Solent Landmarks

The Needles

The Needles are one of the most famous and photographed landmarks along the South Coast. For sailors, it means leaving the calm of the Solent when the 'rounding the Needles' and for tourists its a chance to marvel at the world-famous multi-coloured sand (in 21 different shades) which has been a draw since Victorian days.

The original 'Needle' isn't around any more - the 120ft high needle-shaped rock known as 'Lot's Wife' collapsed into the sea in 1764. The chalk ridge originally extended from the site of the Needles across to the Purbecks on the Dorset coast - it was breached whenever sea levels rose at the end of the last Ice Age and the Solent as we know it was created.

The Needles were a danger to shipping and many vessels came to grief on the hazardous rocks and the surrounding Shingles bank of pebbles over the years.

The famous lighthouse - now an icon of the Island - was built to replace another lighthouse which, positioned on the summit of the Downs, was deemed as being too high above sea level to be of any use to shipping as it couldn't be seen in a sea mist.

The lighthouse is 109 feet high, built on the base of the most westerly rock of the Needles group - it started working on 1 January 1859 and can be seen 14 miles away at sea level.

Up until 1994 when the lighthouse was automated, it had a resident keeper and three assistants.