Luccombe Bay is a bay on the south-east coast of 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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies to the east of Luccombe Village from which it takes its name. It faces south-east towards the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, its shoreline is in length. It consists of a predominantly sand and shingle beach lined with sea cliffs which range from in height. It stretches from Horse Ledge in the north to Bordwood Ledge in the south. The sea bottom is a mixture of mud and rocks. Along the top of the cliffs which line the bay is the site of 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 ...

maintained
Luccombe and the Landslip Walk
The bay is best viewed from

Luccombe Chine Luccombe Chine is a geological feature and visitor attraction south of the village of Luccombe on the Isle of Wight, England. A wooded coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous ro ...

which descends to the beach about two-thirds of the way along the bay. There was a footpath down a set of wooden steps to the beach from the coastal path, but these are currently closed due to damage from landslips. A small fishing community existed at the foot of the Chine on the bay until it was destroyed in the ''Great Landslip of 1910''. The area is the site of a lot of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

and cliff retreat (though no cliff failures), with a loss of around a foot (30 cm) per year.

References

{{Bays on the Isle of Wight Bays of the Isle of Wight