NEEDLES (The), a group of insulated chalk rocks offthe W extremity of the Isle of Wight; flanking Alumbay and the entrance to the Solent, 3½ miles S S W of Hurst castle, and 4¾ S W of Yarmouth. They originallyformed the extreme W point of the middle range of the Isle of Wight downs; they were insulated by the dis-integration of the rock in the direction of the strata's fissures; they have a wedge-shaped form, which resulted from a highly inclined northward dip of their strata; theystretch out seaward, nearly in a straight line with thepromontory of which they once formed a part; they will, in course of time, be extended landward, by the insulation, from the headland, of other masses similar to themselves; they are, at present, five in number, thoughonly three rise boldly from the sea; they formerly included a tall, slender, conical pinnacle, about 120 feethigh, known as Lot's wife, which fell in 1764, and the stump of which now forms a dangerous reef; and they took their name of Needles originally from that pinnacle, but may be said to take it now from numerous spirelets which are presented on the profile of their E side. The one of them nearest the land became insulated between 1815 and 1820; and the mass composing it was previously connected by an arch with the main cliff. The western-most one is surmounted by a lighthouse, erected in 1859, with a light at an elevation of 474 feet above the sea, and visible at a distance of 11 leagues; has a graceful form; and commands, from the lantern, a most remarkable and romantic view. The Pomona 50-gun frigate, on her homeward voyage from Persia, was wrecked on that rock in 1811.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))