The Needles
The Needles are a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about 30 metres (98 ft) out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmost civil parish of the Isle of Wight.
[2][3] The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called Lot's wife, which collapsed in a storm in 1764.
Scenic boat trips operate from Alum Bay that offer close-up views of the Needles and the lighthouse.
The main tourist attractions of the headland itself are the two gun batteries, the experimental rocket testing station, and the four coastguard cottages owned by the National Trust.
[citation needed] A nearby site on High Down was employed in the testing of rockets for the British ICBM programme.
During the peak of activity in the early 1960s some 240 people worked at the complex, while the rockets were built in nearby East Cowes.
In the spring and summer, the Southern Vectis bus company sends open-top buses along a route called The Needles Breezer.
This is because the single track road's position close to the cliff edge is considered dangerous for multiple car use.
[18] At Old Harry Rocks (east of Studland and north of Swanage) these strata lines moving from horizontal to near vertical can be seen from the sea.
A drawing of The Needles by Dutch landscape artist Lambert Doomer (1624–1700), made in 1646, depicts a rock formation with much stouter shape than that shown in Isaac Taylor's 1759 "one inch" map of Hampshire.
