The Needles
The Needles are the western most point of the Isle of Wight and are a series of chalk stacks produced by the decomposition and wearing away of the rock in the direction of the joints or fissures with which the strata are traversed.

Picturesque
Nearby is Alum Bay , which is home of the famous coloured sand. The sea around the Needles was notorious for shipwrecks so the first lighthouse was built in 1785 on top of the downs. The current one dates from the 1850's. A helicopter pad was added in the 1990's when the lighthouse became automated.

Pinnacles
It is called the 'Needles' because there used to be numerous 'pinnacles' jutting out of the water, one of these was a lofty conical rock, 120 feet high, known as Lot's Wife, which fell into the sea, in 1764, with a crash and a roar audible at Portsmouth harbour 10 miles away!