Blackgang

Blackgang is a village on the south coast of the Isle of Wight. It is best known as the location of the Blackgang Chine amusement park which sits to the south of St Catherine's Down.

Blackgang forms the west end of the Ventnor Undercliff region, which extends for 12 kilometers from Blackgang to Luccombe, also encompassing the town of Ventnor and the villages of Bonchurch, St Lawrence, and Niton. There is some concern that the Ventnor Undercliff area is experiencing substantial coastal erosion. [ [http://copranet.projects.eucc-d.de/files/000166_EUROSION_IsleofWight.pdf "EUROSION Case Study: LUCCOMBE - BLACKGANG ISLE OF WIGHT (UNITED KINGDOM)" ] , Robin G. McINESS, Isle of Wight Centre for Coastal Environment]

Historically, Blackgang was the location of a major chine, the coastal ravine after which the Blackgang Chine park was named; this was obliterated by landslides and coastal erosion over the 20th century. The nearby Sandrock Spring, a Chalybeate spring, was discovered in 1811. This too was destroyed in a landslide in 1978. ["Slope Stability Engineering", Institution of CivilEngineers, Thomas Telford, 1991, ISBN:0727716603 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EKh33p1QNWEC&pg=PA192&dq=%22Sandrock+Spring%22&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U1scHlhnOwsGhC6-xTrk2Vt6uvR_g#PPA191,M1 Google Books] (retrieved 5 July 2008 ]

Clifftop walks in and around the area give panoramic views of the English Channel and the south-western Isle of Wight coast.Blackgang is also notable for dinosaur fossils and the nudist Blackgang Beach.

Blackgang was the birthplace of the actress and comedienne Sheila Hancock.

Southern Vectis operates bus route 6 to Newport and Ventnor through the village.cite web | year = 2008 | url = http://www.islandbuses.info/r6.shtml | title = Southern Vectis - bus route 6 | publisher = www.islandbuses.info | accessdate = 2008-05-04]

External links

* [http://wightundercliff.mine.nu Website with old pictures of the Undercliff of the Isle of Wight]

References