![South-west Isle of Wight, UK](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/South-west_Isle_of_Wight%2C_UK.jpg)
Back of the Wight is an area on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. Primarily agricultural, the Back of the Wight is made up of small villages spread out along the coast, including
Brighstone
Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun".
Brighstone is the largest vi ...
,
Shorwell
Shorwell (pronounced Shorrel by some locals and Islanders) is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is from Newport in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of Queen Victoria's favourite places to visit o ...
and
Mottistone
Mottistone is a village on the Isle of Wight, located in the popular tourist area the Back of the Wight.http://www.backofthewight.net It is located 8 Miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trus ...
.
Geography
The geographical boundaries of the Back of the Wight are imprecise and vary according to interpretation, however roughly speaking it comprises all the land located South of the Downs and East of
Freshwater Bay until the curve in the Downs meets the sea near
St. Catherine's Point
St Catherine's Point is the southernmost point on the Isle of Wight. It is close to the village of Niton and the point where the Back of the Wight changes to the Undercliff of Ventnor.
On nearby St Catherine's Down is St Catherine's Oratory, l ...
. The main part of the Back of the Wight is formed of a large
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
18 miles long. The shore is edged by cliffs averaging around 300 feet high from
Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
to Compton, broken at two points,
Grange Chine
Grange Chine and Marsh Chine form a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. They lie to the south of the village of Brighstone.
These two chines form the largest chine feature on the Isle of Wight. The Gran ...
and Brook Chine, which provide the only easy, natural access to the sea through steep gorges. Stretching out from this coast are three ledges of resistant rock, the Brook, Brighstone and
Atherfield ledges, on which many ships have been wrecked over the years.
![Blackgang Chine c1910 - Project Gutenberg eText 17296](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Blackgang_Chine_c1910_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17296.jpg)
Past Compton and Brighstone, the coast is wild and there are only four access points inland, Whale, Walpen and Ladder Chine and the greatest of them all,
Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the oldest amusement park in the United Kingdom, having opened in 1843. Named after a now-destroyed chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs, it is about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wi ...
, which was once a home of
smugglers
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
and experienced a massive landslide during the early-20th century, leaving a much larger chine in its place. Blackgang Chine is home to a theme park of the same name, which was the first theme park to be constructed in the United Kingdom.
The most obvious natural features on land are the downs that enclose the area and cut it off from the rest of the island; parts of these are protected as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
and large stretches owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
.
Brighstone Forest
Brighstone Forest is located in the southwest of the Isle of Wight. It is the largest forest on the Isle of Wight, being just a few hectares larger than Parkhurst Forest. It is spread over a number of hilly ridges which form the backbone of the I ...
, which covers the top of
Brighstone Down
Brighstone Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight. It is located close to the village of Brighstone, in the southwest of the island (the Back of the Wight), and rises to at its highest point, northeast of the village of Mottistone.
Towards ...
, is the largest on the island.
At St. Catherine's Point, the Back of the Wight ends and the
Undercliff
The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslide, landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dors ...
of Ventnor begins.
Geology
Like the
Geology of the Isle of Wight
The geology of the Isle of Wight is dominated by sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous and Paleogene age. This sequence was affected by the late stages of the Alpine Orogeny, forming the Isle of Wight monocline, the cause of the steeply-dipping outcr ...
as a whole the geology of the area is varied; at Freshwater the Upper Cretaceous Chalk is exposed resulting in substantial cliffs until Compton, at this point other geological types begin to occur including clays, these formations are unique for the way the layers have been tilted exposing ancient, fossil bearing strata of the Vectis Formation overlaid with the Wessex Formation. These Wealden rocks date from around 120 million years ago, thus younger than similar rocks elsewhere in the UK.
Settlements
Most of the settlements in the area are villages or hamlets that have evolved around farms or water courses. Settlement in the area has never been great and the villages are mostly old in construction. Many exist because of medieval churches and manors such as
Mottistone Manor. The main settlements are:
*
Brighstone
Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun".
Brighstone is the largest vi ...
, near the centre
*
Brook
A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to:
Computing
*Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C
*Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler
*BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...
*
Shorwell
Shorwell (pronounced Shorrel by some locals and Islanders) is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is from Newport in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of Queen Victoria's favourite places to visit o ...
*
Mottistone
Mottistone is a village on the Isle of Wight, located in the popular tourist area the Back of the Wight.http://www.backofthewight.net It is located 8 Miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trus ...
*
Chale
Chale is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight of England, in the United Kingdom. It is located three kilometres from Niton in the south of the Island in the area known as the Back of the Wight. The village of Chale lies at the foot of ...
*
Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
, on the edge of the area
History
Prehistory
There is little evidence of the region having been settled in prehistory; apart from
the Longstone at Mottistone there are few artefacts. That there were once
dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
is proved by the numerous types of bones and fossils that have been excavated from the cliffs, including some species unique to the island. At the time the fossils were laid down, between 125 and 110 million years ago, the island was at a latitude similar to that of North Africa. There is an abundance of fossils on the island, especially of crustaceans and nautiloids such Ammonites.
Romans
In AD 43 the Romans invaded the island, which they called Vectis. Although most of their presence was elsewhere, they did build a villa at Rock,
Brighstone
Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun".
Brighstone is the largest vi ...
to make use of the clean waters of the
Buddle Brook. During the 4th century the Empire broke up and the coast began to suffer from
raids by Germanic tribes, which repeatedly laid waste to the area.
Saxons
In Saxon times the island was colonised by
Jutes
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic nations ...
until the reign of King
Arwald
King Arwald (died 686 AD) was the last King of the Isle of Wight and last pagan king in Anglo-Saxon England. Saint Arwald is the name collectively given to King Arwald's sons or brothers who, being baptised before their execution, were later ca ...
, who died in battle when the kingdom of
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
invaded and converted the island at sword point by killing the inhabitants and re-settling it with Saxons.
Saint Wilfred
Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and ...
and the church were given large parts and converted the survivors. The island had been the last
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
part of England.
The Back of the Wight had a meagre and fragile economy at the time so this increased the hardships on the area by killing many of the population.
Middle Ages
During medieval times the people of the Back of the Wight were very poor, particularly compared to the new prosperity of towns such as
Yarmouth
Yarmouth may refer to:
Places Canada
*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
**Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
**Yarmouth (provincial electoral district)
**Yarmouth (electoral district)
* Yarmouth Township, Ontario
*New ...
,
Newtown and
Brading
The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the town ...
. The people lived a harsh existence exposed to the elements and pirates. They scraped a livelihood from fishing, farming and salvage. Shipwrecks were a great help to these people and some say that the emphasis was on cargo not people. There has never been any proof of islanders
wrecking, but given how harsh their lives were it would not be surprising. In 1313, in a famous case the ''St Mary of Bayonne'', from Gascony, ran ashore at
Chale Bay
Chale Bay is a bay on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Chale from which it takes its name. It faces south-west towards the English Channel, its shoreline is in length and is gently curvi ...
. The lord of Chale raised some men and demanded the 53 barrels of wine the ship was carrying. When King
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
found out, he summoned them to Southampton and had them fined. The wine was destined for a monastery and the church cried sacrilege. As a result of this incident, the first
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
on Wight was built at Chale, the
St Catherine's Oratory
St. Catherine's Oratory is a medieval lighthouse on St. Catherine's Down, above the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. It was built by Lord of Chale Walter de Godeton (sometimes spelled "Goditon") as an act of penance for plundering wine from ...
, where the lord's family paid for a light and prayers for his soul. This is the oldest medieval lighthouse in England. Its ruins are now known as the Pepperpot, and a half-built later lighthouse nearby is known as the Salt Shaker. From this period onwards the area lived in fear of French invasions.
18th century and beyond
In the 18th century there were a succession of stormy winters that increased the number of wrecks on the Back's coast. Salvage and theft were combined with thriving local smuggling. Many buildings in the area are formed of parts of these ships. The
Coastguard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
were established on the Island at this time. They were hated because they fought the smuggling trade, although they were hardly saints; there is an interesting local tale about the commander of the Yarmouth station who "couldn't hear" the sounds of a raging gun battle going on at
Alum Bay
Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The waters and adj ...
between smugglers and Coastguard. In 1859 the first lifeboats were put in place at Brighstone and
Brook
A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to:
Computing
*Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C
*Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler
*BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...
; they took part in many famous rescues and are commemorated in
Brighstone Museum, which has many artefacts of the era.
When in 1892 the , a German liner, went aground on the
Atherfield Ledge
Atherfield Ledge is a rocky outcrop extending from the coast of the Back of the Wight, Isle of Wight. This is a famous shipwreck location. Along with Brook Ledge and Brighstone Ledge it is one of the area's main shipping hazards.
Geography
Abou ...
, it took "virtually the whole of the sparse human population of the 'Back of the Wight' to get them to sea".
![Mottistone Manor and Garden, Isle of Wight - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Mottistone_Manor_and_Garden%2C_Isle_of_Wight_-_geograph.org.uk_-_677455.jpg)
Also in the late 19th century, the area first became popular to visit and some noted figures established homes here, like
Mottistone Manor for the noted architects, the Seelys.
On 18 December 2014, A
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
carrying
United Airlines Flight UA28 suffered an engine failure while travelling towards
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
from
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...
, and entered a holding pattern over the Back of the Wight for several hours while it dumped fuel, eventually returning to Heathrow some hours later.
Noted shipwrecks
The Back of the Wight has very little in the way of suitable shelter for sailing vessels and prevailing SW storm winds often forced ships onto the coast. The three ledges of rock that extend underwater at Atherfield, Brighstone and Brooke can cause unpredictable water conditions. As a result of the high volume of shipwrecks that occurred RNLI lifeboat stations were established, one at each of these locations. Several local books include detailed accounts of the lifeboat and coastguard rescues of the sailors of the many ships that have been wrecked on the area's dangerous coast. Some of the more high-profile vessels include:
* Needles
,
HMS ''Pomone'',
HMS ''Assurance'', .
* The South West
, ''
Vénus'', , the ''Sirenia'' and the ''Cedrine'', whose timbers form part of
Mottistone
Mottistone is a village on the Isle of Wight, located in the popular tourist area the Back of the Wight.http://www.backofthewight.net It is located 8 Miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trus ...
church.
Today
The area is still poorly connected, particularly as erosion threatens the
A3055 Military Road ("Millie" to locals), which runs along the coast connecting them. Compton bay and beach are popular with surfers due to waves that come across the Atlantic. Recent cuts have made the bus service more infrequent.
Economy
The economy of the area is largely agricultural and rural with farming using most of the land area. Despite the long coastline, there is little or no local fishing. Tourism provides a significant part of local income and many sites in the area are popular.
Agriculture is still the dominant economic activity of the land. Many residents of the area have Newport as their centre of commerce and culture, using the road over the down to reach it.
Today the region is popular with tourists with attractions such as
Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the oldest amusement park in the United Kingdom, having opened in 1843. Named after a now-destroyed chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs, it is about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wi ...
,
Isle of Wight Pearl and the picture-postcard villages. The area hosts several events over the year including the
Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival
Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival is a local event occurring in various venues around Brighstone and Mottistone on the Isle of Wight in England for the winter tourist season. This charitable event raises money for local and national charities.
...
, Brighstone Show and Chale Show.
See also
*
Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is one of the richest dinosaur localities in Europe, with over 20 species of dinosaur having been recognised from the early Cretaceous Period (in particular between 132 and 110 million years ago), some of which were first identifi ...
Notes
{{Reflist
History of the Isle of Wight
Geography of the Isle of Wight