White cliffs of Dover - wikipedia White cliffs of Dover This article is about the geographical feature. For other uses, see White Cliffs of Dover ( disambiguation ) and Cliffs of Dover ( disambiguation ). Coordinates : 51 ° 08 ′ N 1 ° 22 ′ E ﻿ / ﻿ 51.14 ° N 1.37 ° E ﻿ / 51.14 ; 1.37 South Foreland lighthouse above the white cliffs of Dover. The cliffs stretch for eight miles The white cliffs of Dover seen across the channel from Cap Gris Nez, France The location and extent of the White Cliffs of Dover. 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, which reaches up to 350 feet ( 110 m ), owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint. The cliffs stretch along the coastline for eight miles ( 13 km ), spreading 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 in 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. The National Trust calls the cliffs `` an icon of Britain '', with `` the white chalk face a symbol of home and war time defence. '' Because crossing at Dover was the primary route to the continent before the advent of air travel, the white line of cliffs also formed the first or last sight of Britain for travellers. In World War II, thousands of allied troops on the little ships in the Dunkirk evacuation saw the welcoming sight of the cliffs. Contents 1 Location 2 Geology 3 Ecology 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Location The cliffs are located along the coastline of England between approximately 51 ° 06 ′ N 1 ° 14 ′ E ﻿ / ﻿ 51.100 ° N 1.233 ° E ﻿ / 51.100 ; 1.233 and 51 ° 12 ′ N 1 ° 24 ′ E ﻿ / ﻿ 51.200 ° N 1.400 ° E ﻿ / 51.200 ; 1.400. The White Cliffs are at one end of the Kent Downs designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. During the summer of 1940, reporters gathered at Shakespeare Cliff to watch aerial dogfights between German and British aircraft during the Battle of Britain. It marks the point where Great Britain most closely approaches continental Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are easily visible from the French coast. In 1999 a sustainable National Trust visitor centre was built in the area. The Gateway building was designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects and houses a restaurant, an information centre on the work of the National Trust, and details of local archaeology, history and landscape. Geology Evidence of erosion along the cliff top Close up of the cliffs from the walk along the ridge The White Cliffs of Dover The cliffs themselves were formed at the same time as the Strait of Dover, by ice - age floods. The cliffs are mainly 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 during the Cretaceous and, together with the remains of bottom - living creatures, formed sediments. Flint and quartz are also found in the chalk. White cliffs like those of Dover are also found on the Danish islands of Møn and Langeland and the island of Rügen in Germany. The chalk cliffs of the Alabaster Coast of Normandy, France, are part of the same geological system as Dover 's cliffs. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the cliffs were named as the third greatest natural wonder in Britain. The cliff face continues to weather at an average rate of 1 centimetre ( 0.4 in ) per year, although occasionally large pieces will fall. This occurred in 2001, when a large chunk of the edge, as large as a football pitch, fell into the Channel. A further large section collapsed into the Channel on 15 March 2012. Visitors are, therefore, urged to remain well away from the cliff edge. Ecology Several species of cliff nesting birds nest on the cliff face, including fulmar and colonies of black - legged kittiwake. See also Albion, a name for Britain possibly derived from the colour of the cliffs Beachy Head Dover, New Hampshire Dover, New Jersey On a Piece of Chalk by Thomas Henry Huxley Samphire Hoe Country Park Seven Sisters, Sussex Shakespeare Cliff Halt railway station South Downs Møns Klint Kap Arkona References Jump up ^ `` Coastal walk -- White Cliffs of Dover, South - East Kent '' ( PDF ). The National Trust. Jump up ^ `` White cliffs of Dover to be bought by National Trust ''. BBC. Retrieved 1 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` The White Cliffs of Dover ''. The National Trust. 1 November 2016. Jump up ^ Wijs - Reed, Jocelyn ( 2012 ). I 've Walked My Own Talk. Partridge Publishing. p. 212. Jump up ^ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, The White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, retrieved 25 October 2012. Jump up ^ Sperber, A.M. ( 1998 ). Murrow, His Life and Times. Fordham University Press. p. 161. ISBN 0 - 8232 - 1881 - 3. Jump up ^ Susan Dawson, Visitor Centre, White Cliffs of Dover van Heyningen & Haward Architects, Architects ' Journal, 27 May 1999 ( subscription required ). Jump up ^ The Royal Institution ( December 5, 2012 ). `` Helen Czerski - Coccolithophores and Calcium ''. YouTube. Retrieved July 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Harris, C.S. `` Chalk facts ''. Geology Shop. Jump up ^ Beard, Matthew ( 1 February 2001 ). `` White cliffs of Dover go crashing into the Channel ''. The Independent. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 18. Jump up ^ `` BBC News - White Cliffs of Dover suffer large collapse ''. BBC News. 15 March 2012. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to White Cliffs of Dover. Dover Museum information on the cliffs White Cliffs of Dover website Sites of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSIs ) in Kent, South East England Alex Farm Pastures Alkham, Lydden and Swingfield Woods Allington Quarry Aylesford Pit Baker 's Hole Bourne Alder Carr Brookland Wood Charing Beech Hangers Chattenden Woods Chequer 's Wood and Old Park Cheyne Court Church Woods, Blean Cobham Woods Combwell Wood Cowden Meadow Cowden Pound Pastures Dalham Farm Darenth Wood Dover to Kingsdown Cliffs Down Bank Dryhill Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay East Blean Woods Ellenden Wood Farningham Wood Folkestone to Etchinghill Escarpment Folkestone Warren Gibbin 's Brook Great Crabbles Wood Great Shuttlesfield Down Greatness Brickworks Halling to Trottiscliffe Escarpment Ham Street Woods Hart Hill Hatch Park High Rocks Hoad 's Wood Holborough to Burham Marshes Hollingbourne Downs Hothfield Common Houlder and Monarch Hill Pits, Upper Halling Hubbard 's Hill Ileden and Oxenden Woods Knole Park Larkey Valley Wood Lenham Quarry Lullingstone Park Lydden and Temple Ewell Downs Lympne Escarpment Lynsore Bottom Magpie Bottom Marden Meadows Medway Estuary and Marshes North Lade Northward Hill Oaken Wood Oldbury and Seal Chart One Tree Hill and Bitchet Common Orlestone Forest Otford to Shoreham Downs Otterpool Quarry Park Wood, Chilham Park Gate Down Parsonage Wood Pembury Cutting and Pit Peter 's Pit Polebrook Farm Preston Marshes Purple Hill Queendown Warren River Beult Robins Wood Romney Warren Rusthall Common Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes Scord 's Wood and Brockhoult Mount Scotney Castle Seabrook Stream Sevenoaks Gravel Pits Sheppey Cliffs and Foreshore Shorne and Ashenbank Woods Sissinghurst Park Wood South Thames Estuary and Marshes Southborough Pit Spot Lane Quarry Stodmarsh Sturry Pit Swanscombe Skull Site Tankerton Slopes Thanet Coast The Swale Tower Hill to Cockham Wood Trottiscliffe Meadows Walland Marsh Wansunt Pit Wateringbury West Blean and Thornden Woods Westerham Mines Westerham Wood Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Wye and Crundale Downs Yockletts Bank List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest by Area of Search VIAF : 240176973 GND : 7853346 - 6 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Cliffs_of_Dover&oldid=802195286 '' Categories : Cliffs of England Geology of Kent Port of Dover, Kent Tourist attractions in Kent Strait of Dover Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from February 2017 Use British English from February 2017 Coordinates on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Català Čeština Deutsch Español Euskara Français Gaeilge 한국어 Հայերեն Íslenska Italiano עברית Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська Winaray 吴语 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 24 September 2017, at 16 : 16. 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Question: where are the white cliffs of dover located why are they white
Answer: 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, which reaches up to 350 feet (110 m),[1] owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint. The cliffs stretch along the coastline for eight miles (13 km), spreading east and west from the town of Dover in the county of Kent, an ancient and still important English port.