Wheelers Bay is a small bay on the south east coast of 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...

, 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...

. It lies to the east of Ventnor

Ventnor

Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...

. It faces south east towards 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...

, its shoreline is 200m in length.

In the 19th century the beaches of Wheelers Bay and Horseshoe Bay

Horseshoe Bay no.2, Isle of Wight

Horseshoe Bay is a bay on the south east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the south east of the village of Bonchurch. It faces south east towards the English Channel and its shoreline is approx. 200m in length...

 were used for the unloading of provisions, particularly coal. Boats would beach at high tide and the cargo off-loaded onto horsedrawn carts. The boats would then be floated off again at the next high tide.

Today's shoreline is a concrete seawall

Seawall

A seawall is a form of coastal defence constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation and leisure activities from the action of tides and waves...

, constructed in the early 1990s at a cost of £1.6 million, to protect the cliff from erosion.

The bay is accessed by a concrete slope from the road above the bay or by walking along the seawall either from Ventnor or Horseshoe Bay. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path

Isle of Wight Coastal Path

.There are a couple of cafes on the cliff path which I believe are open in the summer months. The only public convenience on the cliff path now appears to be closed permanently ....

 runs the length of the bay along this seawall.

External links

• Coastal protection works