Little Atherfield is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. It is near the coast in the Back of the Wight

Back of the Wight

Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight, England that has a unique history and social background. Part of this stems from the fact that the area was and still is very cut off from the rest of the island and is made up of small villages strung out along the coast, such as Brighstone,...

. The Isle of Wight is situated off the south coast of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

Atherfeild bay nearby is one of the best sources of cretaceous fossils and brachiosaurus dinosaur bones,this is one of the places that gives the Wight the nickname "Dinosaur Isle" (see Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight

Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is one of the richest dinosaur localities in Europe, with over 20 species of dinosaur having been recognised from the early Cretaceous Period , some of which were first identified on the island, as well as the contemporary non-dinosaurian species of crocodile, turtle and...

). The unique land formation on this coast means fossils upto 30 million years old are uncovered.

The bay also marks the landward edge of the Atherfield Ledge

Atherfield Ledge

Atherfeild Ledge is a rocky outcrop extending from the coast of the Back of the Wight, Isle of Wight. This is a famous shipwreck location. Along with Brook Ledge and Brighstone Ledge it is one of the area's main shipping hazards.-Geography:...

, an underwater outcrop that has claimed many ships including the SS Eider

SS Eider

SS Eider was a 4,179 ton German ocean liner built for Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1884 by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow as the fourth ship in the Rivers class. She had four masts and was a two-funnelled steamer over 430 ft long, with a crew of 167, and capable of carrying 1,204 passengers...

and more.