Isle of Wight

Abstract

Once part of the English mainland, the Isle of Wight consists of 147 square miles of rich, undulating countryside separated from the Hampshire coast by the narrow but often dangerous waters of the Solent. Shaped somewhat like a rough diamond, the island reaches a maximum of 22·5 miles from east to west and of 13·5 miles from north to south, and is surrounded by 64½ miles of coast dominated by chalk cliff in the south and south-east. The beaches are mostly a mixture of sand, rock and shingle,but there are fine, smooth sands in the stretch between Culver Cliff and Shanklin.