Des, I thought that you and others might be interested to see some pictures of the Bleriot Memorial: the official site where Bleriot landed after his cross channel flight in 1909. The site is known as Northfall meadow but alas it is no longer a meadow as it is now almost completely overgrown with trees as this photo shows:
The site of the landing lies approximately 200 meters to the right of the castle keep (central tower) in this picture, and is in a small valley to the east of the castle: when Bleriot landed there it was a grass field as the contemporary photos show. It would seem from those photos that Bleriot had tried to land in the flatter fields to the right (east), above the meadow, but ran over the level ground and then down the slope (about 12 -15 degrees) where the undercarriage broke under the strain. We know that he approached Dover from the east or south-east because on his flight he became disoriented in fog or low cloud and flew too far to the east. The place where the aeroplane presumably came to rest is marked by an outline made of granite blocks with an inscribed stone set into it:
Alexander Duckham was a member of the Aero Club. Today there is a car park nearby and a path to the clearing in the trees from where the castle can still be easily seen. The bank in the background in the photos where the crowds have assembled is below the outer wall of the eastern side of the castle, which is immediately to the right of the keep in my first photo. The landing site is only about 200 meters from the cliff edge so he only just made it! I suppose that this site is slightly more glamorous than that of an Irish bog which marked the end of another famous crossing just 10 years later: it is certainly visited more often and is much more accessible.
