- Langdon Bay, Kent
Langdon Bay is a
bay in eastKent , England. It is named after the nearby villages of Langdon,East Langdon andWest Langdon . The cliffs around it are known as the Langdon Cliffs.History
The bay is known for a hoard of
Bronze Age scrap metal found nearby in 1974. This includes bronze axes of a French type and is thought to represent the cargo of a boat that was caught in a storm just after leaving the English coast, either jettisoned to lighten and save the boat or sunk with it (if there was a wreck, it is now lost). This demonstrates that cross-channeltrade was already occurring in the Bronze Age, if not earlier. It is owned by theBritish Museum but on long-term loan and display in Dover Museum in Market Square, Dover.Three searchlight batteries - known as the Langdon Lights - were built into the base of the bay's cliffs during
World War II , so that any ship trying to enter the bay could be illuminated while it was checked, though one has been destroyed by a cliff fall. [ [http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/langdon_lights.htm Langdon Lights ] ]The area above the cliffs is now a chalk
downland nature reserve owned by the National Trust, looking down onDover Harbour and the Channel, and centred around the 'Gateway to the White Cliffs'Visitor Centre . Large parts of this reserve, and of this section of clifftop in general, is an SSSI, AONB andHeritage Coast . [ [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-thewhitecliffsofdover.htm National Trust website] ] Another nearby historic site is theSouth Foreland Lighthouse , also an NT property.Notes
*http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/places/langdon_cliffs.htm
*http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/BAR/images/Kent/langdon_stairs/Page.html
* [http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/se/langdon_bay_latest_weather.html Hourly Met office weather observations from the Bay]
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