Attractions :: Kent

Langdon Cliffs the Gateway to the White Cliffs

Accessible only on foot, your trip can combine Dover's white cliffs with a visit to a historical, Victorian lighthouse. This National Trust property incorporates 5 miles of countryside and coastline offering spectacular views of the white cliffs (100m) and the Dover Straits, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. On your visit you can take in the South Foreland Lighthouse, a landmark which would reinvent lighthouse technology on two separate occasions.

Michael Faraday, was a British scientist who discovered electro-magnetic rotation, a find which would allow for the transformation of electricity into a powerful technology. In his role as Scientific Advisor to Trinity House, he sought to reduce fuel consumption and to develop an efficient, electrical system in lighthouses. This system was first installed in the South Foreland and Tynemouth lighthouses. When Marconi came along, he chose the same location for his wireless experiments. He succeeded in sending the first ship-to-shore signal and thereby enabled the protection of lives in extreme weather conditions. The first message was received at the lighthouse from the East Goodwin lightship. Soon after, the signal system was used to alert Ramsgate lifeboats that a ship was in distress. This alone was a revolution of its time but a year later, Marconi's system would sow the seeds that began the age of global information. On 27th March 1989, he sent a morse code message 32 miles across the channel from Wimereux in France to the South Foreland Lighthouse.