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• Beauty spot created from a mound of spoil

• Date:

  26th July 2005

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

Samphire Hoe, a new Green Flag Award winner for 2005/6, is a beauty spot created from the spoil dug to produce the Channel Tunnel.

From a mound of spoil came a stunning location, offering peace and solitude, walks, wildflowers, birds, sea angling and picnics. It is a new piece of England – an additional 75 acres of land situated at the foot of the cliffs near Dover.

Its history dates back to the 1800s, when on 26th January 1843, 185 barrels of gunpowder were used to blow a large section of the cliff, to provide a platform for the Dover to Folkestone railway .  Later the platform of land was used as the construction site for the first Channel Tunnel attempt in 1882, and then between 1895 and 1921 it was the site of Kent’s first colliery.

A further Channel Tunnel attempt was made in the 1970s but by 1975 the Government had withdrawn support for the scheme. There was just money for an experimental drive which successfully completed 300m. The project for the Channel Tunnel as it is today began in 1987 and was opened to the public in 1994, by which time Samphire Hoe had grown to it’s present size.

The day to day running of the Hoe is carried out by the White Cliffs Countryside Project ably assisted by a vital team of Volunteer Rangers. They help to manage the site by keeping an eye on things, doing wildlife surveys, checking on the sheep grazing the banks and talking to visitors. Much of the Hoe is accessible for wheelchair users. There is a tea kiosk, toilet facilities and staff and volunteers on hand to answer any questions.

Dave Johnson of Eurotunnel is delighted with the site’s success. “It’s good to receive recognition of the work carried out by ourselves and the White Cliffs Countryside Project, aimed at balancing visitor pressure and nature conservation. We like to think that we have made a virtue out of a necessity.”