CHAPTER V 

 BROOK AND ATHERFIELD 



To most Sandown Bay is by far the most accessible place 

 in the Island to study the earlier strata ; and for our 

 first geological studies it has the advantage of showing a 

 succession of strata so tilted that we can pass over one 

 formation after another in the course of a short walk. 

 But when we have learnt the nature of geological research, 

 and how to read the record of the rocks, and examined 

 the Wealden and Greensand strata in Sandown Bay, we 

 shall do well, if possible, to make expeditions to Brook 

 and Atherfield, to see the splendid succession of Wealden 

 and Greensand strata shown in the cliffs of the south-west 

 of the Island. It is a lonely stretch of coast, wild and 

 storm-swept in winter. But this part of the Island is 

 full of interest and charm to the lover of Nature and of 

 the old-world villages and the old churches and manor 

 houses which fit so well into their natural surroundings. 

 The villages in general lie back under the shelter of the 

 downs some distance from the shore ; a coastguard station, 

 a lonely farm house, or some fishermen's houses as at 

 Brook, forming the only habitations of man we come to 

 along many miles of shore. Brook Point is a spot of great 

 interest to the geologist. Here we come upon Wealden 

 strata somewhat older than any in Sandown Bay. The 

 shore at the Point at low tide is seen to be strewn with 

 the trunks of fossil trees. They are of good size, some 

 20 ft. in length, and from one to three feet in diameter. 

 They are known as the Pine Raft, and evidently form a 

 mass of timber floated down an ancient river, and stranded 

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