The Needles is a row of three stacks of

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to

Alum Bay Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The waters and adj ...

and

Scratchell's Bay Scratchell's Bay is a bay on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England just to the south east of The Needles. It faces roughly south towards the English Channel, it is 250m in length and is straight. The name is thought to have come fr ...

, and part of

Totland Totland is a village, civil parish and electoral ward on the Isle of Wight. Besides the village of Totland, the civil parish comprises the western tip of the Isle of Wight, and includes The Needles, Tennyson Down and the hamlet of Middleton. Th ...

, the westernmost

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of the Isle of Wight. The

Needles Lighthouse The Needles Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse on the outermost of the chalk rocks at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, near sea level. Designed by James Walker (engineer), James Walker, for Trinity House at a ...

stands at the outer, western end of the formation. Built in 1859, it has been automated since 1994. The waters and adjoining seabed form part of the Needles Marine Conservation Zone and the Needles along with the shore and heath above are part of the Headon Warren and West High Down

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

. The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called

Lot's Wife In the Bible, Lot's wife is a figure first mentioned in . The Book of Genesis describes how she became a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom. She is not named in the Bible but is called "Ado" or "Edith" in some Jewish traditions. She ...

, which collapsed in a storm in 1764. The remaining rocks are not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck. The Needles were featured on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

TV programme ''

Seven Natural Wonders ''Seven Natural Wonders'' is a television series that was broadcast on BBC Two from 3 May to 20 June 2005. The programme takes an area of England each week and, from votes by the people living in that area, shows the 'seven natural wonders' of ...

'' (2005) as one of the wonders of

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes ...

. During Storm Eunice on 18 February 2022, the highest recorded wind gust in England was provisionally recorded at The Needles, at .

Tourism

The Needles lie just to the southwest of

, and are a tourist draw. Scenic boat trips operate from Alum Bay that offer close-up views of the Needles. The rocks and lighthouse have become icons of the

, often photographed by visitors, and are featured on many of the souvenirs sold throughout the island. The main tourist attractions of the headland itself are the two gun batteries, the experimental rocket testing station, and the four coastguard cottages owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. A branch of the

National Coastwatch Institution The National Coastwatch Institution is a voluntary organisation and registered charity providing a visual watch along the UK's coasts, and is not to be confused with HM Coastguard. History The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) was foun ...

is also based at the Needles, sited near the New Battery and Rocket Testing Site on High Down. The Needles – Landmark Attraction (previously known as The Needles Pleasure Park) situated at the top of the cliff at Alum Bay is a small amusement park. A

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

operates between the park and the beach.

Military use

The Needles were a site of a long-standing

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

, from the 1860s to 1954, which was eventually decommissioned. A nearby site on High Down was employed in the testing of rockets for the British

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...

programme. The headland at High Down was used for

Black Knight The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...

and

Black Arrow Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW, was a British satellite carrier rocket. Developed during the 1960s, it was used for four launches between 1969 and 1971, all launched from the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia. Its final fl ...

rocket engine A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accorda ...

tests from 1956 to 1971. 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 East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes. The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Isle ...

. These rockets were later used to launch the Prospero X-3 satellite. The site is now owned by the

, 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,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

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.

Access

Beautiful Britain - The Isle of Wight - by G

The batteries are accessible by car, foot, bicycle, and bus. Though there is a paved road up to The Old and The New batteries, access is on foot, from a car park. The battery site becomes dangerous in high winds and is closed to the public in winds above force 8. In the spring and summer, the

Southern Vectis Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway before being nationalised in 1969. ...

bus company sends open-top buses along a route called '' The Needles Breezer''. This route approaches the Battery along the cliff edge, using a road reserved for bus traffic. ''The Needles Breezer'' also has stops in

Colwell Bay Colwell Bay () is a bay in the west of the Isle of Wight. It is located between the towns of Totland and Yarmouth. The bay's northernmost point is Cliff's End ( Fort Albert) the closest point of the Island to the British mainland, with Hurst Ca ...

, Fort Victoria, Yarmouth, and Freshwater Bay. ''Breezer'' 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. The Isle of Wight Coast Path has its westernmost point at the Coastguard Cottages.

Geology

The Needles' pointed shape is a result of their unusual geology. The

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...

have been so heavily folded during the Alpine Orogeny that the

is near vertical. This chalk outcrop runs through the centre of the Island from Culver Cliff in the east to the Needles in the west, and then continues under the sea to the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the no ...

, forming Ballard Cliff (near

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civi ...

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

and Durdle Door. At Old Harry Rocks (east of

Studland Studland is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. The village is located about north of the town of Swanage, over a steep chalk ridge, and south of the South East Dorset conurbation at Sandbanks, from which it ...

and north of

) these strata lines moving from horizontal to near vertical can be seen from the sea. The shape of the lost ''Lot's Wife'' stone column, recorded as collapsing in 1764, is subject to some speculation. A drawing of The Needles by 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.Earliest Known Scenes of the Isle of Wight
Archived version of page from Isle of Wight History Centre The Doomer etching is contained in Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem (published ca. 1662), which is in the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. It is not clear from this drawings what transpired and whether Doomer was exercising

artistic license Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

. Doomer's painting shows three stacks when there should have been four, prior to the collapse of ''Lot's Wife''. Just off the end of The Needles formation is the Shingles, a shifting

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

of pebbles just beneath the waves. The Shingles is approximately three miles in length. Many ships have been wrecked on the Shingles and three notable vessels on The Needles themselves: HMS ''Assurance'' in the 18th century, HMS ''Pomone'' in the 19th,''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 26, pp. 320–321. and SS ''Varvassi'' in 1947.

References

External links

General information

Needles Battery tourist website

National Trust on The Needles Old Battery

Pictures and video

Page 1- The Needles
Steve Shafleet, pictures of the Needles, from "

and the Needles"
Isle of Wight Historic Postcards
24 June 2007.
Pictures of the Needles Rocket Test SiteVideo of Microlight flight over the needles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needles, The (Isle of Wight) Landforms of the Isle of Wight National Trust properties on the Isle of Wight Stacks of England Space programme of the United Kingdom Headlands of the Isle of Wight Nature Conservation Review sites Marine reserves of England Shipwrecks of the Needles