The Needles
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2008-07-07T04:38:41Z
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[[Image:Dscn0646-needles 600x800.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Needles from the cliffs inshore]]
[[Image:Iow needles closeup.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Close-up of the needles]]
[[Image:NeedlesOnTaylorsHampshire-1759.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Needles from Isaac Taylor's "one inch map" of [[Hampshire]], published in 1759,<ref>[http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantscat/html/oneinchf.htm One Inch Maps],[[University of Portsmouth]] [http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/geography/ Geography Department website] </ref><ref>[http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantsmap/hantsmap/taylor4/taylor4.htm Taylor's Hampshire 1759], Martin and Jean Norgate, [[University of Portsmouth]] [http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/geography/ Geography Department website], 2004 </ref> showing ''Lot's Wife'', the needle-shaped pillar that collapsed in a storm in 1764.]]
'''The Needles''' is a row of three distinctive [[stack (geology)|stacks]] of [[chalk]] that rise out of the [[sea]] off the western extremity of the [[Isle of Wight]], [[England]], close to [[Alum Bay]]. A [[lighthouse]] designed by [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[civil engineer]] [[James Walker (engineer)|James Walker]] has stood at the western end of the formation since 1859.<ref>[http://www.isleofwighttouristguide.com/Articles/Article_21.asp The Needles Lighthouse], Lighthouses on the Isle of Wight, [http://www.isleofwighttouristguide.com/ Isle of Wight Tourist Guide]</ref>
The formation takes its name from the former fourth<ref>[http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/needles.shtml Needles Battery website]</ref> needle-shaped pillar called [[Lot (biblical)|Lot's]] Wife that used to stand in its midst until it collapsed in a storm in 1764.<ref>[http://www.theneedles.co.uk/history.php The History of The Needles at Alum Bay], [http://www.theneedles.co.uk/ The Needles Park website]</ref><ref>[http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/needles.shtml History of the Needles], [http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/index.html The Needles Battery website].</ref><ref>[http://www.needles.shalfleet.net/ Page 1- The Needles], pictures of the Needles, from "Alum Bay and the Needles", [http://www.postcards.shalfleet.net/ Isle of Wight Historic Postcards], June 24, 2007.</ref> The remaining rocks are all short and squat and not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.
The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme ''[[Seven Natural Wonders]]'' as one of the wonders of the [[Southern England|South]].
==Tourism==
The Needles are inextricably linked with [[Alum Bay]], and a major tourist draw. Scenic boat trips operating from Alum Bay offering close-up views of the Needles are very popular. The rocks and lighthouse have become icons of the [[Isle of Wight]], and are featured on many of the souvenirs sold throughout the island.
However, the main tourist attractions of the headland itself are the two gun batteries, the experimental rocket testing station, and the four [[Her Majesty's Coastguard|Coastguard]] cottages owned by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] and let as holiday homes.
The site is on tour bus routes and hiking trails.
==Military use==
{{See also|The Needles Battery}}
The Needles were a site of a long standing [[artillery battery]], from the 1860s to 1954, when they were eventually decommisioned.
A nearby site on High Down was employed in the testing of rockets for the British [[ICBM]] program.<ref>[http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/rocket.shtml High Down Rocket Test Site],[http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/index.html The Needles Battery website]</ref> The headland at High Down was used for [[Black Knight (rocket)|Black Knight]]<ref>[http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery/w-theneedlesoldbattery-seeanddo.htm Black Knight Testing at The Needles]</ref> and [[Black Arrow]]<Ref>''When Britain Joined the Space Race'', Civil Service Motoring Association ''Motoring & Leisure'' magazine, May 2006, p130</ref> [[rocket engine]] tests from 1956–71. During the peak of activity in the early 1960s some 240 people worked at the complex, while the rockets were built in nearby [[East Cowes]]. The site is now owned by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]], and is open to the public. Concrete installations remain, but the buildings that were less durable have either been demolished or were torn down by the elements.
In 1982, [[HRH Prince Charles]] officially opened the restored Needles Old Battery facility. Underground rocket testing rooms are currently being restored for exhibition. The first phase of restoration was completed in 2004.<ref>[http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery/w-theneedlesoldbattery-seeanddo.htm What to See and Do], [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery.htm The Needles Old Battery], [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] website.</ref>
===Access===
The batteries are accessible by car, foot, bicycle, and bus.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery/w-theneedlesoldbattery-gettingthere.htm |title=Getting There |publisher=[[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] |accessdate=2007-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery.htm |title=The Needles Old Battery |publisher=[[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] |accessdate=2007-10-26}}</ref> Though there is a paved road up to The Old and The New batteries, access is on foot, from a car park.<ref>The car park is located at {{gbmapping|SZ307853}}.</ref> The battery site becomes dangerous in high winds and is closed to the public in winds above [[Beaufort scale|force 8]].
In the Spring and Summer, the [[Southern Vectis]] bus company sends open-top motorcoachs along a route called "The Needles Tour". This route approaches the Battery along the cliff edge, using a road reserved for bus traffic. The Needles Tour also has stops in [[Alum Bay]], [[Totland]], [[Colwell Bay]], [[Fort Victoria (Isle of Wight)|Fort Victoria]], [[Yarmouth, Isle of Wight|Yarmouth]], and [[Freshwater Bay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islandbuses.info/needles.html |title=The Needles Tour |publisher=[[Southern Vectis]] |accessdate=2007-10-26}}</ref> The Needles Tour buses are the only vehicles allowed on the road from Alum Bay, apart from those owned by National Trust staff or, by prior appointment, vehicles transporting disabled visitors. This is because the single track road's position close to the cliff edge is considered dangerous for multiple car use.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
The [[Isle of Wight Coast Path]] has its westernmost point at the Coastguard Cottages.
==Geology==
[[Image:TheNeedles.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Needles - View from the experimental rocket launching station]]
The Needles pointed shape is a result of their unusual geology. The [[stratum|strata]] have been so heavily folded during the [[Alpine Orogeny]] that the [[chalk]] is near vertical. This chalk outcrop runs through the centre of the Island from [[Culver Down|Culver Cliff]] in the east to the Needles in the west, and then continues under the sea to the [[Isle of Purbeck]], forming [[Ballard Cliff]] (near [[Swanage]]), [[Lulworth Cove]] and [[Durdle Door]]. <ref name="IMW">{{cite web | url=http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/wight.htm | title=Geology of the Isle of Wight - Field Trip Guide | author=Ian West, MSc PhD FGS | year=2005 | work=Geology of the Wessex Coast, Southern England | accessdate=2006-05-30}} </ref> It is also believed that The Needles were once connected to [[Old Harry Rocks]] {{Fact|date=May 2008}} (east of [[Studland]] and north of [[Swanage]]) where these strata lines moving from horizontal to near vertical can be seen from the sea.
Just off the end of the Needles formation is the Shingles, a shifting [[shoal]] of pebbles just beneath the waves. The Shingles is approximately three miles in length. Many ships have been wrecked on the Shingles.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A853599 The Spithead-Solent Shore], Isle of Wight Shipwrecks, [[BBC]] [[h2g2]].</ref>
==Controversy==
Some controversy has been raised about the actual shape of the "Lot's Wife" stone column, that allegedly collapsed in 1764. A drawing of The Needles by [[Netherlands|Dutch]] landscape artist [[Lambert Doomer]] (1624–1700) made in 1646 depicts a rock formation with much stouter shape than that shown in Isaac Taylor's 1759 "one inch" map of Hampshire.<ref name=tallrock>[http://freespace.virgin.net/roger.hewitt/iwias/newsoct2.htm The Needles: Tall Rock or Tall Story?], Archive of Monthly News Items
As previously featured in the History Centre, Isle of Wight History Centre, November 2002.</ref><ref name=earliest>[http://freespace.virgin.net/iw.history/iwscenes/dutch.htm Earliest Known Scenes of the Isle of Wight], Isle of Wight History Centre</ref> The Doomer etching is contained in Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem (published ca. 1662), which is in the [[Austrian National Library]] in [[Vienna, Austria|Vienna]].<ref>[http://cartography.geog.uu.nl/research/vanderhem.html ''The Atlas Blaeu-van der Hem''], Peter van der Krogt and Erlend de Groot, HES & De Graaf publishers BV 't Goy-Houten, [[The Netherlands]], 1996-2006</ref> It is not clear from these drawings what transpired.<ref name=tallrock/><ref name=earliest/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
* [[Palmerston Forts]]
* [[Palmerston Forts, Isle of Wight]]
==External links==
===General information===
* [http://www.theneedles.co.uk/ Needles and Alum Bay tourist website]
* [http://www.theneedlesbattery.org.uk/ Needles Battery tourist website]
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-theneedlesoldbattery/ National Trust on The Needles Old Battery]
* [http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/needles.html Trinity House - Needles Lighthouse]
===Pictures===
*[http://www.needles.shalfleet.net/ Page 1- The Needles], Steve Shafleet, pictures of the Needles, from "Alum Bay and the Needles", [http://www.postcards.shalfleet.net/ Isle of Wight Historic Postcards], June 24, 2007.
*[http://www.mad-web.org/Pages/Gallery/1881/ Pictures of the Needles Rocket Test Site]
{{Isle of Wight box}}
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[[Category:Geography of the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:National Trust properties in England]]
[[Category:Lighthouses in England]]
[[Category:Stacks (geology)]]
[[Category:Palmerston Forts]]
[[Category:Headlands of the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Visitor attractions on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Nature Conservation Review sites]]
[[da:The Needles (England)]]