Whale Chine

Location map
Isle of Wight
label=Whale Chine
lat_dir=N | lat_deg=50.603031
lon_dir=W | lon_deg=1.338614
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caption=Whale Chine on the Isle of Wight

Whale Chine is a geological feature near Chale on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. One of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks, it is a narrow and steep coastal ravine dropping 140 feet through Lower Greensand rocks from clifftop farmland to Chale Bay.

Its name probably originates from the Wavell family, owners of the nearby Atherfield Farm between 1557 and 1636. ["Finest Landscapes", The Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership Newsletter, [http://www.wightaonb.org.uk/documents/Finest%20Landscapes%2013.pdf Issue 13] , citing "The Place-Names of the Isle of Wight", A D Mills.] It is reached from a car park on the A3055 coastal road, where a stream running parallel to the cliff takes a right-angled bend to descend to the beach. Access down the Chine to the beach is sporadically available via wooden steps, [The Jurassic isle of England, Chris Fautley, "The Sunday Times", July 2, 2000] but is currently impossible due to their destruction by coastal erosion. [Accessing natural history, Helen Slade, Isle of Wight County Press, March 2008 ( [http://www.iwnhas.org/NewsArticles.html reproduced at Isle of Wight Natural History & Archaeological Society site, retrieved 3 August 2008] ]

The location is notable for its fossil-bearing strata. [A Stratigraphical Account of the Section from Atherfield to Rocken End on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, William Henry Fitton, The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 3, 1847 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6iQAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA305&dq=%22whale+chine%22 Google Books, retrieved 3 August 2008] ]

Whale Chine was the location of the wreck of the cargo ship "Cormorant" on 21st December 1886. [ [http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/15277.asp Wreck Report for 'Cormorant', 1887] , PortCities Southampton, retrieved 3 August 2008]

References

*"Walker's guide to the Isle of Wight", Martin Collins, Norman Birch, Cicerone Press, 2000, ISBN 1852842210 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m42zoXMzxn0C&pg=PA68&dq=%22Whale+Chine%22&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U1cOUTcyMLmZdZp6NJbPe8-C9nOXw#PPA69,M1 Google Books, retrieved 3 August 2008]