History
The White Cliffs is a place of great historical interest that
has played a key role in Britain's history. Visitors can enjoy
pleasant walks with inspiring views out to sea, on a clear day you
can see 21 miles across the Channel to France.
Ice Age
Britain as we know it was merely a westerly penisula of a
larger European continent around 500,000 years ago.
A large sheet of ice which covered northern Britain and a large
part of the North Sea, which created a vast lake amongst chalk
hills, which is now the Straits of Dover. When the dam burst,
a surge of water gouged a deep channel through the hills, eroding
the soft chalk and forming what we now refer to as the English
Channel. Britain became an island.
Present Day
The cliffs themselves are still under attack from the sea as its
continuous flow eats away at the soft chalk at the base of the
cliffs. About 2-5cm on average are lost each year, but more than a
metre can be lost in one large cliff fall, and as sea-levels rise
the cliffs will probably retreat more quickly.