A View to the East
This view along the coast reveals the towering height of the famous White Cliffs, elements of Dover's past defences and its ever-changing port.
On the distant hill, a tall mast occupies the site of Langdon Battery, where large coast defence guns and anti-aircraft guns watched over Dover and the Straits in the First and Second World Wars.
Much closer, the hexagonal brick building on the cliff edge housed radar equipment during the Second World War.
The radar equipment detected and accurately located enemy ships in the Straits and informed the command centre located in the tunnels below you.
The port installations are those of the Eastern Docks. Since the 1950s these have grown into the main cross-Channel passenger ferry port. It was from here that Royal Navy small ships and submarines operated and were repaired during the First and Second World Wars, and where coal and fuel oil was stored on shore.
( photo captions )
- A 9.2-inch coast defence gun in action during the Second World War, by Eric Ravilious, 1941. Guns like this operated at Langdon Battery, east of Dover, during both world wars.
- Light Anti-aircraft Defences: a quadruple Lewis Gun by war artist Anthony Gross, 1941, shows anti-aircraft guns during the Second World War near
the Fire Command Post, looking east towards Langdon Battery with the Eastern Docks below
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