Victorian photo #27: Pulpit Rock, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight (100 Gems of English Scenery)

From ‘One Hundred Gems of English Scenery’, 1901

The old church has already found a place in this series, and the beauties of the neighbourhood have been outlined, but to properly paint in words the beauty of the Undercliff is clearly impossible.

Better to let the pictures speak for themselves. On the north side of the road the visitor will find a choice of interesting places, including the famous Pond, the 100 Steps, and Balaam’s Path, which, as its name indicates, is only a path fit for very sure-footed animals, and along which the visitor will come to the singular detached mass of limestone rock, with a cross on the top, called the Pulpit Rock, which for many years has been a landmark and centre of attraction to tourist and photographer.

The wealth of luxuriant foliage and huge specimens of flowering plants, which flourish in the shelter of the cliffs, form a great part of the charm of the loveliest island in England.

Pulpit Rock, Bonchurch, was so called because according to legend St Boniface preached from there in 710. The path there was certainly steep. When George Millman visited in 1892 (see The Millman Letters), he wrote:

…we had a regular knee-bending job over this, had to traverse 17 stone steps, round & round, up through rocks & cavities, until just to our left we glided by the Pulpit Rock.

It appears that Pulpit Rock is now on private land and may not be open to the public.