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Page 41
Nowhere can we get a complete view of Blackgang except off on the water,
which is not always practicable: certainly not in the very seasons when
the whole appears with the greatest interest,--when there is a strong
wind and tide setting in-shore, and the face of Nature is shrouded in
deepening gloom, with perhaps some hapless vessel in danger of being
wrecked,--it is then dressed in all the congenial horrors of savage
sublimity.--No one, a stranger to the sea-coast, would imagine how
awfully the surges lash the stony beach in tempestuous weather: the
high-curling waves break with a deafening roar, and mounting the lofty
cliffs in sheets of dazzling foam, are wafted in misty clouds half over
the island--even to Newport, where the windows facing the south are
occasionally dimmed with the saline vapors, almost to an incrustation.
The visitor will of course endeavour to descend to the shore; but this
is sometimes attended with considerable fatigue and difficulty, after
wet weather, to those who are delicate and infirm. For this reason, we
have taken our sketch from near the new bridge, to which the descent
from the hotel is generally easy: and from which the visitor may gain
such a view as will enable him to form a very good idea of the whole
scene. The windings of the Chine commence a little below the Hotel,
which (as already stated) stands at least 500 feet above the beach.
From the proximity of several newly erected villas and
lodging-houses, it ought here to be stated to the visitor, that the
_true character_ of the place is in consequence greatly injured:
for the garish and obtrusive habitations of genteel life but ill
accord with that solitary and impressive magnificence which
constitutes the very interest--the sublimity and peculiarity of a
silent and cheerless scene, such as formerly were the aspect and
condition of Blackgang Chine and its immediate neighbourhood.
"There has long been a tradition that Blackgang Chine was once the
favorite retreat of a gang of pirates, and from that circumstance
its name was derived.--Without disputing the fact of its having
offered occasionally concealment and a safe depository to
smugglers, or even pirates for a time,--it is equally, if not more
probable, that it is indebted for its very expressive appellation
to its sombre coloring, and the _step-like_ appearance of the
strata, if the word _gang_ be admitted to have the same
signification as it has in a ship."
* * * * *
Between Blackgang and Freshwater are several other Chines on an inferior
scale, partaking more or less of the same sterile aspect: such are
Walpan, Whale, Compton, Cowleaze and the Shepherd's, Grange, Chilton,
and Brooke: but though several of them are well entitled to notice, they
are seldom visited, owing to their remoteness from the public roads.
>> It should be observed however, that though they possess less
scenic interest than those already described,--they embrace a
portion of the island most attractive to the geologist, from the
circumstance of the cliffs and shores abounding in the most
beautiful specimens of fossil remains.--We would moreover call the
attention of those visitors who may desire to examine into the
agency which has produced the chines, to the two called _Cowleaze_
and _the Shepherd's_--the latter of which has been formed within
the last 40 years, in consequence, it is said, of a countryman in
an idle moment turning the course of the small rivulet which had
hitherto run through Cowleaze. They are situated about a mile from
Brixton.
* * * * *
ST. CATHARINE'S HILL
(In the steep side of which on the south is Blackgang Chine), is the
highest in the island, or between 800 and 900 feet above the level of
the sea. An ancient octagon tower stands at the top, built on the site
of, or rather as an appendage to, a hermitage--originally endowed by a
benevolent individual for the purpose of providing lights in dark and
stormy nights:--there is also the shell of the old light-house mentioned
at p. 79.
The regular carriage-road between Chale and Niton used to be over this
down previous to the year 1838: and we in some measure regret (although
_celerity_ in travelling be now the order of the day), that it is
superseded by the road then made to Blackgang: to the admirers of
illimitable prospect it afforded a rich treat, "for language is scarcely
adequate to describe the various beauties which present themselves from
this elevated spot."
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