InfoBritain - Travel Through History In The UK :
Alum bay
Alum Bay
Alum Bay: Photo By Debbie Lowless
Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight has one of the most spectacular sequences of rock layers, or strata, in the country. These layers are the remains of mud laid down on ancient sea floors. Over millions of years the mud hardened into rock, and was lifted out of the sea by movements of the Earth's crust. The layers can then be read like a book, telling the story of the distant past. The comparison with a book is particularly apt at Alum Bay because movements of the Earth's crust have tipped the layers on their sides. If you stand on the beach and look up at the cliffs you will see the "volumes" of the story on the shelf in front of you. Let your eye run from right to left and you are travelling forwards through time. Alum Bay can actually show the changes from the world of the dinosaurs to the very different world that followed. Included amongst these are a huge meteorite strike in Central America. Look for the point where a volume of white crumbling chalk stands next to a red volume of clay. The white stripe was laid down in the world of the dinosaurs, while the red stripe was laid down in the world that came after them. Unfortunately the crucial layer showing the actual time of the meteorite strike is missing at Alum Bay. For that you will have to go to Gubbio in Italy, to Tunisia or to the western USA.
The coloured sands of Alum Bay, formed from all those different coloured layers are sold in hour glasses and miniature light houses. There is an amusement park and children's playground at the top of the cliffs. The cliffs themselves, however, are an attraction that often goes unappreciated. They are best viewed after rain, when the colours are at their clearest. The walk down to the beach is a long one, but there is a chair lift available.
Directions: Alum Bay is on the extreme western tip of the Isle of Wight, off the B3322. Click here interactive road and satellite map centred over Alum Bay.