Pilot the Isle of Wight: Bembridge Ledge to Cowes

Navigational tips and beauty spots around the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight.

Bembridge to Cowes

St Helen’s Fort

A popular anchorage used by the Royal Navy. Photo: Peter Bruce

Another of Palmerston’s follies, St Helen’s Fort was finished in 1880 in St Helen’s Roads, which was an anchorage frequently used by the Royal Navy because of its proximity to Portsmouth and the quality of the spring water at St Helen’s. The fort has a pump room and a well shaft that reaches down 170ft below the seabed. At the lowest tide of the year, usually in August, Bembridge residents walk to the Fort in an event that is organised entirely by word of mouth.

  1. 1. Introduction
  2. 2. Bembridge Ledge
  3. 3. Around Bembridge to Seaview
  4. 4. St Helen's Fort
  5. 5. Priory Bay
  6. 6. The Debnigo
  7. 7. Ryde - the loss of the Royal George
  8. 8. Player's Beach
  9. 9. Quarr Abbey
  10. 10. Along Peel Bank
  11. 11. King's Quay Creek
  12. 12. Osborne Bay
  13. 13. Old Castle Point
  14. 14. Saunders-Roe
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