Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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15 January 2011
18:0689103Here are dates of some of the White Cliff falls in the past which may be of interest. Many are reported in detail in the local papers:
Feb 24 1772 - (reported in Dover Standard 14.12.1872)
1810: East Cliff: John Poole aged 60, many years foreman of ordnance lost his wife and six children in cliff fall which fell on his house. He had left the house for work. Pig found buried some months afterwards, still alive but very thin!
1840 Feb 5 next to Shakespeare Cliff, the fall covered 200 acres - this must be the explosion for the building of the Railway.
1848 Folkestone - part of Copt Point fallen (1000 cubic yards) giving geologists the opportunity for specimens, etc. (back page col.3 Dover Telegraph 8 Apr 1848)
1894 8 Feb 2,000 tons near the Convict Prison.
1896 Oct 30 landslip at the Warren.
1905 Jan 10 Beyond the East Groyne, St Mgts Bay
Jan.1.1912 Abbots Cliff
1927 Dec 26 East Cliff 10 tons
1927 Aug 24 East Cliff 100 tons
Early in 1937 £6,000 damage to Packet Yard
19.3.1937 Warren - (Dover Express 5.3.1937)
1956 March - Old Folkestone Road - query - cut??
Cliff 'Repairs" (see Dover Expresses 18.Aug.1967 (p.1); 1 Sep 1967 (p.1); 10 Nov 1967 (p.1)
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
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15 January 2011
18:1189104The 1810 pig, was it by any chance a Tamworth piggy?
Such a sad loss of life for one man.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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15 January 2011
18:1689106Cliff Fall buried POOLE dwellinghouse - more detail
POOLE FAMILY TRAGEDY 1910:
Dover, December 14.
A most melancholy and fatal accident happened here this morning. - at about a quarter past six an immense portion of the cliff situated directly over the Ordnance Yard at the top of the Upper Rope Walk adjoining Guilford Battery, came down, burying the unfortunate inhabitants of the house below. By this dreadful catastrophe, a woman and six children were crushed to death. The father of this unhappy family - a Mr POOLE - a worthy and industrious man, was just leaving the door of his house at the moment of the accident, part of the rubbish fell on him but he was extricated alive, although most dreadfully bruised. Within a few minutes after, an immense number of persons were collected together and commenced digging with the hope of extricating some more of the sufferers but from the great quantity of earth which had fallen several hours elapsed before they came to any of the bodies, which have been all taken out except one of the children. All of course dead and shockingly disfigured. -
The quantity of earth and chalk fallen down is computed at many thousand tons; - indeed it is impossible to form an idea of the ravage it has occasioned. The greatest praise is due to all the persons employed in clearing away the rubbish for their prompt and unwearied exertions.
Dec. 16: A coroner's inquest was yesterday held on the bodies of Mrs POOLE, her five children and a child of Mrs POOLE's sister, who were crushed to death by the falling of the cliff on Friday morning last. Verdict. - accidental death. - the poor man is as well as can be expected. The last body was taken out about five o'clock on Friday evening. - most fortunate was it the accident happened so early as a workshop adjoining POOLE's dwelling was also buried and in a few hours many workmen would have been employed therein. - Certainly with the exception of the Earthquake, this is the most dreadful of all human calamities - not a moment's warning to the unhappy sufferers of their approaching fate - all instantaneously crushed to death!!
(Kentish Gazette 18 Dec 1810 back page col.4. )
------- and the next paragraph reports there was a tremendous fall of cliff in the middle of Snargate Street, eastward of the Barracks which stood above the street. Many people left their beds to run across the street. Both these accidents have happened in parts of the cliff which appeared to have been the most solid.)
POOLE family - Dover Cliff Fall of a Century Ago: (from report in newspaper):
The incident recorded on the following memorial card sent us by Mr C.H.GARDNER of Ringwould, is well known to older Dovorians, but will be new to many present day residents:-
"SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF Eliza Poole, wife of John Poole, aged 48 years; also of John Poole aged 13 years;
Luke Poole aged 11 years; Emma Poolel aged 9 years; Benjamin Poole aged 6 years; William Poole aged 4 years and Sophia Javes aged 6 years, niece of the above;
who, in the hours of sleep, and in the midst of health and happiness, were all destroyed by a fall of the Cliff, on the 14th of December 1810.
Free from the cares that cross this fleeting stream, Here rest the victims of a helpless doom,
Unconscious of the blast or day serene That blows or beams upon their humble tomb.
Sleep on, sweet innocents; fond mother, sleep, Till heaven shall call thee to the realms of joy,
When angels blest eternal vigils keep, And all is happiness without alloy.
[The above is copied from the stone on the vault in the East corner of St James's Churchyard, Dover]
The above melancholy event took place about six o'clock in the morning, between the Gas House and Guilford Battery.
A singular circumstance occurred in connection with this fatal fall of the cliff. A pig, belonging to the family , at the rear of the premises, was buried beneath the fallen mass, and dug out alive on the 23 May 1811, after having subsisted without food, thirty feet under the surface of the earth, for the space of 160 days. The weight of the above animal was eight score when buried and on being dug out was reduced to two score. It was kept for some considerable time after, and when killed weighed 13 score 8 lbs." (Dover Express 14.1.1916 p.4 col.3)
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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15 January 2011
18:1689107It doesn't give the pig's breed, but I believe I remember seeing an old print showing the pig, the print may be in Dover Ref Library collection.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
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16 January 2011
12:5389199
Immense fall of cliff at Dover
Full size scan at:
http://tinyurl.com/6bmcn9d (click within picture)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
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16 January 2011
14:3189206i cannot imagine how john poole came to terms with his tragedy.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
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17 January 2011
15:3789277 Due to chalk`s instability, there`s also the risk of slippage. The Dover to Folkestone railway line was shut for 3 months in 1877 after a serious landslip. On 19th December 1915 during world war one, there was another serious landslip in Folkestone Warren. The photograph above was taken the next day after further slippage. It was not reopened until August 1919. The train in the picture above was brought safely to a halt after being stopped by a railway watchman, but it wound up in the above position after overnight slippage. Much expensive work including underpinning has been done over the years on this section, making it the most expensive piece of British railway to maintain.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
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17 January 2011
16:0489279Gosh well done with that stuff there guys...brilliant all round.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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17 January 2011
20:2989310Bob said his father, Eddie Hollingsbee, used this Dover Express picture when he wrote a feature in the paper about this accident many years ago.
Bob wonders where the photo originally came from, he has seen a copy but would like to know where the original was, or who took it - if anyone knows ??
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
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17 January 2011
22:1889320Going on from Colin post,they are still thinking of closing the line down,some years ago I was working on that line and we was told then the line would not last 25years.It would have to be moved or closed down making the only way to get to folkestone by car or bus.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
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18 January 2011
08:0089357Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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18 January 2011
10:1489371Oh dear !!
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
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18 January 2011
18:2089436Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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18 January 2011
22:1189474of course, Brian!
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
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19 January 2011
15:3589564Another view of the 1915 landslip in Folkestone Warren. This is taken from "A History of the Southern Railway" by C.F.Dendy Marshall published in 1936. Re Bob's query re the provenance of these photos, none of the photos in this weighty tome have any attribution so perhaps they were taken by railway staff photographers?
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
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20 January 2011
07:3289625Great images Ed and Colin.
Great facts Kath - thank you all.
Roger
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
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21 January 2011
00:4789732This is the clear-up operation after the earlier major landslip in 1877, with Sir Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South Eastern Railway, paying a visit. A storm had washed away part of the 400 feet high cliff near the Martello Tunnel and brought down 60,000 cubic yards of earth, burying and killing three men. The summits of some of the other cliffs were subsequently blown up to lessen the risk of collapse.
There is another photo of the 1915 landslip in the article below and this is accredited to British Railways (Southern Region) to whom copyright would have passed from the SER appearing to confirm my supposition that this series of photos were taken by a photographer working for the railway.
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/landslides/folkestoneWarren.htmlGuest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
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24 January 2011
19:1990120Thanks for the fascinating pictures - I love those top hats ! So smart.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
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Have just come across this fascinating information on local chalk falls in a Google Book entitled "Catastrophic landslides: effects, occurrence, and mechanisms." Page 265 onwards.
http://tinyurl.com/43jfwza
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
