THE ROAD FROM ST. LAWRENCE TO NITON.
For the succeeding mile and a half, our attention will be called to no one particular object; but we shall have the Undercliff in all its native character, a circumstance which must prove gratifying to those who admire Nature in her own attire,
The reader will be pleased, we have no doubt, with the following brief notice of this part of the coast, by the late celebrated Mrs. Radcliffe:—
"Oct. 15, 1811.—Passed Lord Dysart's beautiful cottage: it stands at some distance from the shore, and has several distinct roofs, well thatched: stands at the head of a winding lawn, with a fine beech-grove, and richly-colored copse. The little parish-church of St. Lawrence, perhaps the smallest in England, stands on a knoll, and terminates the cultivated valley; immediately beyond which we entered upon a scene of the wildest grandeur and solemnity. Many of the ruinous precipices of the upper cliffs project in horizontal strata, yet have perpendicular rents. Some of the shattered masses give the clearest echoes: we stood before one which responded every syllable with an exactness which was truly astonishing.—There is sometimes what may be called an amphitheatre of rock, where all the area is filled with ruins, which are however covered with verdure and underwood, that stretch up the sides with the wildest pomp: and shelter here a cottage, there a villa, among the rocky hillocks."
Passing a gentleman's residence situated below the road on our left, called OLD PARK (not from its display of sylvan honors), we should look out for a romantic ascent in the lofty cliffs called ...
CRIPPLE-PATH:
It is worth examining, being a curious instance of the formation of the bold horizontal crags and ledges which distinguish these hoary precipices. For some distance the path is in a sunken stratum of soft freestone, while the upper ledge of more stubborn rock overhangs it several feet. Having reached the eminence by a rude winding staircase in a rent of the cliff,—we shall be well repaid for our trifling labor, by the beautiful prospect which is disclosed of the Undercliff, spread like an extensive garden immediately under our feet. Many parties walk hence on the edge of the cliffs to Niton, &c.
MIRABLES is another charming villa, through whose luxuriant plantations the road is carried for nearly half a mile, affording a most grateful shade: but, by the bye, at the expense of all prospect.
"Refreshing change, where now the blazing sun?
By short transition we have lost his glare,
And stepp'd at once into a cooler clime."
The house is secluded from our view: it is in the plain cottage style: but the grounds are not surpassed for rock and sylvan beauty by any seat on the coast.
We successively pass through the grounds, close and open, of the three following villas:
THE ORCHARD (on the same side of the road as Mirables, and like it, not open to the public view): a spacious villa in the embellished style, and the grounds immediately in front being formed into a succession of walled terraces, where the grape-vine and the peach find a congenial aspect: the coping too is adorned with a profusion of elegant vases, filled with the choicest flowers, nor is a gentle fountain wanting to complete the Italian beauty of the scene.
Beauchamp, an unpretending residence in the simple cottage style, on the right-hand side of the road, proceeding to Niton: we catch a glimpse of it through the trees.
PUCKASTER COTTAGE, the property of the late James Vine, esq., remarkable for its chaste and appropriate design, as a residence seated amidst colossal rocks, precipices, and wild tufted knolls. The house, the improvements in the grounds, and every decoration, in character,—unity marking the whole: rather an uncommon circumstance, where there is an unceasing desire to give every grace to a favorite scene—and withal, ample scope and means to indulge the wish.
The old road now makes a sudden turn on our right, and here occurs the only considerable break in the upper boundary line of the Undercliff from one end to the other. To the left of us, a considerable extent of land has been laid out and partly disposed of, for the purpose of building on; and new roads made accordingly: but as yet however the speculation has not been carried on with much spirit.
At a short distance we come in front of the garden-wall of a gentleman's villa called Westcliff, a beautiful and well-sheltered spot where the road abruptly divides, the left-hand branch pursuing the tour to Blackgang Chine, and the right to Newport through NITON, a village composed of a number of stone-built thatched cottages, some of which are furnished for lodgings; and has also a decent small inn called the White Lion. The Church is a pretty little object enough, standing at the foot of the down, over which used to be the only direct high-road to Chale and Blackgang Chine.
Continuing on towards the Chalybeate Spring, we pass Westcliff, and come to the Royal Sandrock Hotel, placed in a most beautiful and commanding situation; it will be readily distinguished by its ample verandah, mantled with the choicest creepers.—Next to the Hotel appears Mount Cleeves, a respectable residence near the foot of the cliff, surrounded by huge rocks and craggy mounds:—one of these is adorned by a small obelisk that serves to mark a beautiful feature which would otherwise be overlooked. The cottage-lodge below is a remarkably pretty object.—See the Plate.
This part of the Undercliff is at once picturesque and lively; there being just sufficient houses to give the scenery a cheerful aspect, without intrenching too much on the natural beauties of the place.
We now enter on a scene which gives us a complete picture of the Undercliff in all its genuine lines,—for it was the subject of an extensive landslip in the year 1799, when a tract of about one hundred acres was disturbed, the whole sliding forward in a mass towards the sea, rifting into frightful chasms, and alternately rising and falling like the waves of the sea: a cottage was overturned, but fortunately no lives were lost.
THE UNDERCLIFF, Between the Sandrock Hotel & the Chalybeate Spring,—affording the best idea of the romantic character of that part of the Isle of Wight.
The annexed Plate of "the Undercliff, as it appears between the Sandrock Hotel and Blackgang Chine," is introduced in order to give an idea of the general aspect of this singular tract: the wall-like precipice which is the land-boundary rises abruptly on the right: the intermediate space to the sea-shore is broken into a series of craggy knolls and dells: the carriage-road threading its way between immense masses of the fallen cliff,—now conducted along the margin of a dangerous slope or precipice; and now descending into a theatre of detached rocks and wild vegetation; but even here, though the softer charms of scenery be wanting, it proves that ...
—"Whether drest or rude,
Wild without art, or artfully subdued,
Nature in every form inspires delight."
The individual objects in the neighbourhood of Niton, calling for particular remark, are few; notwithstanding the general aspect of the scenery is strikingly wild and sombre. The Light-house will force itself on our attention: the Chalybeate Spring ought not to be passed by unnoticed; but the crowning feature of the district is Blackgang Chine, a scene of the most terrific grandeur.