Blackgang Chine
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Blackgang Chine is the location of a natural chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs near Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom.
Unstable terrain due to the underlying Gault Clay strata has resulted in a succession of huge landslips, notably in the 1920s, giving the area a very rugged and spectacular appearance quite atypical of southeast England.
The site is home to the Blackgang Chine amusement park, established in 1843 by Victorian entrepeneur Alexander Dabell, whose descendants have owned it ever since. It is allegedly the oldest theme park in the UK, and famous for its lifesize plastic dinosaurs. Originally a general-purpose scenic and curiosity park, it featured a whale skeleton and landscaped paths down the chine to a waterfall and the beach below. The paths were swept away in the early 1900s, and the continuing coastal erosion has since obliterated the chine itself and forced the owners to repeatedly move the clifftop facilities inland. The park's focus now is themed entertainments for families with young children.
Blackgang is also the name of the nearby village. According to a May 2000 talk to the Isle of Wight Postcard Club by the present owner, Mr Simon Dabell, the etymology is simply "black pathway" (the original appearance of the chine), but the theme park understandably fosters the interpretation of a smuggling origin. Thus visitors to the park are greeted by a gigantic fibreglass smuggler between whose legs they must pass to enter.
Clifftop walks in and around the area give panoramic views of the English Channel and the south-western Isle of Wight coast. Blackgang is also notable for dinosaur fossils and the nudist Blackgang Beach.
External links
- Blackgang Chine Amusement Park Official Website (http://www.blackgangchine.com/)