Beachy Head
- Dover, New Jersey
- "On a piece of chalk" by Thomas Henry Huxley
- Samphire Hoe Country Park...
- Seven Sisters, Sussex
- South Downs
Notes
- ^ "Coastal walk – White Cliffs of Dover, South-East Kent" (PDF). The National Trust.
- ^ Harris, C.S. "Chalk facts". Geology Shop.
- ^ Beard, Matthew (February 1, 2001). "White cliffs of Dover go crashing into the Channel". The Independent. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Johnson, Matthew (2000). "The Dispossessed". New York University.
- ^ "Girls Can't Catch - Echo (OFFICIAL VIDEO)". YouTube. December 3, 2009.