Alum Bay
Encyclopedia
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, England, within sight of the Needles
The Needles
The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, England, close to Alum Bay. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation...
. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs.
Geology
Alum Bay is the location of a classic sequence of EoceneEocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
beds of soft sands and clays, separated by an unconformity from the underlying Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
Chalk Formation
Chalk Formation
The Chalk Group is a lithostratigraphic unit in the northwestern part of Europe. It is characterised by thick deposits of chalk, a soft porous white limestone, deposited in a marine environment during the Upper Cretaceous period.Chalk is a limestone that consists of coccolith biomicrite...
that forms the adjoining headland of West High Down. Due to geological folding of the Alpine orogeny
Alpine orogeny
The Alpine orogeny is an orogenic phase in the Late Mesozoic and Tertiary that formed the mountain ranges of the Alpide belt...
, the strata in the main section of the bay are vertical, with younger rocks to the west. The sands are coloured due to oxidised iron compounds formed under different conditions.
Alum Bay Chine
Chine
A chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows through coastal cliffs to the sea. Typically these are soft eroding cliffs such as sandstone or clays. The word chine originates from the Saxon "Cinan" meaning a gap or yawn....
begins as a small wooded valley descending eastward from the junction of the B3322 and the road to Headon Hall. It soon broadens into the clay ravine down which the path and chairlift from Needles Park descend to the beach.
Tourism
On the clifftop there is an amusement park, Needles Park, from which during the summer season a chair lift takes tourists to the pebbly beach below, where there is a pontoon for boat trips. Alternatively, a footpath leads to the beach via Alum Bay Chine. The park also features a small number of rides and stalls aimed at children, souvenir shops, a restaurant (The Pantry), Marconi's Bar (formerly ...On the Rocks) and a sweet shop in which guests may also take a tour and view how some of the sweets are made ('The Isle of Wight Sweet Manufactory'). Nearby is an attraction at which guests may view glass-blowing, and purchase wares. During peak season, the amusement park hosts frequent firework shows.Alum Bay Sands
A traditional product of Alum Bay, and a fixture of Isle of Wight tourist shops, is the creation of ornaments using the coloured sands layered in vials and jars. The sands also were used for pictures, a popular craft in Victorian times known as marmotintoMarmotinto
Marmotinto is the art of creating pictures using coloured sand or marble dust and otherwise known as sand painting.Originating in Europe, and probably based on the Japanese craft of bonseki, marmotinto was fleetingly popular in England following a 1783 dinner party given by George III at Windsor...
. Visitors are no longer allowed to dig out their own sands, and signs on the beach warn tourists not to climb the cliffs because of the danger of landslides. The Needles Park, however, has a facility for visitors to fill their own sand souvenirs with sand collected and preserved from natural cliff falls throughout the year. In the past it was possible to buy Alum Bay coloured sand by mail order and make ones own sand pictures and bottles at home.
Transport
Southern VectisSouthern Vectis
The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited is the dominant bus operator on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005 and is a part of the company's Go South Coast division. The firm employs 299 staff, with 105 single deck, double deck and open-top buses and coaches...
run bus services from Alum Bay. There are two summer only services, namely the Needles Tour, and the Island Coaster service. The Needles Tour is on an open top bus
Open top bus
An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, where all or part of the roof has been removed to enable enjoyment of fresh air and uninterrupted views.-Usage:...
History
On a map c. 1590 the bay is called Whytfylde ChineSome of the Alum Bay sands are extremely pure white silica, and were formerly quarried for glass and pottery manufacture.
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
moved to Alum Bay in 1897 to experiment with radio. He set up a 40 metre radio antenna outside the Needles Hotel in Alum Bay. Initially establishing communication with ships offshore, he was able by early 1898 to successfully communicate with stations at Madeira House, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
and the Haven Hotel
Haven Hotel
The Haven Hotel is an AA four star hotel in Sandbanks, near Poole, Dorset on the south coast of England.-History:The first hotel built on this location was the North Haven Inn in 1838. The Inn was demolished and replaced with the present Haven Hotel in 1887...
, Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
20 miles away.
See also
- Whitecliff BayWhitecliff BayWhitecliff Bay is a sandy bay near the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight, England about 2 miles south-west of Bembridge and just to the north of Culver Down. It is a tourist site , has a popular beach with two hundred metres of sand and shingle, and minimal facilities including 2 cafes...
- Isle of Wight
- SandpaintingSandpaintingSandpainting is the art of pouring colored sands, powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, and pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting...
- MarmotintoMarmotintoMarmotinto is the art of creating pictures using coloured sand or marble dust and otherwise known as sand painting.Originating in Europe, and probably based on the Japanese craft of bonseki, marmotinto was fleetingly popular in England following a 1783 dinner party given by George III at Windsor...
External links
- Needles Park official website
- Grimkie, Jacob Abbott, Sheldon, 1860 - novel with description of Alumn Bay ornaments and sand pictures.