They are known worldwide – depicted on stamps, printed on tea towels and pictured on millions of postcards. To many people the Needles, the row of chalk stacks at its western tip, symbolise the Isle of Wight.

More than just a beauty spot, the Needles have played a crucial part in the Island’s history – a strategic military emplacement, a key venue in the history of modern communications and even a place in the space race.

The Needles are a reminder that thousands of years ago the Island and mainland were
connected, with the chalk downs of West Wight continuing into what is now the
county of Dorset. Why the Needles? One theory is they appear like a line of needles sticking up from the sea to sailors heading in from the south west. Another that a previous stack, 120 feet high and known as Lot’s Wife, looked like a needle. It collapsed in 1764 with a crash that is reputed to have been heard as far away as Southampton.

One thing is certain – they spelt danger. A lighthouse was built on the clifftop as early
as the 18th century. A fairly major problem for a lighthouse – the fact that it was not
always visible – meant that it was replaced. The present one was completed in 1859.
Once manned by three staff who lived there for months at a time, it is now automatic
and maintenance staff reach it by helicopter. Dominating the western approaches to the
Solent, the Needles and nearby cliffs were of strategic importance. What is now the
Old Battery dates from 1862 and was built amid fears of a French invasion – part of a
chain of coastal land and sea forts constructed on the orders of Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.

Now in the hands of the National Trust, the Old Battery is open to visitors and contains
exhibitions on the site’s military history from Victorian times through both World Wars.
Two original gun barrels are on display in the parade ground and a tunnel leads to
a searchlight emplacement perched above the Needles Rocks. An excellent tea-room
is situated in the World War II signal station, offering spectacular views of the rocks and
out to sea.

A role in more modern history was played by the nearby New Battery. Between 1957
and 1971, this was used as a secret testing site for early space rockets. The site had
underground control rooms, while the natural contours of the cliffs were ideal for
ground testing rockets, away from inquisitive eyes and with noise and exhaust fumes
directed out to sea. The UK’s Black Knight rocket was tested here before being fired from a range in Australia. Its successor Black Arrow was used to launch a space satellite in 1971. Prospero, the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket, still orbits the earth and passes overhead twice a day. But success was short-lived and soon afterwards the Government pulled the plug on the programme.

The National Trust is now restoring the underground control rooms with an exhibition explaining the site’s role in early space exploration. It was not the first time the western tip of the Island had featured in ground-breaking technological advances. Radio pioneer, Gugielmo Marconi carried out many of his early experiments from cliffs overlooking Alum Bay. In 1897 he set up his revolutionary equipment at the Royal Needles Hotel and sent some of the first wireless transmissions – to ships, to the Dorset coast and to Queen Victoria’s Osborne House. Though any signs of the radio station or the hotel have vanished, a memorial stone to him stands on the cliff top and the Needles Park, with its chair lift to Alum Bay, also has a display about Marconi.

So next time you switch on the TV, just pause to think – you are using technology which had its origins on a picturesque cliff top on the Isle of Wight. And also remember this – you can’t blame Marconi that there’s nothing to watch except for a repeated episode of Dog The Bounty Hunter.