St. Catherine's Oratory

Address: Blackgang Road, Chale, Isle of Wight, PO38 2JB

Photo credit: Sophia Brading

This tall medieval octagonal tower is all that survives of an oratory built here in 1328 as penance by a local landowner, who had plundered church property – casks of white wine – from a ship wrecked nearby. Affectionately known as the Pepperpot, it seems to have been used as a lighthouse, and stands on one of the highest parts of the Isle of Wight. It is part of the Tennyson Heritage Coast, a series of linked cliff-top monuments. A later lighthouse can be seen nearby.