Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Freshwater Bay to Yarmouth

Freshwater Bay and Compton Down

Freshwater Bay is a little settlement nestled in a small crescent bay near the western tip of the Isle of Wight. High, friable cliffs stretch nearly ten miles southeastwards towards Chale, with few coastal settlements between.

To the west are the high hills of Compton Down, forming part of the chalk hills that cut from west to east across the island. A clear path runs along the spine of the ridge, and this forms a great walk with superb views that can be used as part of a seven-mile circular walk.

The bay is home to a hotel and various facilities, including a large car park and an independent lifeboat. An old Palmerston fort, Freshwater Redoubt, lies on the western side of the bay. This is now a private house.

Old photographs show the progress of erosion on this stretch of coast; the Arch and Stack rocks that projected out of the sea for many years are now just two stacks. They have been joined by a third, the Mermaid Rocks, which was formed by a rockfall in 1969.

Tennyson Down

Tennyson Down is a high chalk ridge that stretches between Freshwater Bay towards the Needles. It is dominated by the Tennyson Memorial, a Maltese Cross that stands at the highest point of the down. Lord Tennyson lived nearby for forty years, and he would often walk over the surrounding downs. The cross was unveiled in 1892, when the surrounding down was also named after the poet.

The down descends to a little bealach between it and West High Down. At the bottom of the saddle is a wooden sea beacon that sits strangely in a position where it cannot be seen from the sea. This is a half-sized replica of the Nodes Beacon that originally stood where the Tennyson Memorial now stands. A few parts of the replica belonged to the original beacon.

The Needles and the lighthouse

The three jagged chalk pinnacles of The Needles are one of Britain’s most famous coastal sights. It marks the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, and is part of a chalk ridge that once spanned the western Solent, emerging out at Old Harry Rocks near Swanage. A quick glance suggests that the name of the rocks should be ‘The Teeth’; ‘Needles’ refers to a pillar called ‘Lot’s Wife’ that collapsed during a storm in 1764.

A red-and-white banded lighthouse guards the outermost pinnacle. This was built in 1859, and a helicopter pad was added above the lighthouse in recent years to aid automation.

One of the best places to view The Needles are from a recently-built viewpoint at the New Battery.

The Needles Battery and British Rocketry

A battery was constructed low-down on the cliffs directly above the Needles from 1861. Within a few years concern about subsidence and percussion effects of the guns led to a new battery being constructed slightly further inland and higher up. The Old Battery is now in the care of the National Trust and is regularly opened to the public.

The larger New Battery was completed in 1895 but, like all of the Palmerston forts, it never saw any action, although it was reactivated for World War II.

It regained a new life in the 1950s, when Saunders Roe, based in Cowes, needed somewhere to test the rocket motors of the Blue Streak missile. Test stands were erected at the New Battery, and the missiles would be tied down in a vertical position before firing. It continued to be used with the successor missile, the satellite-launched called Black Arrow. All of the buildings were removed after the British rocket programs were cancelled in the early 1970s, but the concrete bases remain, allowing you to easily tell where the rockets once stood.

Alum Bay and Headon Warren

Alum Bay is a narrow bay immediately to the north of the chalk ridge that ends in the Needles. The cliffs of the bay are famous for their multi-coloured sands from strawberry-pink to chocolate-brown; glass vials of the sand can be bought in local shops, showing the different strata. The cliffs are perhaps best viewed from the road that heads above the bay from the Needles themselves; the deeply-dipping strata give a vivid impression of the power of geology. Fossils can also be found in the cliffs, although care needs to be taken.

The cliffs at the top of the bay are home to a large amusement park called The Needles Park. The park has many shops, including a sweet manufactory and a glass studio. A chair lift stretches down from the park to the beach below, saving a long and steep walk.

Inside the park there is a memorial to Marconi, one of the inventors of radio. In 1897 Marconi sent the first over-water radio transmission to a tug out at sea from a 40-metre tall antenna outside the hotel. The next year he extended the range across the Solent to Bournemouth and Poole.

The bay was once home to a pier - the 370-foot long pier did not last too long, being destroyed by a storm in 1927.

Above Alum Bay is a wonderful - if short - stretch of high moorland walking called Headon Warren. Just below it lies Headon Battery, part of which has already been claimed by the land which is slowly slipping towards the sea.

Totland Pier

The light and aetherial Totland Pier was built in 1880 to service steamers from around the island and the mainland. Originally 450 feet long it was extended in 1916; unusually this was to landward, as erosion had pushed the shoreline back.

Although still extant the pier looks as though it has seen better days, the fencing giving it more of an industrial than a pleasure look.

Fort Victoria

Fort Victoria was a battery built in 1855 to protect the western approaches to the Solent; it worked in conjunction with Hurst Fort, which was built around Henry VIII’s Hurst Castle on a shingle spit that projects out into the Solent.

The accommodation barracks was demolished in 1969, but the casements and surrounding grounds are now part of the Fort Victoria Country Park, which includes a planetarium and a marine aquarium. A trail through the grounds has scale markers representing the distance of the planets from the sun.

Yarmouth and Yarmouth Castle

The town of Yarmouth was granted the first royal town charter on the Isle of Wight in 1135. It nestles at the mouth of the River Yar (as there are two Yar's on the small island, this one is known as the ‘western’ Yar).

Several sackings by the French led Henry VIII to construct Yarmouth Castle in 1547. This is in the care of English Heritage, although it is rather dominated by the ferry terminal and pier that lie on either side. The castle secured the town and led to the wonderful mix of buildings that stand around the High Street.