Whilst the White Cliffs of Dover offer a beautiful and inspiring sight from the land, by sea they are a perilous affair. Britain's oldest-known shipwreck, a Bronze Age ship from around 31 centuries ago carrying axe-heads, is located near the eastern arm of Dover Harbour and many more wrecks were to follow its fate.

At first beacons were lit along the cliff top to warn mariners away from the cliffs and the treacherous Goodwin Sands, the Romans replaced these with lighthouses to guide sailors into port. The remains of one now forms part of the church in Dover Castle. The Langdon Cliffs lighthouse helped mariners navigate into port for more than 300 years until it was closed in 1990. It is now owned by the Trust and open to visitors.

The South Foreland Lighthouse was the recipient of the world's first ship-to-shore transmission on Christmas Eve, 1898, from the East Goodwin lightship, which later proved its use when it alerted the lifeboats at Ramsgate to a ship in distress - the first time a lifeboat was alerted by telegraph. Again in 1899 the lighthouse set another first when it exchanged wireless messages across the Channel to Wimereux near Boulogne.

©NTPL / Joe Cornish