White Nothe is a chalk headland on 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...

 coast at the eastern end of Ringstead Bay

Ringstead Bay

Ringstead Bay and the small village of Ringstead are located on the coast in Dorset, southern England. They are accessible by way of a private road that you have to pay £5 to be able to use with a car park at the end near the sea. There is an alternative car park that is free...

, east of Weymouth in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, 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 area is well-known for its geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 and fossil

Fossil

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

s. Its flanks are the result of prehistoric landslides and the inaccessible slopes of the undercliff

The Undercliff

The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset...

 provide a secluded wildlife habitat.

There is a spectacular zigzag

Zigzag

A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....

 path up the cliff, believed to be one of the locations used by smugglers in the book Moonfleet

Moonfleet

Moonfleet is a tale of smuggling by the English novelist J. Meade Falkner, first published in 1898. The book was extremely popular among children worldwide up until the 1970s, mostly for its themes of adventure and gripping storyline...

. It is possible to walk to the base of White Nothe along the shore from Ringstead Bay, but it is cut off at high tide so much care should be taken. At the top of the Smugglers path there is a protruding nose shape coming out of the white cliff giving the name to the area.

The area is of great natural beauty and is partly owned by the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

. From the top of White Nothe, to the east, the chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 headland of Bat's Head

Bat's Head

Bat's Head is a chalk headland on the Dorset coast in southern England, located between Swyre Head and Durdle Door to the east, and White Nothe to the west.There is a small but very visible cave at the base of the headland known as Bat's Cave...

 can be viewed. It is possible to walk east along a clifftop path to Durdle Door

Durdle Door

Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England. It is privately owned by the Welds, a family who own in Dorset in the name of the Lulworth Estate. It is open to the public...

 and Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a tourist location with over 1 million visitors a year...

. Out to sea, to the southwest, the Isle of Portland

Isle of Portland

The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...

 can be seen.

Immediately to the northwest of White Nothe is the Burning Cliff, which smouldered with an underground fire for several years from 1826 due to the bituminous shale

Bituminous shale

Bituminous shale is an argillaceous shale impregnated with bitumen, often accompanying coal. It may contain kerogen; in that case it is classified as oil shale. When carbonaceous material is present in large amounts, bituminous shale grades into bituminous coal...

.

See also

• Geology of Dorset
  Geology of Dorset
  Dorset, England, rests on a variety of different rock types which give the county its interesting landscapes and habitats. Dorset is particularly noted for its coastline, the Jurassic Coast, which in 2001 was designated a World Heritage Site because of the variety of landforms and fossils...
  
  
• List of places on the Jurassic Coast
  Jurassic Coast
  The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
  
  
• Black Head
  Black Head, Dorset
  Black Head a headland on the south coast of England, to the east of Weymouth in Dorset. It lies on the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape known for its geology. Fossils can be found in the area.The headland faces out over to the Isle of Portland...
  
  
• Bran Point
  Bran Point
  Bran Point is a small headland on the Dorset coast in southern England, about half way between the small villages of Ringstead to the east and Osmington Mills to the west. There is a picturesque cliff-top path between the two villages via Bran Point....
  
  
• Redcliff Point
  Redcliff Point
  Redcliff Point is on the south coast of England, to the east of Weymouth in Dorset. It lies just past the eastern end of the sweeping Weymouth Bay on the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape known for its geology. Fossils can be found in the Upper Oxford Clay in this area.The cliff...
  
  

External links

• White Nothe information from the governmental Joint Nature Conservation Committee
  Joint Nature Conservation Committee
  The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is the statutory adviser to the UK Government on national and international nature conservation. Its work contributes to maintaining and enriching biological diversity, conserving geological features and sustaining natural systems...
  
  (JNCC)
• Ringstead Bay to White Nothe from Ian West's Geology of the Wessex Coast internet field guide
• The South West Coast Path National Trail
• White Nothe, Ringstead walk from Walks4softies