Maritime Index The White Cliffs of Dover
PICTURES
Under repair
Climbing the face
Military Hospital

 Under repair

The White Cliffs of Dover are not quite as white as the name suggests.  For much of their height they are covered in vegetation, making them green.  Much of the cliff face, however, is unstable, due to the action of the weather on the chalk.  This section of cliff, behind Athol Terrace, is currently under repair.
Climbing the face

These men are not climbing the cliffs for sport - they are stabilising the cliff face to try and prevent it from falling onto the houses below.   Large sections of the cliff have been covered in concrete to help hold it together.
The cliffs under the Castle are honeycombed with tunnels, some dating from Tudor times and others from WW2.  The brick-built arches in the picture on the right are left over from WW2, as is the pill-box on the top of the cliff.   It was from this terrace in the cliff face that Winston Churchill would look out over the Channel to the French coast.  The tunnels behind were a military hospital and command centre.  In the Cold War, they were converted into a government shelter in case of a nuclear attack. Hospital