FROM RYDE TO CULVER CLIFF. 123 



being spread out before us on the left, till we 

 approach Yaverland church,* which stands on a 

 little knoll overshadowed by elms, near the foot 

 of Bembridge Downs. From this spot there is ;t 

 narrow road to some fields on the north of the 

 hill, through which a path leads to the brink of 

 the precipitous cliff that overhangs Whitecliff 

 Bay, near the junction of the chalk and eocene 

 strata. Here a very steep foot-track winds down 

 the face of the cliff, which is covered with ferns 

 and brush-wood to the sea-beach. But the main 

 road leads to Bembridge, f and Whitecliff is 

 reached by a walk of nearly two miles along 

 the shore. After much rain, however, the bay 

 is scarcely accessible, for mud and sand-banks 



* Yaverland church is supposed to have been erected in the twelfth or thir- 

 teenth century. It was in this church that Legh Richmond made his first 

 attempt to preach extempore, and com pletel y failed ; though he was after- 

 wards celebrated for the power and eloquence of his extemporaneous dis- 

 courses. This interesting spot is graphically described by Mr. Richmond in 

 ' • The Dairyman's Daughter." " It is pleasantly situated on a rising bank at 

 the foot of a bold chalk hill, and being surrounded by trees, has a rural and 

 retired appearance. Close to the churchyard stands a large and ancient 

 mansion, which was formerly the residence of an opulent and titled family, 

 but has long been appropriated to the use of the estate as a farm-house. Its 

 outward aspect bears considerable remains of ancient grandeur, and gives a 

 pleasing character to the spot of ground on which the church stands. In 

 every direction the roads that lead to this sacred edifice possess distinct but 

 interesting features. One of them ascends between several rural cottages 

 from the sea-shore, which adjoins the lower part of the village street; 

 another winds round the side of the adjacent hill ; and a third leads to the 

 church by a gently rising approach, between high banks covered with young 

 trees, bushes, ivy, hedge-plants, and wild flowers." 



t There is a good hotel at Bembridge, and a passage ferry across the mouth 

 of Blading Haven to St. Helen's. 



G 



