Blackgang is a village on the south-western coast of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. It is best known as the location of the

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 ...

amusement park which sits to the south of St Catherine's Down. Blackgang forms the west end of the Ventnor Undercliff region, which extends for 12 kilometres from Blackgang to Luccombe, also encompassing the town of

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...

and the villages of

Bonchurch Bonchurch is a small village to the east of Ventnor, now largely connected to the latter by suburban development, on the southern part of the Isle of Wight, England. One of the oldest settlements on the Isle of Wight, it is situated on The Unde ...

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 Roman ...

, and Niton. It also marks the edge of the

Back of the Wight Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight 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. ...

History

Historically, Blackgang was a hamlet that expanded into a small village in the mid 19th century, partly out of a Victorian fashion for speculative building of marine villas,''Slope Stability Engineering'', Institution of Civil Engineers, Thomas Telford, 1991,
Google Books
(retrieved 5 July 2008 and partly in association with the establishment of the amusement park at the

chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...

, the large coastal ravine (historically known for being a haunt of smugglers) after which the park was named. The nearby Sandrock Spring, a chalybeate spring discovered in 1811, was another visitor attraction. The majority of Blackgang's Victorian coastal development, along with the chine itself, was obliterated by landslides and

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...

over the 20th century, part of a general pattern of erosion affecting the Undercliff area. A major landslide severed the old road between Blackgang and Niton in 1928, and subsequent ones destroyed most of the remaining road segment and adjoining houses, as well as the Sandrock Spring in 1978. Currently Blackgang comprises the amusement park (whose buildings incorporate some of the village's former residential houses such as the Blackgang Hotel and Five Rocks), a tearoom, and a few other houses. Clifftop walks in and around the area give panoramic views of 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 ...

and the south-western

coast (the

). Blackgang is also notable for

dinosaur 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 ...

fossils (see Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight) and the nudist Blackgang Beach. Blackgang was the birthplace of the actress and comedian Sheila Hancock. Southern Vectis operates bus route 6 to Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport and

through the village.

Road to nowhere

On the military road near Blackgang Chine Fantasy Park is an old pub called "the Coach House" and latterly called Merlin's Bistro - now a private house. The road ends not far past Merlin's, as in 1994 a major landslip caused the old road to Blackgang Chine entrance to fall through. The small road with a couple of bungalows (still lived in) is a rather sorry sight, as one of Blackgang Chine's areas still lies there derelict. "Adventureland", as it was known, was a play park area for children. The crooked house (at Blackgang Chine, which has now been moved) once stood here also. The remains of Adventureland include a seesaw structure, the brick remains of a wall that surrounded the crooked house originally stood, "Mission Control" (a Nasa-style space control room with levers and buttons) and an old Wicksteed roundabout. This area was accessible up until very recently. Over the opposite side of the road is the derelict "White House" guesthouse.

References

{{authority control Villages on the Isle of Wight