St Catherine's Point

File:St catherines lighthouse.jpg

The lighthouse at St. Catherine's Point

St. Catherine's Point is the southernmost point on the Isle of Wight. It is located close to the village of Niton.

On nearby St. Catherine's Hill is St. Catherine's Oratory, locally known as the "Pepperpot", a stone lighthouse built in the 1323 by Walter De Godeton. It is Britain's oldest medieval lighthouse .

Reportedly, de Godeton felt guilty for having scavenged wine from the wreck of the St. Marie of Bayonne in Chale Bay. He was ordered, on pain of excommunication, to make amends by building this lighthouse. Fires were lit in the lighthouse tower to warn ships at sea of the presence of the coast.

There was an attached chapel at one time, but it has been long demolished. There is a Bronze Age barrow nearby which was excavated in the 1920s.

A replacement lighthouse was begun in 1785. However it was never completed. Locally this half finished building is known as the "salt pot".

St. Catherine's point is often foggy, so it is not the best location for a lighthouse, but as a weather station the location is fairly suitable.

St. Catherine's Lighthouse

St. Catherine's Lighthouse was built after the wreck of the Clarendon in 1837 to the west of Niton at the foot of the Undercliff. The lighthouse is a 27 metre high white tower with another tower built on the front which contains the old fog signal. It is one of the oldest lighthouses in Great Britain, being first established in 1323. It has a range of 26 nautical miles.

Trinity House provides tours of the lighthouse year round.

External links

• Website with old pictures of the St. Catherines Point on the Isle of Wight
• Weather station information at Met Office
• St. Catherine's Lighthouse - official tour information at Trinity House
• Photos and information on St. Catherine's Lighthouse
• History of St. Catherine's Lighthouse