Panorama of the White Cliffs of Dover in Sunlight and Shadow, Kent, UK

The iconic White Cliffs of Dover viewed from the the lighthouse and cafe end of the Prince of Wales Pier:


(Click this White Cliffs of Dover text link to see the largest size)

The strange-looking object on top of the cliffs just right of centre is the South Foreland lighthouse. The top of the darker Old South Foreland lighthouse, built in 1793, can be seen near the right-hand edge of the cliffs. Both lighthouses are over 5000 yards distant.

At the bottom of the cliffs is the Eastern Arm pier which runs out from the ferry terminal in the Eastern Docks (out-of-shot to the left) to the Eastern Entrance (bounded by the Southern Breakwater, out-of-shot to the right).

Dover Castle (also out-of-shot to the left) is located above East Cliff.

The photo was taken on Monday, May 10th, 2010 (the day the MV Princess Daphne cruise ship arrived in port).

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The White Cliffs of Dover (1)

Introduction

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 107 metres (351 ft), owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk (pure white calcium carbonate) 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.

Golden Panorama of the Victorian Waterloo Crescent at Sunrise, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

A post-sunrise view of the Victorian (1) Waterloo Crescent on Dover's seafront esplanade, opposite the western end of the beach and harbour, taken at 6.11 am on Tuesday, 16th of August, 2011:


(Click this Waterloo Crescent text link to see the largest size)

As sometimes happens when out and about on a morning cycle ride (2), transitory light conditions can transform familiar sights into something extraordinary. On this occasion, the entire sky was clouded over with the exception of a ragged oval across which the rising sun was slowly moving. The resulting "golden glow" reflecting off of Waterloo Crescent - and every other white object - was really quite breath-taking in its intensity (note how the Western Heights trees in the background on the right are still in shadow - its as if a gigantic torch-beam were being played across the landscape.)

Waterloo Crescent, built between 1834 and 1838, is a Grade II Dover Listed Building consisting of three sections. From left to right these are the western section (originally 5 houses), the central section (originally 19 houses), and the eastern section (also originally 5 houses).

Because this is an oblique view, the divisions between the overlapping sections are perhaps easiest identified by looking at the side view of the roof on the right-hand section and then looking for two other occurrences of the same "truncated pyramid" shape further to the left.

Harbour House and the Tonkin Liu Artworks at Sunrise, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

The white Harbour House and the Tolkin Liu sculptures imbued with the golden glow of a rising sun at 6.59 am on Thursday, 1st of September, 2011 (1):


(Click this Dover Harbour House text link to see the largest size)

Harbour House

Waterloo Crescent

Dover Harbour Board's Harbour House, occuping the western section of Waterloo Crescent, is a Grade II Dover Listed Building designed by the architect, Philip Hardwick and built between 1834-1838 (2). Click on the link or thumbnail for the full listing text.

Harbour House is located on Marine Parade at the western end of the seafront promenade, or esplanade.

Information leaflets about the cruise ships calling at the Admiralty Pier in the Western Docks can be obtained from reception. DHB also operate the Eastern Docks (the ferry terminal).

Full postal address: The Port of Dover, Harbour House, Marine Parade, Dover, CT17 9BU.

The flag flying above left-hand end of Harbour House carries the logo for the Port of Dover.

Port of Dover (3)

The Port of Dover is the cross-English Channel port situated in Dover, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 miles) away, and one of Europe's largest passenger ports, with 14 million travellers, 2.1 million lorries, 2.8 million cars and motorcycles and 86,000 coaches passing through it each year, with an annual turnover of GBP 58.5 million a year. (3)

The port has been owned and operated by the Dover Harbour Board, a statutory corporation, since it was formed by Royal Charter in 1606 by James I (James VI of Scotland). Most of the board members are appointees of the Department of Transport.

At the Going Down of the Sun..., Dunkirk War Memorial, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

Soon to be completely wreathed in shadow as the sun continues to set behind the hills of the Western Heights, this is the Dunkirk War Memorial on Dover's seafront promenade in front of the Georgian Waterloo Crescent of Marine Parade:


(Click this Dunkirk War Memorial text link to see the largest size)

The front panel, or plaque, depicts a battle scene showing a British Army soldier carrying a wounded comrade towards a small rowing boat below which is inscribed:

Dunkirk Veterans Association East Kent (1). This memorial was erected on the 16th August 1975, the 35th anniversary of the battle of Dunkirk. During the period May 10th to 1st June 1940 202,306 British, British Commonwealth and allied troops were evacuated to Dover. The memorial not only pays tribute to the bravery and discipline of the servicemen, but to the courage of the crews of the armada of little ships which assisted, and the people of the port of Dover who received them.

But as Richard Overy of the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, noted in A very British defeat, a review of the 2006 book, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, 2006):

Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse Ruins on the White Cliffs below Dover Castle, Kent, UK

Originally built by King Henry VIII in 1539, this is the inner wall of the Mote's Bulwark Gatehouse viewed from the Upper Terrace at 10.59 am on Tuesday, 12th of April, 2011:


(Click this Mote's Bulwark text link to see the largest size)

In a posthumous account published in 1801 (1), the Welsh naturalist and antiquary Thomas Pennant describes how King Edward IV's expenditure of ten thousand pounds in improvements to Dover Castle led to a belief that no further defences were needed on the seaward side above the White Cliffs of Dover at East Cliff. Pennant then goes on to say:

King Henry VIII was of a different opinion; possibly to guard against a surprise by sea, he built at the foot of the cliff on the shore one of the many little castles he erected in the year 1539, it was called the Mote's Bulwark, and remains garrisoned.

(The "long s", or "f", has been replaced with the letter s for readability)

Originally Tudor, the "little castle" of Mote's Bulwark (alt. Moat's Bulwark) has been extensively modified over the years. The ruins now consist of a lower level semi-circular battery built of squared rubble with a revetted parapet (ie faced with masonry) at near sea-level, and an upper terrace set part-way up the cliff-side containing the West Gatehouse (or Guardroom) shown in the photo.

MS Spirit of Britain and the White Cliffs of Dover, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

After wandering around in small circles in the North Sea off Deal and Sandwich for a couple of hours, the MS Spirit of Britain super-ferry finally entered the Eastern Entrance of Dover Harbour at 11.05 am on Sunday, 9th of January, 2011:


(Click this MS Spirit of Britain text link to see the largest size)

The above view, with the White Cliffs of Dover as a backdrop, was taken at 11.19 am and shows the brand-new cross-channel ferry in the last stages of maneuvering prior to berthing.

The Eastern Arm pier running behind the Spirit of Britain juts out from the Eastern Docks cross-channel ferry terminal (out-of-shot to the left).

At the other end of the Eastern Arm is the Eastern Entrance to the Straits of Dover and English Channel (the other side of Eastern Entrance is formed by the Southern Breakwater).

The strange-looking object on top of the cliffs right of centre is the South Foreland lighthouse. The top of the darker Old South Foreland lighthouse, built in 1793, can be seen near the right-hand edge of the cliffs. Both lighthouses are over 5000 yards distant.

This zoomed photo of the Spirit of Britain was taken 1900 yards away from near the lighthouse end of the Prince of Wales Pier (see all lighthouse photos).

A similar view of the MS Pride of Calais will be uploaded anon.

Abridged extract from a P&O Ferries blog (1):

Charles Lightoller of the Titanic and the Spanish Prince blockship of Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

The Georgian 8 East Cliff, also known as Elizabeth House and a Grade II Dover Listed Building, is the left-hand four-storey house of the block with "1834" on the parapet:


(Click this Georgian 8 East Cliff Listed Building text link to see the largest size)

In 1899, Charles "Lights" Lightoller went to Liverpool and thought he had signed on as third mate to the Knight Bachelor only to find himself "shanghaied" into serving in the far less desirable Knight Companion instead (1):

I still had malarial fever in my veins, and well I knew it on the train journey down and across London. I arrived at Tilbury Dock feeling like the complete West African dishcloth. All I wanted was to get my head down, and forget I was alive. I had, in my subconscious mind, all the comforts that one associates with the Royal Mail. A nice airy cabin, a bunk with clean white sheets, a boy to attend you, and practically every wish anticipated. Doctor, stewards and all the rest of it.

Arriving at Tilbury Dock, I asked a porter wearily where the Knight boat was lying. He replied, "Oh, just near by, sir. Over the bridge," and suggested he should put my baggage on a truck and run it over. "Right," said I, my one anxiety being to get to my cabin, and try to forget this damnable fever. We trudged along, I simply following the porter, conscious of little but a terrific temperature.

Suddenly the porter stopped. "Well," I said, "why have you stopped?" "Here is your ship, sir." I looked up. What a horror! About the dirtiest thing I'd ever clapped eyes on. Her rusty iron sides streaked with the horrible overflow from the cattle she had evidently been carrying. Smelling like nothing on earth. "But this isn't the Knight Bachelor, surely?" I exclaimed. "Oh, no sir, the Knight Bachelor sailed last week; this is the Knight Companion." Had I had the strength she would certainly have been no companion of mine. However, I was just about at the end of my tether, and thought, "Come, let's get on board, and between some blankets."

...I have often grinned over the way I got shanghaied into that wretched ship.