St Margaret's at Cliffe
| St Margaret-at-Cliffe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| OS grid reference | TR3544 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
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St Margaret-at-Cliffe is a three part village situated just off the coast road between Deal and Dover in Kent, England. The heart of the village is about two miles (3 km) from the sea with the residential area of Nelson Park further inland and St Margaret's Bay situated along and below the cliffs north of South Foreland.
Channel swimmers and submarine telephone cables start from St Margaret's Bay. The cliff above is where the sun is supposed first to reach the UK every morning. At the north end of the bay is Leathercote Point (sometimes spelt Leathercoat Point), where there is a war memorial commemorating the Dover Patrol.
History
During the Second World War most of the population were moved out and guns with their attendant military personnel were moved in. Most of the guns were anti-aircraft but there were smaller pieces intended to prevent German shipping from travelling along the French coast. There were two 15 in (380 mm) guns called "Jane" & "Clem" and there were also the two famous ex-Navy BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun called "Winnie" and "Pooh". They originally came from the battleship HMS King George V. On one occasion when Winston Churchill was visiting, it is rumoured that "Winnie" was fired and the officer-in-charge saluted and reported, "A direct hit, Sir". "On what ?" enquired Winston, "Er – France, Sir".There was a wooden dummy of "Pooh" but it obviously did not fool the Germans as legend has it that they dropped a wooden bomb.
The parish church suffered a direct hit from German guns located in Calais but the only damage was the destruction of a window dedicated to John Knott, lighthouse keeper of South Foreland Lighthouse.
Sir Peter Ustinov was stationed in the village during WWII and liked it so much that he bought a house on the cliffs after the war. The house is now owned by Miriam Margolyes, both have hosted functions to raise funds for the new village hall.
At the other end of the beach there are cottages, two of which were owned by Noël Coward and Ian Fleming.
Emissions reduction
From March 2008, St-Margaret-at-Cliffe is in the process of becoming a "Carbon Neutral" village. The inhabitants are aiming through a mixture of cutting down emissions, increasing the insulation in their homes (to reduce energy used for heating) and installing renewable energy sources to cut down the Carbon Dioxide emissions they make to a level that is offset by tree planting and other carbon neutralisation schemes.
This initiative has been kick started by the building of a sustainable conference centre in the Pines Gardens (located in St Margarets Bay). This building has been almost entirely built of sustainable or recycled materials by the Cleary Foundation. The trustees of the Cleary Foundation are part of the driving force behind the drive to become carbon neutral.
There has been green energy in the village since 1929, when St Margaret's Bay Windmill was built to generate electricity.
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