Scratchell's Bay is a

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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

on the south west 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 ...

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 ...

just to the south east of

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the wester ...

. It faces roughly 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 Kan ...

, it is 250m in length and is straight. The name is thought to have come from one of the many names for the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

. The beach which is made up mostly of

shingle Shingle may refer to: Construction *Roof shingles or wall shingles, including: **Wood shingle ***Shake (shingle), a wooden shingle that is split from a bolt, with a more rustic appearance than a sawed shingle *** Quercus imbricaria, or shingle oa ...

cannot be reached any other way than by boat, as there is no access from the top of the cliff. A small cave is located at the east end of the bay, near Sun Corner. Scratchell's Bay2

The bay is best viewed from either the lookout point near the rocket launching facility or

the Needles Old Battery The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enem ...

National Trust property on the cliff top. The wreck of a 19th-century iron-hulled sailing ship called the lies within the bay.

References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Around the

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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

s , place =

, bridge = Scratchell's Bay , bridge signs = , upstream text = North , upstream =

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 ...

, upstream signs = , downstream text = East , downstream =

Watcombe Bay Watcombe Bay is a bay on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies just to the west of Freshwater Bay. It faces south towards the English Channel and is one of the smallest bays of the Isle of Wight. It is cut into the chalk cl ...

, downstream signs = Bays of the Isle of Wight