Woody Bay is a small bay on the south 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 along the coastline beneath the village of

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

. The bay faces south 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. The bay has a rocky and exposed shoreline with areas of shingle and a storm beach formed from large pebbles. It is backed by cliffs composed of

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

debris from the

Upper Greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

and

Chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

. The bay is part of the Undercliff landslide complex, although is a largely stable area of the landslide zone despite recent minor movements. The

Isle of Wight Coastal Path The Isle of Wight Coastal Path (or Coastal Footpath) is a circular long-distance footpath of 70 miles (113 km) around the Isle of Wight, UK. It follows public footpaths and minor lanes, with some sections along roads. Route The p ...

runs along the coast behind the bay and onto Woody Point, where the bay can be best viewed from. A small track runs down from the coastal path on which the bay can be accessed. Woody Point - geograph

During the winter of 2019/2020 a large rotational landslide took place in the cliff face in the central section of the bay. Further minor landslides took place in the winter of 2020/2021, driving further landslide debris onto the beach. Immediately west of Woody Bay is the Sugarloaf, a geological formation formed from a block of tilted and slipped Upper Greensand Formation originally derived from the inland cliff. A footpath leads to the top of the Sugarloaf, with views along the Undercliff coast.

History

According to author Adrian Searle in his 2016 book '''Churchill's'' ''Last Wartime Secret: the 1943 German raid airbrushed from history Woody Bay is the purported landing site of a covert commando raid by German forces during the

Second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the aim of retrieving equipment and prisoners from the nearby site of RAF St Lawrence. The landings were then supposedly the subject of a cover up by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

. The credibility of the raid however has been challenged, and it is not widely accepted that it was a genuine event.

References

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