A unique combination of circumstances makes Dungeness perhps one of Britain's most important ecological sites. First, it is one of the largest areas of coastal shingle in the world, certainly in Europe, being over 2,000ha in extent. Secondly, it is a very rare example of a mature cuspate foreland, comprising a sequence of some 500 ridges which show clearly the curved development of the ness through time since its origin in early post-glacial times.