The Cliffs, Dover, England. 1890-1900. Source: Library of Congress Photochrom print 10331 in "Views of the British Isles" series, (DLC) 2002696059. Usually called "The White Cliffs of Dover" (though looking rather pink here) these tower above the narrow Straits of Dover on the Kent side. They have provided a daunting prospect for invaders down the ages, and, equally, a symbol of home for returning travellers. Erinn Banting explains:
Rising 820 feet (250 meters) above the Strait of Dover are the White Cliffs of Dover. Over hundreds of millions of years ... plankton attached themselves to the shoreline, died, and left their skeletons behind. Other plankton attached themselves to the skeletons and formed new layers, which eventually hardened into white cliffs made of a soft rock called limestone. Scientists estimate that the cliffs have grown by 49 feet (15 meters) over 100 million years. [8]
No geographical feature of England is more easily recognisable, or more loved, than these cliffs. — Jacqueline Banerjee
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Bibliography
Banting, Erinn. England: The Land. New York: Crabtree, 2004.
Created 31 July 2023