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 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.[1] 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. Access down the Chine to the beach is sporadically available via wooden steps,[2] but is currently impossible due to their destruction by coastal erosion.[3]
Descent to the beach at Whale Chine is by some 126 wooden steps, The cliffs here were formed in a lake about 100 million years ago, and are famous for their fossilised oysters, ammonites and lobsters.[4]
Whale Chine was the location of the wreck of the cargo ship Cormorant on 21 December 1886.[5]
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