What is Samphire Hoe?

This is Samphire Hoe in Dover, Kent. It is a creation from the excavated chalk from construction of the channel tunnel, 4.9 million cubic metres of it! It is located at the bottom of a section of the White Cliffs of Dover know as Shakespeare Cliff. This section of the cliff already has a railway tunnel that was built in 1844 which is part of the South Eastern Main Line. To build this tunnel, a huge section of the cliff was blown away as it was too unstable to tunnel through, which is why the railway is open at this part. The base of Shakespeare Cliff was a major working area during construction of the channel tunnel and was a 24 hour work site for 6 years.

After the channel tunnel was opened in 1994, Samphire Hoe was landscaped and opened to the public in 1997 as a country park. The site is not only a country park. It is a working operational part of the channel tunnel siting the ventilation and cooling plants for the tunnel.

Google Maps Link: https://goo.gl/maps/CcYML4UUgXSMV67u5

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