White Cliffs of Dover

We worked with Dover Air Cadets and Dover Youth Hub to deliver sessions exploring the role of Dover Castle in the local community, with a special focus on its Second World War aviation history.

Dover Castle in the World Wars

For over 6,000 years, the Strait of Dover has seen traffic between us and the continent – it is the narrowest point of the English Channel. Overlooking the shortest sea crossing between Britain and mainland Europe, Dover Castle’s position has given it immense strategic importance and ensured its long use as a powerful fortress. The Castle has virtually remained constantly garrisoned from 1066 until 1958. No other castle in the British Isles can match this length of active military service!

We learnt about the Castle’s role in the First and Second World Wars, with a particular focus on the Battle of Britain, which affected the local communities significantly during World War Two. The Battle of Britain was a pivotal World War Two air campaign that took place between July – October 1940. It was the first major battle fought entirely in the air and Nazi Germany’s first major military defeat. The Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom against the German Luftwaffe in a series of intense aerial clashes.

This area of Britain became known as ‘Hellfire Corner’, a target for German bombers and cross-Channel guns. Long-range guns on both shores fired across the Straits. Dover, which can easily be seen from the French shoreline, experienced the worst of it.

10,000 buildings in and around the town of Dover were damaged by shellfire and around 216 civilians were killed and more than 500 injured. Many local young men signed up to fight in the war, and several became pilots in the RAF.

Our Young Producer, Imogen, is a volunteer at Dover Castle so they have lots of knowledge about the site. They gave us a tour of the medieval castle, so we learnt about its history well before the 1900s, too!

In the tunnels!

Walking within the Keep!

What makes Dover home?

Since the 12^th century, Dover Castle has been an imposing symbol of authority to all approaching visitors to England, visible from far out at sea. Its colouring, with the bands of white stone against the dark-grey rubble heighten this effect.

We started thinking about what Dover symbolises, how it was and is perceived, and how the sight of the castle on the cliff might have made pilots feel as they flew overhead in the Battle of Britain.

We talked about how, if we’ve been on holiday in France and come back on the ferry, the first thing we see are the white cliffs and the Castle, and it makes us feel safe – we know we’re back home.

Whilst thinking about what Dover means to us, and what the idea of home actually means, we met artist Poppy Oldham to learn about lino-printing and how we could reflect our feelings into artwork.

We heard more stories about local young men and women who had fought in the Second World War, and what their feelings were towards their hometown of Dover. We imagined being in their shoes, flying back and forth across the channel, and what the cliffs of Dover and the Castle might have signified to them.

We responded to the stories and histories we’d been learning about through the lino-printing, with every person coming up with their own unique print.