The Dropping Rock

similar elsewhere

Another Blank, Missing and Empty Thing - another rock disappeared from history - the Dropping Rock, a spring that was formerly a well-known fixture of St George's Down, near Blackwater, a couple of miles south of Newport, Isle of Wight. It's the subject of one of the poems in Albert Midlane's 1860 The Vecta Garland, and Isle of Wight souvenir.

The timeline of Chad's Rock

Another post inspired by the interesting category History of Blank, Missing and Empty Things at John Ptak's blog Ptak Science Books: the fate of "Chad's Rock" (aka Chad Rock), a picturesque monolith on the Isle of Wight Undercliff that regularly appears in paintings and photos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but which no longer exists.

Devon cliff faces

I quite like Goodrington Sands, Torbay (see Coast: Brixham to Paignton - part 2). While it's a popular beach, it's not as full-on commercial as Paignton itself, and the northern end - Goodrington & Youngs Park - has areas of definite quaintness, even gentility. In connection, I found a pleasant postcard in Topsham's antiques emporium highlighting a radical development around 1930.

Langstone Rock - to the smugglers' caves (perhaps)

Concluding a trio of posts about Langstone Rock at Dawlish Warren: today I had a second look, with the help of the low spring tide, and found a surprising detail not visible from any of the viewpoints looking down - a perfectly straightforward way into the cove between the two sections of the Rock.

Devon rocks - Erme estuary

Yesterday - thanks to a friend who gave us a lift - we walked a short section of the South West Coast Path above the Erme estuary, South Hams, a location with multiple designations: South Devon Heritage Coast, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Langstone Rock - live visit

After yesterday's virtual and historical tour of Langstone Rock (Langstone Cliff - civilised lunch and a missing elephant), today we walked from Dawlish Warren to Dawlish, and had a look at the real thing.

Langstone Cliff - civilised lunch and a missing elephant

I recently went to a Ladies' Probus lunch at the Langstone Cliff Hotel, above Dawlish Warren (it was the President's Lunch, to which spouses are invited). It's a very pleasant location, with a view across to the High Land of Orcombe and Sandy Bay. It also has a verandah perfect for 3D photography, and some interesting coastal history nearby.

Chimney Rock

In highly unstable landslip terrains, you nevertheless find the occasional long-standing feature. Chimney Rock, just to the west of Lyme Regis, is an example: one that has been in the guidebooks for nearly two centuries.

The Devil's Bridge, Steephill

Further to the previous post about Charles Tomkins' 1796 A Tour to the Isle of Wight: a handful of topographic accounts mention an interesting landform at Steephill, Isle of Wight, called the Devil's Bridge.

Undermount

You find some intriguing details in Victorian accounts of the Isle of Wight:

Undermount, Bonchurch
This beautiful demesne of H. Mitchell, Esq., is situated in one of the most charming parts of the Undercliffe, screened from the north and east by lofty hills and ivy-covered rocks. It is approached from the main road by a unique carriage drive forming a tunnel cut through the solid rock of a lofty crag, the tunnel being decorated with shells and antlers.
- Journal of Horticulture and Practical Gardening - Volume 31 - Page 419, 1895

The Undermount tunnel

The tunnel still exists as does Undermount, subdivided, and Clare and I had a delightful opportunity to step into its history last Sunday, when the present owners of one of the houses very kindly showed us the grounds. As I've mentioned, Bonchurch is built on tumbled landslip terrain, one of whose features is The Mount, a large slipped mass of rock capped with a crag. The shelter of its southern coastal-facing side appealed to 19th century developers, favouring it as a site for one of Bonchurch's more impressive Victorian mansions.

View from George Brannon's Vectis Scenery, 1848 New Edition
(scan from gmwarner.com) - Undermount is the left-hand foreground house.

The house's history is altogether interesting, a microcosm of the 19th century gentrification of Bonchurch. According to the British Listed Buildings entry for the western wing of the building (ID 420595) it was originally a farmhouse, converted into a cottage orné around the 1820s, then further modified. This would match the timeline of the first major personality to put a stamp on the location: Joseph Hadfield, a silk merchant of Northern stock, who settled in Bonchurch with his wife Amelia Caroline around 1800. He bought the leasehold on a couple of farms, Marepool and Macket(t)s, and made various changes to Bonchurch; Alan Champion's monograph Notes on the relationships between the families of Worsley, Tollemache, and Hadfield in the Isle of Wight mentions he built another house, Upper Mount (now called Peacock Vane) and drained the withy bed that is now Bonchurch pond. Hadfield is commemorated in one of the names for the summit crag on the Mount, "Hadfield's Lookout".

Detail from print in Brannon's Vectis Scenery, 1840 edition
This view shows both Hadfield's Lookout (left, with flagpole)
and Pulpit Rock (centre, with cross)

Hadfield moved on to Ventnor, selling the lease to James White, vicar-turned-writer and friend of Charles Dickens, adding it to the latter's property portfolio that comprised basically all of Bonchurch. White had married Rosa Hill, heiress to the manor of Bonchurch, and then embarked on a series of legal manoeuvres to overturn a clause in his father-in-law's will forbidding breaking up the estate, thus leading to wholesale development of Bonchurch from the 1830s. This wasn't a universally-liked move: the Isle of Wight populariser George Brannon and the poet John Gwilliam both protested this in print (see previously Brannon on Bonchurch and ... in the Isle of Wight #1).

White's problems with the estate would probably make a long saga, starting with a private local Act of Parliament, passed 21st June 1836, entitled An Act to enable the Reverend James White and the Persons for the Time being entitled to certain Estates situate in the Parish of Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight in the County of Southampton, devised by the will of Charles Fitzmaurice Hill, Esquire, deceased, to grant Building Leases (see The Law Journal), via at least one piece of litigation over rights of way - White vs Leeson - to a second Private Act in 1843, An Act to confirm Two existing Leases ... etc. In modern terms, it appears at first glance a piece of egregious land profiteering, but such private Acts to overturn land settlements were pretty routine in the 19th century; inheritors of long-standing estates were often stuck with large tracts of land that were inherently unprofitable (because of restrictions on profitable land development such as building) and impossible to break up for sale. The situation only ended with the 1882 Settled Land Act, that allowed landowners to sell more or less as they pleased (see Great estates and Private Acts). Anyhow, that's another story.

Compton Undermount

The next major change to the location came from Sir John and Lady Pringle (Sir John Pringle of Stitchill 5th Bt. and his second wife Lady Elizabeth née Elizabeth Maitland Campbell). They bought the house in the early 1850s and made extensive upgrades in 1857: the access tunnel through The Mount, the lodge outside, and a taller, sumptuous, new western wing to the house, Compton Undermount, with a conservatory winter garden (see again the Listed Buildings entry, and also page 90, The Isle of Wight, David Wharton Lloyd, Nikolaus Pevsner, 2006).

Queen Victoria is said to have stayed a night at Compton in 1857, but I haven't yet verified this. I get the impression a deal of doubtful information has accreted to the history of Compton via news articles and estate agents' hype. One website says Lady Elizabeth had been Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria: it seems not; this was a different Lady Elizabeth Campbell née Baillie. Nor was she, as another site says, a bridesmaid of Queen Victoria (their names are well-documented - see this Esoteric Curiosa blog reprint from Lady's Realm, 1899). Another detail that so far doesn't check out is that Sir John Pringle was connected to the "Pringle fashion company": again it seems not, as Sir John was an ex-military man, and the founder of Pringle of Scotland wasn't anything to do with the Pringle aristocrats, but one Robert Pringle, a thoroughly self-made entrepreneur who started out as an apprentice stocking maker. I think more research is needed on the precise VR connection.

Undermount tunnel

Over the 19th century, the location acquired a high reputation for its gardens ...

Early one evening we passed through a gate under an arch, or rather through a tunnel of massive masonry. It looked as if we might be making our way into a dungeon. At the other end, however, we emerged into a wide and lovely expanse of lawn, grove, and garden ; here a large circle inclosed with a wire screen, the screen wreathed with flowering plants ; there a high wall lined with wall-fruit — peaches, apricots, apples, and pears ; here a path disappears in a bower of branches interlacing overhead, and at the other end leading you out on the edge of the cliff above the sea ; and in the midst of all a mansion, with greenhouse full of fine tropical plants, and festoons of delicate vines hanging from the ceiling.
- WP Breed, Aboard and abroad in eighteen hundred and eighty four, 1885, Internet Archive ID aboardabroadinei00bree

.... particularly under the ownership of Henry Michell, who bought the house from the late Pringles' estate in 1883 (ref: The Times, Friday, Jan 01, 1909).

Undermount

The front commands a splendid view of the  English Channel, as seen through the stately elms and lesser ornamental foliage plants which abound to the water's edge. Passing through ranges of orchid houses, ferneries, stoves, and vineries, stopping only to notice a splendid house of maidenhair ferns in varieties, we reach a vinery containing chrysanthemums reserved for exhibition cut blooms. Mr. Frank Orchard, the gardener, is at home amongst the chrysanthemums. Having previously won honours in other parts of the country, he entered for and secured the Isle of Wight challenge cup last year for thirty-six cut blooms, and is now preparing for the final tussle next week at Ryde. The collection here comprises about 700 plants of all sections. The principal show is in the magnificent conservatory attached to the residence, amidst lofty palms and tree ferns, and overhung with Bougainvilleas, Cobaias, Jasminums, and other creepers which hang suspended from the iron girders that support the dome. The effect is grand, and the approach to the reception rooms is flanked on the right and left by two well-arranged groups on a raised stone balcony, others being dotted amongst the ferns and Pr???s, a group of Pompons around the fountain basin beneath, and well-trained standard chrysanthemums on the balcony steps, the whole being very effective far into the winter months.
-  Journal of Horticulture and Practical Gardening, Volume 31, age 419, 1895

The Garden at Undermount Bonchurch Isle of Wight with St Boniface in the distance
A Foord Hughes, Wikigallery, permitted non-commercial use

Moving on to the 20th and 21st centuries, the house saw a temporary decline, weathering military use in World War 2 (when the tunnel was sandbagged and used as Bonchurch's air raid shelter), temporary conversion into flats, and storm damage. It has now been extensively renovated and turned into private homes. Compton Undermount's award-winning restoration by Charmian Shenton has been featured in a number of newspapers and magazines (e.g. the Isle of Wight County Press); and Undermount, the eastern wing that we saw, is a sensitive modern adaptation, with beautiful gardens leading down to the communal clifftop lawn with private steps to the sea. Part of it is a superior holiday let: check out Undermount, Bonchurch.

My particular interest in the location sprang from topographical descriptions, and it was very strange to see that the tunnel's peculiar decorations still exist. They're not merely shells and antlers, but also fossils, clusters of flints, and the odd skull.

A cow skull, I think

The owner of the end house at Undermount, Richard Dewhurst, also showed us up the path - distinctly risky in places due to ivy-obscured sheer drops - to the summit of The Mount. While it's quite overgrown, there are still good views across Upper Bonchurch to St Boniface Down above, and steps lead up to Hadfield's crudely-castellated lookout at the summit of the crag (John Albin's 1831 A Companion to the Isle of Wight mentions that Hadfield had "placed a flag-staff on the summit of [this] most picturesque rock, and built a small battery adjoining to it"). By 1849, this was gone:

In the grounds of one of the latter, Undermount, stands an isolated rock, surmounted by its mimic battery and flagstaff, which has formed one of the themes of admiration of nearly every guide-book hitherto published. The little fort is, however, now dismantled, and its tiny artillery, whose iron mouths used to breathe their sulphurous defiance to each petty privateer of the enemy which came in sight during the last war, is now removed from its proud station, and has become the occupant of a saluting battery in the grounds of Mountfield, on the cliff below.
- The 'Undercliff' of the Isle of Wight : its climate, history, and natural productions, George A. Martin, M.D., London : J. Churchill, 1849 (Hathi Trust).

I only just made the connection: Hadfield's Lookout gets a mention in John Neal's 1830 Authorship: A Tale - Internet Archive ID authorshipatale01nealgoog - in which the narrator climbs a rock with a flagstaff in "Bowchurch", and marvels at the landscape. See, previously, A New Englander hates on the Sandrock.

The view was delightful, and rich, and various, and like nothing I had ever seen before. I remember thus much, and I remember too that whatever there was to see, I saw, and that before the day was well over, I (But for my life I cannot say now whether it was while I stood on that rock or after I had peeped over and crawled away) among a multitude of things, the memory of which had escaped me before my head was on the pillow that very night, I saw — a huge high wall— so huge as to appear like a part of the foundations of our earth, and so high that I mistook a white cloud sailing over the top, for smoke. It was like the vapor that follows the discharge of cannon that are too far off to be heard ; a wall stretching over leagues and leagues of territory ; cottages underneath my very feet (I could have jumped through the roofs) grouped here and there among the trees and the rocks and the gushing water and the wild shrubbery, as if they were copied from old pictures ; on every side of me the bulwarks of an empire, great square blocks which appeared as if they had been wrought by the hands, or piled up where they lay by the power of giants ; here a cottage or two garnered up in the holes of the rocks, and there half a dozen more literally folded among the ruins of what appeared like the overthrown barrier of a huge citadel — a barrier overthrown by flood, or by earthquake, or by fire from above — not by the wrath of mortal man ; here a heap of the greenest foliage I ever saw, overhanging a roof, the loveliest I ever saw (not seven feet high), and a little bit of smooth rich turf, yet greener than the foliage of the young trees, and as lively as the plumage of a parrot — ' Green to the very door ' — and hedged about with flowering shrubs and great rocks, much higher than the roof, and scattered clumps of blackberry — bushes, with never a bit of a pathway to be seen, so that you could not conceive how the people got there alive, nor how they got the children there that you saw laughing and rolling about, or hiding in the shadow of the rocks, or creeping half sideways over the smooth turf.

All this I did see, and I saw it either while I was on the top of that rock, holding by the flag-staff, afraid to move lest the rock should tip over among the houses, and afraid to let go, lest I should be blown away ; or I saw it, after I had escaped ... 

I've featured this image before ...

Bonchurch: Undermount Rock aka Flagstaff Rock aka Hadfield's Lookout
from Rambles in the Isle of Wight, John Gwilliams, 1844

... but here's the real thing:

Hadfield's Lookout aka Flagstaff Rock, Bonchurch

at the summit

View across Upper Bonchurch

View over lodge: the railings mark the edge of a major drop to the driveway

The afternoon - we'd previously taken in The Devil's Chimney and The Chink -was a delightful piece of closure on one of my long-standing Isle of Wight topographic obsessions.

I'd like to thank again Richard and Maxine Dewhurst for very generously showing us around, and giving permission for photography and writing up the visit.

Compton Undermount, the tunnel and Hadfield's lookout are private property and not open to the general public.

See www.undermountbonchurch.co.uk for details of accommodation.

Addendum, May 2014: I just found this nice image from Charles Tomkins' 1796 A Tour to the Isle of Wight, which actually shows Hadfield's Lookout.

- Ray

The Devil's Chimney and The Chink

View Larger Map

On Sunday we revisited the Bonchurch area, and started with the descent into the East End landslip.

For those who haven't seen previous posts on this topic, the topographical situation here - southern Isle of Wight - is that harder Cretaceous strata lie over softer ones, giving a landslip terrain capped by a sheer escarpment of chalk crags, some 7 miles long. At a handful of locations, paths descend from the top of this escarpment through deep clefts in the rock (probably natural joints enlarged), and this visit took in two of them, in the section called the East End landslip, whose terrain dates from slips in 1800 and 1818.

The Southern Vectis No. 3 bus (Newport via Ventnor to Ryde) stops at a car park on Leeson Road, on the slope of Nansen Hill, and it's a short walk to the Smugglers Haven cafe either through lightly wooded parkland or the walled scenic path runs along the edge of the clifftop. Hereabouts there are two stiff descents by steps down rock clefts into the landslip and coastal path below: The Devil's Chimney is to the south, accessed from the corner of the Smuggler's Haven lawn; but there's a second one to the north, almost adjacent to the car park. Its official name appears to be The Chink, though discussions among Isle of Wight aficionados on YouTube have also called it The Son of Devil's Chimney

I checked out The Chink first. This being a bit of a geeky side-excursion, Clare declined on this one. It's a steep but short descent, with a handy seat at the foot of the first steps, giving a view up impressive ash tree roots. Click any image to enlarge.

And on to The Devil's Chimney proper. This is a considerably more spectacular affair, very deep, dark and narrow: I need to take off my rucksack to get around the final bend at the foot.

Probably the only shot to convey just how dark it is

This brings us to the point I reached by ascending from the coastal path a year ago - see The Landslip - Bonchurch to Shanklin. I didn't realise at the time how near I got to The Devil's Chimney; its narrow lower end is invisible from the path until you're very close.

This also completes the trio of publicly accessible rock staircases cutting through the Undercliff crags: The Devil's Chimney; The Chink; and The Chimney in Upper Bonchurch. I suspect these names are surprisingly recent: despite the Isle of Wight County Archaeology and Historic Environment Service's Historic Environment Action Plan: The Undercliff referring to the location as ...

Developed in Victorian times as a picturesque woodland walk, complete with the natural horrors of ‘The Devil’s Chimney’ and ‘The Chink'  as well as the romantic ‘Wishing Stone’.

... I can't find any references to these names going back more than a few decades. Neither the Devil's Chimney nor The Chink feature on the 1908 Ordnance Survey map, but first appear, unnamed, on the 1947. The Devil's Chimney isn't named on OS maps until the 1970s. Nor have I been able to find any old images or old accounts of either (though there are plenty of postcards of the "Stone Seat" in the landslip below). It's a puzzle; do any readers know any more about the history?

Bonchurch. Ventnor in the Distance - from The History and Topography of the Isle of Wight (1864)
Slightly above the centre of the picture, you can just about see Pulpit Rock with its summit cross.

At least one other rock staircase certainly did exist, as I quoted previously from Edmund Venables's 1867 A guide to the Undercliff of the Isle of Wight, Shanklin and Blackgang ...

Passing the gate of Cliffden (Gr. Hibbert, Esq.) one of the loveliest of the many lovely spots in this place where all is beautiful, and the Rectory, we reach the Upper Terrace, and the Hotel ('Ribbands'), which has acquired a well-deserved reputation as one of the best and most comfortable in England, and offers an admirable winter retreat to such as are indisposed to incur the trouble of housekeeping. The grounds at the back command some fine views, and the heights may be reached from them by a rough rock staircase.
...
Several of the houses on the Upper Terrace enjoy the same privilege with the Hotel of scaling the cliffs by one of the rifts that seam its face. There is also a public path or "chimney" at the back of Woodbine Cottage, but so steep and so badly kept as to deter all but expert clamberers.

... but the current state is unknown.

See Undermount for our continuation of the afternoon's walk.

Update: 7th January 2015
I was interested to see that there's a detailed description of the Devil's Chimney as a location in Ali Sparkes' children's SF thriller Unleashed: Mind Over Matter (Oxford University Press, 2013). See the Google Books preview.

- Ray

Pulpit Rock

Pulpit Rock, title page of Brannon's 1856
Picture of the Isle of Wight

Pulpit Rock, Bonchurch, from WB Cooke (1849)

Further to the previous post, I just love this garden description from William Bernard Cook's 1849 Bonchurch, Shanklin & the Undercliff, and their vicinities (Internet Archive bonchurchshankli00cook). 

PULPIT ROCK
The Magnificent View from its Castellated Tower described.

This superb scene, in its varied character and richness of foliage, unquestionably surpasses any other spot in the Island, and will be appreciated by all who possess any taste for the sublime and beautiful. The following description may give the reader some idea of its grandeur.

Immediately adjoining the castellated tower, though at a somewhat lower situation, appears the Pulpit Rock itself, forming the boldest feature in the view — its horizontal ledges weatherbeaten and honeycombed, while the interstices between them are marked in the darkest shade. The crag juts forth beyond its parent cliff, and seems to be almost suspended in the air, while, stained as it is by various coloured lichens, it glows in sunlight in the richest hue. On its summit is placed a rustic wooden cross.

The head of this singular rock was formerly surrounded by a wooden enclosure, to which was appended a slight bridge, that gave access to visitors for beholding the neighbouring scenery, and hence it took its name. The prospect now afforded from the castellated tower above it, is enjoyed with much greater facility, and yields a still more enchanting and comprehensive view.
...
Immediately below us, are seen the curiously terraced grounds of Pulpit Rock, so remarkable for their charming variety. By cutting away and removing a large portion of the cliff, a lawn of considerable extent has been obtained, where Nature had previously presented nothing but a rugged steep. Several caverns (one of them of a large size and of most extraordinary formation) have been opened, by removing the earth and fragments of stone with which they have been filled up since the disruption of the cliff.

In one of the caverns is a most perfect and unique specimen of the beak of an Ammonite, which was removed while excavating the rock for the building of Rosemount, a villa contiguous to Pulpit Rock. From hence the handsome Villa, named Pulpit Rock, is seen below. A mossy lawn of the finest verdure, sloping to the south and west, bounded on its northern side by overhanging rocks, amidst which, geraniums, mignionette, verbenas, petunias, and a variety of other greenhouse plants flourish all winter long. Parterres of fragrant flowers, and walks adorned at their sides by the choicest shrubs, add to the charming variety of the scene ; whilst winding paths, along terraced slopes, lead to sequestered alcoves, rocky grots, and shady bowers ; and beneath are seen trees of luxuriant growth overhanging the vale. In a flower-garden belonging to these extensive grounds, is a fine old Italian-marble Vase, which formerly embellished the gardens of the late Earl of Dysart, whose thatched Cottage then stood where Steephill Castle now lifts its embattled Tower.

The western Pathway from the tower descends through a woody steep to the foot of the Pulpit Rock, where is placed a sheltered seat commanding a most lovely view of Bonchurch; the immense variety of luxuriant evergreens and ivy rendering the prospect, even in winter, ever verdant, giving it the appearance of perpetual summer.

The eastern descent from the tower leads to a most picturesque natural Archway, through which a pathway has been constructed, which enables persons to observe how the rocks hurled from the solid cliff, have been arrested in their downward course, so as to form this singular specimen of Nature's masonry.

Near the grape-vines which are here trained against the rock, may be noticed the four-foot bed of freestone, (much prized for building purposes,) whose outline is strongly marked by deeply-indented adjacent ledges, resulting from the very soft nature of the intervening strata, and the hard and unyielding character of the beds of Rag, which lie above and below. Higher up, the worn, weather-beaten, and far-projecting crags of flinty strata, termed Shatterwit, forcibly arrest the attention of the beholder, and contribute much, by their rugged masses, to impart a romantic grandeur to the scene, reminding us of the wild penciling of Salvator Rosa.

A romantic and delicious spring of the purest crystal water gushes forth in the lower part of Pulpit-Rock Grounds, falling into a small reservoir containing gold and silver fish.

Between the ivy-clumps situated on a level with the House, we have a glimpse of the Entrance Gates of Pulpit Rock, the piers of which are surmounted by two finely moulded Newfoundland Dogs, after Landseer's celebrated picture, entitled, "A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society."

We have great pleasure in noticing, that access to these grounds was immediately granted, on delivering our card to the gardener.

Those were the days! It sounds twee but quite impressive, and it inspired Albert Midlane to verse in his 1860 The vecta garland, and Isle of Wight souvenir:

The Pulpit Rock ! The Pulpit Rock!
It is mounted up on high,
Where the winged choir in numbers flock,
And trill sweet harmony :
And the ivy green Is clambering seen,
Up its sides, time worn, and hoary ;
 As there it stands,
Where the zephyr fans
A rock in its native glory ! 

And that's just one verse of it; see the Hathi Trust archive for the rest.

Midlane says elsewhere (Remarkable Rocks, Albert Midlane, The Baptist Children's Magazine, ed. Joseph Foulkes Winks, 1853) that it was generally known as "Leigh [sic] Richmond's Pulpit Rock", though he wasn't able to discover why. Ditto: and I haven't been able even to verify that it was. Legh Richmond is author of the classic Island-based religious collection Annals of the Poor and that makes no mention of the rock. I've been able to find only a single example of it called this name, and that in an account by an American visitor, James Cook Richmond of Rhode Island.

Bonchurch village is a beautiful rustic spot, full of a variety of charms, perhaps surpassing all the rest, and I enjoyed the view from Legh Richmond's Pulpit Rock, a lone cliff, before 1 clambered up the steep sides and to the very top of St. Boniface's Down, and then wondered how I ever found my way to Ventnor.
- The Rhode Island Cottage (James Cook Richmond, Newport: R. J. Denyer, 1849, Internet Archive rhodeislandcotta01rich).

Pulpit Rock, 1850 print: note the Jacob's Ladder steps

The Francis Frith site has a photo of Pulpit Rock circa 1883; the rock itself ceases to appear on maps in the mid-20th century - unsurprising, as it looks extremely precarious - though a Grade II listed villa on the grounds below it is still extant. It's directly adjacent to Balaam's Path, mentioned in the previous post, so the rock would have been directly to the north - here - just below the present A3055 Leeson Road. The cliffline and its interesting geological features, all along this section, have become heavily obscured by trees. I'd love to have a mooch round the back of some of these gardens, but I doubt "delivering my card to the gardener" would be sufficient credentials nowadays!

 Ventnor from Pulpit Rock: from SGW Benjamin's The Atlantic Islands as Resorts of Health and Pleasure, 1878 (Internet Archive ID atlanticislandsa01benj).

- Ray