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Bonchurch Landslips

Sites of Special Scientific Interest on the Isle of WightUse British English from February 2015Ventnor
The Landslip, near Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, UK
The Landslip, near Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, UK

Bonchurch Landslips is a 28.2-hectare (70-acre) site of special scientific interest which is located north-east of Ventnor, Isle of Wight. A wooded coastal landslip zone, the site was notified in 1977 for both its biological and geological features. Part of the Isle of Wight Undercliff, it is accessed by several footpaths, including Coastal Path V65b from Ventnor and V65a from Luccombe, footpath V65 descending into the landslip via a rock cleft called 'The Chink', and formerly V65C, descending via another cleft, the Devil's Chimney, destroyed by a landslide in December 2023.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bonchurch Landslips (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bonchurch Landslips
The Chink,

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Wikipedia: Bonchurch LandslipsContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.606 ° E -1.178 °
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Address

Wishing Seat

The Chink
PO38 1QD
England, United Kingdom
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The Landslip, near Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, UK
The Landslip, near Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, UK
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Nearby Places

Steel Bay
Steel Bay

Steel Bay is a bay on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the east of the village of Bonchurch. It faces south-east towards the English Channel and has a one-half-mile (0.80 km) shoreline. It stretches from Bordwood Ledge in the north to Dunnose headland in the south. The bay is remote and has no established access. It is best viewed from Dunnose which can be accessed by scrambling over The Landslip, which is close to the Isle of Wight Coastal Path in the woods to the east of Upper Bonchurch. The bay has a large intertidal reef with outlying rocks, which can be a danger for marine traffic. Situated beneath Bonchurch Landslips, part of the wider Undercliff landslide complex, the cliffs are highly unstable and prone to landslides. The cliffs consist of sandstones from the uppermost sections of the Lower Greensand group overlain by the Gault Clay, with superficial deposits of landslide debris including material from the Upper Greensand and Chalk. The coastline saw major landslide events in 1810, 1818 and to a lesser extent in February 1995. In 1871, the Underley, a 1,292-ton iron-hulled sailing ship, ran around in a strong gale at the point between Monk's Bay and Steel Bay. She was on a voyage from London to Melbourne with thirty passengers and cargo on board, the vessel was lost but all her passengers and crew were saved bar one – a steward re-boarded the ship to rescue his pet bird and was washed overboard as it broke apart. Fragments of the wreck can still be seen by divers in the area when a gale has shifted the sands.