ISLE OF WIGHT CHINES: SHANKLIN CHINE – FAMOUS FOR ITS ARTISTIC ASSOCIATIONS AND VITAL ROLE IN WORLD WAR II

Of the 20 or so chines on the Isle of Wight, Shanklin is the most famous, historic, dramatic and spectacular. ‘Chine’ is a local word peculiar to Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It derives from the Middle English chyne, meaning ‘crack’, ‘fissure’ or ‘chasm’. A chine is a deep, narrow ravine cutting through soft sandstone strata on its way from higher ground to the sea. Whereas the 3 Isle of Wight rivers – the Medina, Eastern Yar and The Yar – flow northwards sedately into the Solent, some shorter streams on the South East and South West coasts flow southwards, creating chines by cutting through cliffs on their way to the English Channel. Shanklin was slow to develop. When the artist Charles Tomkins painted the chine in 1809, there were no buildings on either the clifftop or the foreshore, other than a fishing shed belonging to a local pub landlord. Shanklin Chine opened to the public in 1817 when William Colenutt cut steps through the chine to make it accessible for visitors. Throughout the 19th century, Shanklin increased in popularity reaching its zenith at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Visitors to the chine were a ‘Who’s Who’ of celebrities and literary and artistic figures of the era.

Famous artists had frequented the chine long before William Colenutt had cut the steps. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) – the most popular British artist of the Georgian period – painted the chine in 1785, as did JMW Turner – England’s greatest watercolourist – in 1795. Shanklin Chine was also known to celebrated literary figures of the Georgian period, such as author Jane Austen who declared the chine ‘lovely’ when she visited in 1813. The literary figure most closely connected with Shanklin is the celebrated poet John Keats, who first visited in 1817. He is said to have composed some of his greatest works in the environs of Shanklin.

In 1833, the chine was visited by the future Queen Victoria, who consumed some prawns whilst at Fisherman’s Cottage – which still remains today. Other famous visitors are believed to include:

• Charles Dickens (1848), who set a scene of Our Mutual Friend on the sands of Shanklin
• Charles Darwin (1858), who began the abstract for Origin of the Species in Shanklin
• George Elliot (1859), who wrote: “Shanklin, where we spent a glorious hour in the Chine”.
• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1863)
• Julia Margaret Cameron (who photographed the Chine)
• Karl Marx, who holidayed on the Island in the winters of 1881/82 and 1882/83
• Sir Winston Churchill, who 1st visited the Isle of Wight in 1878

Hopkins wrote:

“Shanklin is a delightful place. The sea is brilliantly coloured and all is calm, bathing delightful, horses and boats to be obtained, walks wild and beautiful, sketches charming, walking tours and excursions, poetic Downs, the lovely Chine, fine cliffs, everything (except odious Fashionables)”.

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Shanklin Chine played a distinguished role in World War II. 40 Commando Royal Marines trained in the chine prior to the sadly unsuccessful wartime raid of Dieppe in 1942, in which the terrain of the chine stood in for the rugged Channel coastline of France. The commandos were stationed in Upper Chine School during the war. In 1944, the chine played a prominent part in PLUTO (Pipe-line Under the Ocean) which was used to supply the D-Day landing forces with fuel. The fuel was stored in a massive 620,000-gallon tank in Hungerberry Copse on high ground on the outskirts of Shanklin, then fed by gravity through the chine to pumping stations in Shanklin and Sandown. The pipeline was constructed in the utmost secrecy, hidden under camouflage netting.

Pumping to the Allied forces in Normandy began on 22nd September 1944, with 56,000 gallons making its way along the English Channel seabed every day. In all, Pluto delivered 172million gallons to the armies of liberation up until VE (Victory in Europe) Day. A section of the pipeline that passed through Shanklin Chine can still be seen alongside the path on the southern side of the Chine.

How would you describe Shanklin Chine? Are there any famous visitors to the chine we may have missed? Let us know in the comments…