King's Quay, Isle of Wight

Infobox SSSI


name=King's Quay Shore
aos=Isle of Wight
interest=Biological and Geological
gridref=SZ536935
area=97.2 hectare
notifydate=1951

http://www.natureonthemap.org.uk/map.aspx?
]

King's Quay is a place on the north east coast of the Isle of Wight, an island off the South Coast of England. It comprises the estuary of a stream called Palmer's Brook, situated between East Cowes and Wootton Creek, about 2 miles north west of Wootton. It is said, probably apocryphally, to have been the place that King John fled to after signing the Magna Carta, from which it derives its name.

It is private land, part of the 500-acre Barton Estate, owned by Robert Stigwood and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and ramsar site. It is rich in fossils, particularly of oligocene fish and mesolithic artifacts in a rocky outcrop known as the Osborne Beds.It comprises an area of saltmarsh, sand and marsh, bounded by ancient woodlands at Wallhill Copse, Curlew Copse, Woodhouse Copse and Brickhill Copse.

The Quay is a causeway which is breached in one place leading to a stone bridge. During the Middle Ages, King's Quay and the adjoining Meads Hole to the north in Osborne Bay was the site of a market of stolen goods, the plunder of Isle of Wight pirates upon French and Spanish shipping.It is inaccessible to the public, but can be approached from the south western end by Forestry Commission land at Woodhouse Copse.

ee also

List of places on the Isle of Wight

References

* [http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount2909.pdf Geological Conservation Review]

* [http://www.iow.gov.uk/living_here/planning/images/SolentCoastalHAP.pdf Isle of Wight Biodiversity Action Plan]

* [http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004298.pdf Natural England citation sheet]

* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/HAM/IOW/Miscellaneous/index.html GENUKI information on the IOW]

* [http://www.sealasc.org.uk/unusual_anchorages.htm - unusual anchorages]