Brannons Picture of The Isle of Wight | Page 5

by the establishment of Light-houses--especially of the new one near Niton.--Owing to this cause, and to the precipitous nature of the coast itself, the island presents few points favorable to an enemy's landing, and even those were for the most part fortified by order of Henry VIII: The forts of Sandown, Cowes, and Yarmouth still remain; and though they might be of little use in the present state of military science, the presence of "England's wooden walls" at the stations of Spithead and St. Helen's, renders all local defences needless.
_Geology, Agriculture, and Zoology_.
The island presents many rare geological phenomena: and from its smallness, easy access, and the various nature of its coasts, offers an admirable field for scientific investigation.
One peculiarity deserves to be particularly noticed; namely, the extraordinary state in which the FLINTS are found in the great range of chalk hills,--for all those in regular beds, are broken into pieces in every direction, from two or three inches long, to an almost impalpable powder; and yet show no other indication of their fracture than very fine lines, until the investing chalk be removed, when they fall at once to pieces! But the separate flints or nodules in the body of the chalk strata are not so: which led the late Sir H. Englefield to conjecture, that the phenomenon was caused in the moment of the immense concussion which subverted the whole mass of strata, and placed them in their present nearly vertical position.
Another interesting circumstance in the geological structure of the Isle of Wight, is a series of strata, vertical or highly inclined, which run across the middle of it from east to west; while the strata on each side are _horizontal_; they consist of ... a very thick stratum of clay and sand (observable at Alum Bay), flinty chalk, chalk without flints, chalk-marle, green sandstone with lime-stone and chert, dark-grey marle, and ferruginous sand.
A PROGRESSIVE CHANGE is evidently taking place in the boundary line of the coast--the sea making considerable invasions on the south side, which is exposed to the resistless currents of the ocean; while on the north it is found to be more gradually receding, from the accumulation of sand and shingle drifted and deposited by the less impetuous tides of the Solent Channel.--About Brixton, for instance, between Blackgang Chine and the Freshwater Cliffs, the loss of land has been estimated (from the successive removals of paths and hedges,) to exceed 200 feet in breadth in less than a century; while in the neighbourhood of Ryde it is known that the bed of a valley formerly accessible to the sea is now rather above its highest level; and even in 1760, when Fielding visited the island, the coast there is described by him as a wide disgusting waste of mud, which is now covered with an increasing layer of sand, sufficiently firm to bear wheel-carriages; and no doubt but in process of time there will be a great accession to the beach, from the constant though slow operation of the same causes--denuding on the one side, and reciprocally accumulating on the other.
Good Stone of various qualities is found in most parts of the island: and with that procured from the quarries of Binstead, the body of Winchester Cathedral was built. All the houses along the Undercliff are constructed with a beautiful kind of freestone procured on the spot.
Extensive pits are worked in the downs for the chalk, which is used for manure, burning into lime, &c. A stratum of coals was formerly believed to run through the central downs, and Sir Rt. Worsley actually sunk a shaft for it near Bembridge; his labors however were but poorly rewarded. Veins of coarse iron ore have also appeared in some parts of the island.
The finest white sand in the kingdom is obtained from the sea-cliffs at Freshwater, and is carried in great quantities to the glass and porcelain manufactories. Excellent brick-earth abounds in almost every part of the island: common native alum, copperas, specimens of petrifactions, and many curious varieties of sea-weeds, are picked up on the shores; in the cliffs and quarries are found numerous beautiful fossil remains,--especially oysters and other bivalve shells, of a vast size.
The central range of chalk hills divides the island into two nearly distinct regions, the soil and strata being essentially different,--a stiff clay predominating on the north side, which is extensively covered with wood, while the south side is principally of a light sandy soil or mellow loam, and being exceedingly fertile, the whole tract is almost exclusively employed in tillage.
In geological terms, the north is formed of the Eocene or freshwater deposits: and the south of the Cretaceous or oceanic, except where the Wealden exhibits itself at Sandown and Brixton bays.--Though affording a great variety of soil, the island is