Bracklesham Bay is a coastal bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 on the west side of the Manhood Peninsula

Manhood Peninsula

The Manhood Peninsula is the southernmost part of Sussex in England. It has the English channel to its south and Chichester to the north.The peninsula is bordered to its west by Chichester Harbour and to its east by Pagham Harbour, its southern headland being Selsey Bill.-Name:The name Manhood has...

 in West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The bay looks out onto the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 and the Isle of Wight

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...

 is visible from the beach, as is the Nab Tower

Nab Tower

The Nab Tower is a tower planned for anti-submarine protection in the Straits of Dover in World War I. It was sunk over the Nab rocks east of the Isle of Wight to replace a lightship after the war, and is a well known landmark for sailors as it marks the deep water eastern entry into the...

 lighthouse and the Spinnaker Tower

Spinnaker Tower

Spinnaker Tower is a –high landmark tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. Its shape was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection of concepts...

 in Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

.

The bay is sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

y and backed with shingle

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

. The beach is popular with windsurfers, divers

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, surfers

Surfing

Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

 (mostly longboarders given the nature of the waves), stand up paddle surfers

Stand up paddle surfing

Stand up paddle surfing , or in the Hawaiian language Hoe he'e nalu, is an emerging global sport with a Hawaiian heritage. The sport is an ancient form of surfing, and reemerged as a way for surfing instructors to manage their large groups of students, as standing on the board gave them a higher...

, and also fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 hunters, as the Bracklesham Beds

Bracklesham Beds

Bracklesham Beds, in geology, are a series of clays and marls, with sandy and lignitic beds, in the Middle Eocene of the Hampshire Basin, England....

, a well known fossil bed, is visible at low tide. The bedrock is London clay

London Clay

The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for the fossils it contains. The fossils from the Lower Eocene indicate a moderately warm climate, the flora being tropical or subtropical...

, and bits of the clay can be found on the sands.

The villages of Bracklesham and East Wittering

East Wittering

East Wittering is a coastal village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The eastern half of the village lies within the civil parish of East Wittering and Bracklesham, while the western half lies within the boundary of West Wittering civil parish...

 are situated in the centre of the bay and it is bordered by the town of Selsey

Selsey

Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about seven miles south of Chichester, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea...

 on the southern/eastern tip, and the village of West Wittering

West Wittering

West Wittering is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies near the mouth of Chichester Harbour on the B2179 road 6.5 miles southwest of Chichester and has a sandy beach with what has been described as excellent...

 on the west side.

The nearest city is Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

, which is eight miles to the north.

In May 1944 Bracklesham Bay was one site used in Exercise Fabius

Fabius, 1944

Exercise Fabius was a formal exercise for Operation Neptune. The exercise was planned to start on 2 May 1944, but bad weather delayed it to the next day.It consisted of six separate exercises:...

. The remains of at least one Valentine tank

Valentine tank

The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production...

 can be found ten metres underwater.

In popular culture

Bracklesham Bay is mentioned in the track 'Saturdays Kids' (Paul Weller) on the 1979 album by The Jam

The Jam

The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...

, 'Setting Sons

Setting Sons

Setting Sons is the fourth studio album by British band The Jam. The group's critical and commercial favour, begun with their third album, All Mod Cons, continued through this album...

'; "Save up their money for a holiday/ To Selsey Bill, or Bracklesham Bay". Both places had Pontin's

Pontin's

Pontins is a British holiday business which was originally founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays with regular entertainment on offer. Accommodation is usually in the form of chalets. The company once grew to be a major operator of...

 holiday camps.

External links

• http://www.shore.co.uk - surf check for people interested in surfing in Bracklesham Bay