The High Down Rocket Test Site is a former Rocket Testing facility on High Down near

The Needles The Needles are a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the weste ...

. The site was built and operated in secret, from the 1950s. The

Black Arrow Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW,Gibson and Buttler 2007, . was a British satellite expendable launch system. Black Arrow originated from studies by the Royal Aircraft Establishment for carrier rockets based on the earlier Blac ...

rocket, used to launch the

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Character Twelve years before the play begins, Prospero is usurped from his position as the rightful Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio, ...

satellite (a wholly British project), was tested at the site.

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 ...

was also tested there.National Trust
The development of rocketry was a part of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, in particular the development of Black Knight. The site is now under the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, who also own the neighbouring Needles Battery.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Isle of Wight Cold War military equipment of the United Kingdom Scheduled monuments in Isle of Wight