Luccombe Bay is a bay on the south-east coast of the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, England. It lies to the east of
Luccombe Village from which it takes its name. It faces south-east towards the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
, its shoreline is in length.
It consists of a predominantly sand and
shingle beach lined with sea cliffs which range from in height.
It stretches from
Horse Ledge in the north to
Bordwood Ledge in the south. The sea bottom is a mixture of mud and rocks.
Along the top of the cliffs which line the bay is the site 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 ...
maintained Luccombe and the Landslip Walk.
The bay is best viewed from
Luccombe Chine which descends to the beach about two-thirds of the way along the bay. There was a footpath down a set of wooden steps to the beach from the coastal path, but these are currently closed due to damage from landslips. A small fishing community existed at the foot of the Chine on the bay until it was destroyed in the ''Great Landslip of 1910''. The area is the site of a lot of
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
and cliff retreat (though no cliff failures), with a loss of around a foot (30 cm) per year.
References
{{Bays on the Isle of Wight
Bays of the Isle of Wight