Shakespeare Cliff

Postmarked Folkestone, dated 8 October 1907.
"Where Sea Meets Land"
Shakespeare Cliff - Dover
J.W.S.591

Unused, undated.  this series of cards is from about 1918.
Dover - Shakespeare's Cliff
YMCA Series

Unused and undated.  At a guess, it may have been bought in the 1970s.
Shakespeare Cliff, Dover
ET 2785

I thought this was an interesting set of cards showing Shakespeare Cliff between Dover and Folkestone.  the cliff gets its name from William Shakespeare's reference to it in "King Lear":

Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still.  How fearful
And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen that walk upon the beach
Appear like mice;

King Lear, Act IV scene VI - The Country near Dover

The Dover to London railway line runs right along the coast at this point.  In spite of appearances, the beach is shingle rather than sand, though I suppose at a distance it would be hard to tell.  It's also interesting to see how cliff falls and erosion have changed the shape of the headland.  The first two pictures look much the same but the third shows a very different shape.  The sepia card shows recent cliff falls at the base very clearly.  It is a constant problem in the area.

In the 1880 Shakespeare Cliff was the site of an early attempt to dig a channel tunnel.  Much more recently, it became the same again.  It is the UK end of the Channel Tunnel, started there in in 1988 and finally opened in 1994.  This is a picture of the area looks now.

Photo from Barry Hunter/Geograph 

The flat section at sea level is all reclaimed land using waste from the tunnel's construction.  It is called Samphire Hoe.  The buildings are the ventilation system for the tunnel.

I can recommend the Geograph site for anyone interested in images of the British Isles.