The Needles Batteries

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 from one of the many names for the Devil. The bay itself is shallow, and the 2m contour is approximately 200m from the cliff face. The beach is made up mostly of shingle and can only, reasonably, be reached by boat. There is no path from the top of the cliff. A small cave is located just into the sea at the east end of the bay near Sun Corner. Approximately 150m west of the Easterly promontory is the large St.Anthony's Rock; It is a-wash at low tide (dries to 0.6m on spring low) and is a significant hazard to boats. The bay is best viewed from either the lookout point near the rocket launching facility or the Needles Old Battery National Trust property on the cliff top. During a storm of 24 January 1890, the iron-clad Irex on her way to Rio de Janeiro with a load of iron pipes, had turned back from Biscay to seek shelter. Due to a navigation error, she was wrecked and sank in the bay with the loss of six lives, The wreck still lies within the bay and a large portion of the floor of the bay is scattered with the remains of the ship and its cargo presenting multiple fouling hazards. The hull of the ship is largely intact and lies roughly 15 degrees from parallel to the beach, rising rapidly from 5m or so and awash on spring lows, thus she presents a significant danger to keeled craft and larger leisure boats. For vessels entering the bay, it is vital to locate both the wreck and St.Anthony's rock.

HMS Assurance was a 44-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1747. She was wrecked off The Needles near the Isle of Wight, England in 1753, and remained stuck on the rock long enough for her crew and passengers to escape. The shipwreck site identified at the Needles contains the remains of two wrecks, thought to be the Assurance and Pomone. It was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 4 April 1974 and is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. The designation lists the date of sinking as 1738, although research by the John Bingeman (licensee from 1978) from the court martial accounts indicates that the wreck occurred in 1753. The wreck site was identified by an Isle of Wight resident, Derek Williams, who became the first licensee. It includes cannons and other metallic items from the ship.

The Needles are a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about 30 metres (98 ft) 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 westernmost civil parish of the Isle of Wight. The Needles Lighthouse 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. The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called Lot's wife, 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 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders (2005) as one of the wonders of Southern England. During Storm Eunice on 18 February 2022, the highest recorded wind gust in England was provisionally recorded at The Needles, at 122 miles per hour (196 km/h). LB&SCR H2 class 4-4-2 no. 423 (later no. B423 and 2423) was named The Needles after this landmark.

The High Down Rocket Test Site is a former Rocket Testing facility on High Down near The Needles. The remains of the High Down Test Site are a rare example of a 1950s British rocket test facility, built at a time when the country was amongst a handful of nations at the forefront of rocket and missile technology. Internationally, large rocket testing facilities of this date are uncommon... The site was built and operated in secret, from the 1950s. The Black Arrow rocket, used to launch the Prospero satellite (a wholly British project), was tested at the site. Black Knight was also tested there. The development of rocketry was a part of the Cold War, in particular the development of Black Knight. The site is now under the ownership of the National Trust, who also own the neighbouring Needles Battery.

HMS Pomone was a 38-gun Leda-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. She saw action during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean while under the command of Captain Robert Barrie. She was wrecked off The Needles, part of the Isle of Wight, in 1811. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.

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, for Trinity House at a cost of £20,000, it was completed in 1859 from granite blocks. It stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides. It replaced an earlier light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786.

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 adjoining seabed form part of the Needles Marine Conservation Zone and the shore and heath above are part of the Headon Warren and West High Down Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Hatherwood Battery (map reference SZ308857) is a battery located to the east of Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. It was sited to cross fire with the nearby Needles Battery Originally designed to mount six 68 Pounder guns, construction of the battery began in 1865. Before it was completed it was decided to mount seven guns in three groups. This comprised two 9-inch Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) guns on each flank and three 7-inch Rifled Breech Loading (RBL) guns in the centre. The battery was complete by 1869. There was no accommodation at the battery for the soldiers who would man it. Instead these men were billetted at nearby Golden Hill Fort. In 1903 the battery was officially disarmed. Today not much is left of the battery as it has been left to decay, with some parts falling off the cliff due to erosion.

Headon Warren and West High Down is a 276.3-hectare (683-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located at the westernmost end of the Isle of Wight. The SSSI encompasses Headon Warren, a heather clad down to the north, the chalk downs of West High Down and Tennyson Down to the south, and the Needles, The Needles Batteries and Alum Bay to the west.The site was notified in 1951 by the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), for both its biological and geological features, and that designation is now maintained by Natural England as successor body to the NCC. Most of the land within the SSSI is owned and managed by the National Trust.

Totland Bay is a bay on the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies one-quarter of an mile (0.4 km) to the west of the village of Totland from which it takes its name. It faces north west and has a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) shoreline, which has a beach, concrete seawall, groynes and 450-foot-long (140 m) Victorian pier. It stretches from Warden Point in the north to Hatherwood Point in the south-west. The seabed is a mixture of mud and sand, clear of many underwater outcrops, this makes it a popular anchorage point for vessels. The beach is predominantly shingle. Since 2001 the quality of the beach has been high enough for it to be awarded the Seaside Award Flag. In the summer, litter and seaweed are removed each day, with the latter being composted by local farmers. Currently, the pier is being refurbished to re-open the cafe which was there before. The bay is best viewed from Headon Warren or anywhere along the concrete seawall. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path runs along the seawall from Warden Point to Widdick Chine. Weston Academy, which closed in 2015 is located in the bay area.

Widdick Chine is a geological feature on the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Totland. It is a steep coastal gully, which is overgrown with vegetation. The water that used to flow down the slope has been redirected through a pipe which takes it to beach level to reduce its effect on erosion to the cliff. A set of steps have been constructed down the chine to provide access from Totland to the beach of Totland Bay. The Chine pipe drains water from the northern slopes of Tennyson Down. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path passes up the steps of the chine. At the bottom of the chine is the old Totland lifeboat house.

Christ Church, Totland is a parish church in the Church of England located in Totland, Isle of Wight.