St. Catherine's Point

St. Catherine's Point is the southernmost point on the Isle of Wight. It is located close to the village of Niton.

On nearby St. Catherine's Hill is St. Catherine's Oratory, locally known as the "Pepperpot", a stone lighthouse built in the 1323 by Walter De Godeton. It is the second oldest lighthouse in the British Islands. Only the Roman-built lighthouse at Dover is older.

Reportedly, de Godeton felt guilty for having scavenged wine from the wreck of the St. Marie of Bayonne in Chale Bay. He was ordered to, on pain of excommunication, to make amends by building this lighthouse. Fires were lit in the lighthouse tower to warn ships at sea of the presence of the coast.

There was an attached chapel at one time, but it has been long demolished. There is a Bronze Age barrow nearby which was excavated in the 1920s.

A replacement lighthouse was begun in 1785. However it was never completed. Locally this half finished building is known as the "salt pot".

St. Catherine's point is often foggy, so it is not the best location for a lighthouse, but as a weather station the location is fairly suitable. There is a lighthouse built after the wreck of the Clarendon in 1837 to the west of Niton at the foot of the Undercliff.

External links

* [http://wightundercliff.mine.nu Website with old pictures of the St. Catherines Point on the Isle of Wight]
* [http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/se/st_catherines_point_forecast_weather.html Weather station information at Met Office]