A
chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows through coastal cliffs to the sea. Typically these are soft eroding cliffs such as sandstone or clays. The word
chine originates from the
SaxonOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
"Cinan" meaning a gap or yawn.
The word is in use in central southern
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
; in
East DevonEast Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Sidmouth.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Honiton with the urban districts of Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Ottery St. Mary, Seaton, Sidmouth along with Axminster Rural...
,
DorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town has been Dorchester since at least 1305, situated in the south of the county at . Between its extreme points Dorset measures from east to west and north to south, and has an area of...
,
HampshireHampshire , sometimes historically Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, , or the County of Southampton, is a county on the south coast of England. The county borders , Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, and particularly the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
. In
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
, Seaton Chine is at the western end of the West Walk esplanade,
SeatonSeaton is a seaside town in East Devon on the south coast of England. It faces onto Lyme Bay, to the west of the mouth of the River Axe with red cliffs to one side and white cliffs on the other. Axmouth and Beer are nearby...
.
A
chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows through coastal cliffs to the sea. Typically these are soft eroding cliffs such as sandstone or clays. The word
chine originates from the
SaxonOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
"Cinan" meaning a gap or yawn.
The word is in use in central southern
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
; in
East DevonEast Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Sidmouth.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Honiton with the urban districts of Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Ottery St. Mary, Seaton, Sidmouth along with Axminster Rural...
,
DorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town has been Dorchester since at least 1305, situated in the south of the county at . Between its extreme points Dorset measures from east to west and north to south, and has an area of...
,
HampshireHampshire , sometimes historically Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, , or the County of Southampton, is a county on the south coast of England. The county borders , Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, and particularly the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
. In
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
, Seaton Chine is at the western end of the West Walk esplanade,
SeatonSeaton is a seaside town in East Devon on the south coast of England. It faces onto Lyme Bay, to the west of the mouth of the River Axe with red cliffs to one side and white cliffs on the other. Axmouth and Beer are nearby...
. In Dorset, west of
BournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the Borough of Bournemouth, England. The town has a population of 163,444 according to the 2001 Census, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is the largest town on the south coast and the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
are found Branksome Chine, Alum Chine, Middle Chine and Durley Chine, and east towards
BoscombeBoscombe is a suburb of the much larger Bournemouth. Boscombe is by the sea and it has its own pier, which was built in 1888, with a unique aircraft-wings design added in the 1950s at the entrance which is a listed building.-Geography and administration:...
, Honeycombe Chine. Becton Bunny and Chewton Bunny are other examples of chines near
Barton-on-SeaNew Milton is a market town in south west Hampshire, England. The town has a high street, which has various shops to suit all residents, and also holds a very successful market every Wednesday. Situated on the edge of the New Forest, the town is about 8 miles west of Lymington town centre and 12...
, Hampshire ("Bunny" being the
New ForestThe New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
term equivalent to "Chine").
There are twenty chines on the Isle of Wight including the popular tourist attraction
Shanklin ChineShanklin Chine is a geological feature and tourist attraction in the town of Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight, England. A wooded coastal ravine, it contains waterfalls, trees and lush vegetation, with footpaths and walkways allowing paid access for visitors, and a heritage centre explaining its...
. All chines are in a state of constant change due to erosion, and the most well-known example,
Blackgang ChineBlackgang Chine is the location of a now-destroyed chine in the soft Cretaceous cliffs near Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, England...
, has been destroyed by landslides and coastal erosion during the 20th century.
Chines appear at the outlet of small river valleys when a particular combination of geology, stream volume and coastal recession rate creates a
knickpointA knickpoint is a term in geomorphology to describe a location in a river or channel where there is a sharp change in channel slope, such as a waterfall or lake, resulting from differential rates of erosion above and below the knickpoint. Differential rates of erosion can result from a change in...
, usually starting at a waterfall at the cliff edge, that initiates rapid erosion and deepening of the stream bed into a gully leading down to the sea.
As the walls of the chines and cliffs of the south coast of the Isle of Wight are so unstable and erode continually, the strata are clearly visible. Chines are therefore very important for their fossil records, their archaeology and the unique flora and fauna, such as invertebrates and rare insects, for which they provide shelter.
There is also some fascinating folklore attached to the chines because of their history with local smuggling, fishing and shipwrecks. Shanklin Chine is also famous for its involvement in the Second World War, when it was used to carry one of the
Operation PlutoOperation Pluto was a World War II operation by British scientists, oil companies and armed forces to construct undersea oil pipelines under the English Channel between England and France. The scheme was developed by Arthur Hartley, chief engineer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company...
pipelines and as training area for the
40 Royal Marine Commando40 Commando RM is a battalion sized formation of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet....
battalion before the 1942
Dieppe RaidThe Dieppe Raid, also known as The Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter or later on Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5:00 AM in the morning and by 9:00 AM...
.
Chines are very dependent on the farmed landscape around them because crops are typically grown right up to the edges of the chines themselves, and water drains into the chines from this farmland.
Chines on the Isle of Wight
Of the twenty named chines on the island, that in
Alum BayAlum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within sight of The Needles. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs.-Geology:...
,
Widdick ChineWiddick Chine is a geological feature on the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Totland.It is a steep coastal gully, which is overgrown with vegetation. The water that used to flow down the slope has been redirected through a pipe which takes it to beach level to...
in
TotlandTotland is a village and civil parish at the western tip of the Isle of Wight. It lies on the coast at Colwell Bay, which is the closest part of the island to the British mainland....
and those in
Colwell BayColwell Bay is a bay in the west of the Isle of Wight. It is located between the towns of Totland and Yarmouth. The bay's northernmost point is Cliff's End the closest point of the Island to the British mainland, with Hurst Castle lying at the end of a long peninsula just 1500 metres to the...
(Colwell Chine, Brambles Chine and Linstone Chine) are in
TertiaryThe Tertiary is a term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.588 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
rocks; the remainder, on the island's south coast, are in
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
. Clockwise from Cowes:
- Shanklin Chine
Shanklin Chine is a geological feature and tourist attraction in the town of Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight, England. A wooded coastal ravine, it contains waterfalls, trees and lush vegetation, with footpaths and walkways allowing paid access for visitors, and a heritage centre explaining its...
- Luccombe Chine
Luccombe Chine is a geological feature and visitor attraction south of the village of Luccombe on the Isle of Wight, England. A wooded coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks, it leads from the clifftop to Luccombe Bay.The...
- Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the location of a now-destroyed chine in the soft Cretaceous cliffs near Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, England...
- New Chine
New Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Chale. It is a sandy coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks...
- Walpen Chine
Walpen Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Chale. It is a sandy coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks...
or Old Walpen Chine
- Ladder Chine
Ladder Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Chale. It is a sandy coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks...
- Whale Chine
Whale Chine is a geological feature near Chale on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. One of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks, it is a narrow and steep coastal ravine dropping 140 feet through Lower Greensand rocks from...
- Shepherd's Chine
Shepherd's Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Little Atherfield.This chine is one of the largest on the Isle of Wight...
- Cowleaze Chine
Cowleaze Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Little Atherfield.This chine is just to the west of the larger Shepherd's Chine...
- Barnes Chine
Barnes Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. The chine lies just to the west of a small rise called Barnes High and south west of the hamlet of Yafford...
- Grange/Marsh Chine
Grange Chine and Marsh Chine form a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. They lie to the south of the village of Brighstone.These two chines form the largest chine feature on the Isle of Wight...
- Chilton Chine
Chilton Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Brighstone...
- Brook Chine
Brook Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies just to the west of the village of Brook. The hamlet of Brookgreen runs along its southern edge....
- Churchill Chine
Churchill Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Brook and just east of Hanover Point. It is a small sandy coastal gully, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks...
- Shippards Chine
Shippards Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Brook and just north of Hanover Point....
- Compton Chine
Compton Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies between the village of Brook to the east and Freshwater Bay to the west. It is a small sandy coastal gully, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous...
- Alum Bay Chine
Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within sight of The Needles. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs.-Geology:...
- Widdick Chine
Widdick Chine is a geological feature on the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Totland.It is a steep coastal gully, which is overgrown with vegetation. The water that used to flow down the slope has been redirected through a pipe which takes it to beach level to...
- Colwell Chine
- Brambles Chine
- Linstone Chine