As we pursue our tour we can trace the course of the Chine (above the head), by the freshness and luxuriant growth of the trees that stand on its narrow banks: and just as we approximate the little parish-church, pass over a bridge thrown across it—but the streamlet itself is almost hidden by wild brushwood and aquatic weeds. The spring-head is a little above the church.
SHANKLIN CHURCH, I.W. And the Road leading to Luccombe & the Undercliff
The Plate represents the church, and a remarkable portion of the road on quitting the village for the back of the island; it is seen ascending circuitously the side of a steep down, between a hanging copse and several groups of the finest ash trees,—one of which (on the left-hand,) has long been celebrated for its amplitude and beauty.
It is quite impossible for language to convey more than a faint idea of the magnificent and interesting prospect which gradually opens to view as the traveller ascends the mountain ridge: the British Channel spreads its blue waters as the boundary on the one side; the greatest portion of the island recedes in the most charming gradations on the other: and the Solent Channel presents the animated appearance of a noble river, crowded with ships of every description; while the opposite coast of Hampshire and Sussex may be traced more or less distinctly for 70 or 80 miles.
A series of pasturing downs stretch for several miles nearly parallel with the sea-coast: of these the nearest is Shanklin—its northern slope being abruptly broken by a fine range of cliff, composed chiefly of gray free-stone feathered by hanging woods, and on the edge of this beautiful precipice stand some very picturesque ruins called ...
COOKE's CASTLE,
COOKE's CASTLE. An ancient ruin on the Appuldurcombe Estate—Isle of Wight.