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Top Attractions in Ventnor

St Boniface Down

St Boniface Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located close to the town of Ventnor, in the southeast of the Island, and rises to 241 metres, the Islands highest point, 1 kilometre north of the town. There is reputed to be a wishing well on its southern slope, which requires the wisher to climb up from the south without looking back. In 1545 a French invasion force attempted this against a force of the Isle of Wight Militia commanded by Sir John Fyssher- which allegedly included several women archers- and were routed. In 1940 the radar station was bombed by Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, which is reconstructed in the film "The Battle of Britain". The top is surmounted by a round barrow. At the eastern foot of the down, on the A3055 road between Bonchurch and Luccombe, a path descends into Bonchurch Landslips via a scenic rock cleft, the Devils Chimney.

Chink

The Chink is a scenic rock cleft between Bonchurch and Luccombe, Isle of Wight, with steps descending from St Boniface Down to the Bonchurch Landslips below. Its upper end is at the northern end of clifftop parkland accessed from the Leeson Road car park, where there is a Southern Vectis bus route 3 stop. The Chink was known in Victorian times as part of the development of the Bonchurch Landslips as a picturesque woodland walk. One of several such paths with carved steps connecting the clifftop to the Isle of Wight Undercliff, it follows a joint through the Upper Greensand crags capping the cliffs above the Landslip. The path continues down through the Landslip as footpath V65, which joins the coastal path V65A at its foot. A similar rock cleft, the better-known Devils Chimney, is about 200 yards south.

Wheelers Bay

Wheelers Bay is a small bay on the south east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the east of Ventnor. It faces south east towards the English Channel, its shoreline is 200m in length. In the 19th century the beaches of Wheelers Bay and Horseshoe Bay were used for the unloading of provisions, particularly coal. Boats would beach at high tide and the cargo off-loaded onto horsedrawn carts. The boats would then be floated off again at the next high tide. Today's shoreline is a concrete seawall, constructed in the early 1990s at a cost of £1.6 million, to protect the cliff from erosion. The bay is accessed by a concrete slope from the road above the bay or by walking along the seawall either from Ventnor or Horseshoe Bay. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path runs the length of the bay along this seawall.

Ventnor railway station

Ventnor railway station was the terminus of the Isle of Wight Railway line from Ryde. The station lay on a ledge 294 feet (90 m) above sea level which had to be quarried into the hill side. The station was immediately outside a 1,312 yards (1,200 m) long tunnel through St. Boniface Down. A lack of space meant that a turntable was used to allow steam engines to runaround their trains. In later years this was replaced by a three way switch. The various tracks merged just before the tunnel and the locomotives had to enter the tunnel during their runround manoeuvres. The station had one side platform connected to the station buildings plus one narrow island platform. Unusually, there was only one track between the side platform and the island platform. When this track was already occupied by a train, a second incoming train had to arrive at the outer face of the island platform and a temporary bridge resembling a ship's gangway had to be manually pushed across the intervening track to permit passenger egress. Further away from the station buildings were goods sidings which mainly served coal merchants who operated from caves in the chalk sides of the station cutting. The station closed to all traffic in April 1966, when the line south of Shanklin fell victim to the Beeching Axe. The track was lifted by 1970 and the station subsequently demolished. The site is now an industrial park with Southern Water using the tunnel to run water pipes through. This station should not be confused with Ventnor West railway station.

Battle of Bonchurch

The Battle of Bonchurch took place in late July 1545 at Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight. No source gives the precise date, although 21 July is possible from the sequence of events. The battle was a part of the wider Italian War of 1542–1546, and took place during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight. Several landings were made, including at Bonchurch. Most accounts suggest that England won the battle, and the French advance across the island was halted. The battle was between French regular soldiers, and local English militiamen. The number of French soldiers involved is believed to be about 500, with the number of militiamen uncertain, with one source stating 300 and another 2,800. The English forces are believed to have been commanded by Captain Robert Fyssher, and the French by Le Seigneur de Tais. The battle was one of several fought between English and French on the Isle of Wight. The majority of sources state that the English won, although one suggests that the French were victorious. The battle was fought as part of the French attempt to cause enough damage to force English ships to leave their defensive positions and attack in less favourable conditions. Other French landings were made at Sandown, Bembridge and St Helens.

Whale Chine

Whale Chine is a geological feature near Chale on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England (the Back of the Wight). One of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks, it is a narrow and steep coastal ravine dropping 140 feet through Lower Greensand rocks from clifftop farmland to Chale Bay. Its name probably originates from the Wavell family, owners of the nearby Atherfield Farm between 1557 and 1636. It is reached from a car park on the A3055 coastal road, where a stream running parallel to the cliff takes a right-angled bend to descend to the beach. In the past, descent to the beach at Whale Chine could be achieved by some 126 wooden steps, since their closure in 2005, these steps were washed away by the sea in the winter storms of 2013/14. Local fisherman have achieved access to the beach by the means of a rope and some carved steps, although it is not recommended. Despite the old steps forming part of a footpath and legal Right of Way (footpath C34, Chale Parish), the Isle of Wight Council refused to repair them, stating that "major structural works at great expense would be required to make the path safe for use with no guarantee that such works would be a permanent solution." They have been inaccessible to the public since at least 2005 and subject to a "temporary closure" since then. Geologically the cliffs here belong to the Wealden supergroup and were deposited in a large scale meandering river and floodplain facies about 150 million years ago. The cliffs are famous for their fossil content which are commonly found in flash flood sandy deposits. These deposits can usually be recognized by the abundance of pyrite rich fossilized wood, and usually form as trough shapes. These troughs are characteristic of infilled stream channels caused by the deposition of the high energy carried material and organisms. Due to this the deposits are poorly sorted and the fossils amongst them are usually broken up. Whale Chine is a popular fishing spot for many anglers. It boosts very clear sandy ground with intermittent rock features. The species caught here vary, but it is locally known as one of the best spots on the island for ray fishing: This is best from March–October. All summer species can be caught here, and it's not uncommon for shoals of mackerel and bass to drive whitebait onto the shore. Throughout the winter the fishing declines abit, with pout being the most common fish caught. Whale Chine was the location of the wreck of the cargo ship Cormorant on 21 December 1886.
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