Watershoot Bay
Watershoot Bay looking to the East
Watershoot Bay is located in Isle of Wight
Watershoot Bay
Watershoot Bay
Location within the Isle of Wight
Civil parish
  • Niton and Whitwell
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom

Watershoot Bay is a bay on the southernmost tip of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) to the south-west of the village of Niton.[1] It faces south out into the English Channel, and is one of the smallest and remotest bays of the Isle of Wight with a rocky shoreline only around 500 feet (150 m) in length. It lies to the west of St. Catherine's Point lighthouse and is surrounded by a 170-acre area of undulating grassland and scrub owned by the National Trust and known as Knowles Farm.[2]

The beach is composed predominantly of sandstone, chalk and chert boulders (which are around 90 to 110 million years old) which are rich in fossils.[3]

The bay is best accessed from the car park about 350 yards (320 m) to the north or from the road that leads to the lighthouse but will involve a hike over rough terrain.[1]

The name of the bay may have come from that of a sloop lost there in 1755.[4] The bay was home to a boathouse from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.[5]

References

Rough seas on Watershoot Bay
  1. 1 2 Google (14 December 2018). "Watershoot Bay" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  2. ↑ St Catherine's Down and Knowles Farm
  3. ↑ "Dinosaur Isle Teachers' Guide" (PDF). Isle of Wight Council. 2005.
  4. ↑ Peter Bruce (May 2008). Wight Hazards. Boldre Marine. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-871680-51-5.
  5. ↑ "Site of boat house, Watershoot Bay, Isle of Wight". National Trust.
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