Stokes Bay
Encyclopedia
Stokes Bay is an area of the Solent
Solent
The Solent is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually...

 that lies just south of Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...

, between Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 and Lee-on-the-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a small seaside town in Hampshire, England about five miles west of Portsmouth. The town is located on the coast of the Solent and forms part of the borough of Gosport...

, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. There is a shingle beach
Shingle beach
A shingle beach is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles. Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from two to 200 mm diameter....

 that has a great view of Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

 and East Cowes
East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish to the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina next to its neighbour on the west bank, Cowes....

 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...

 to the south and also Fawley
Fawley, Hampshire
Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately 7 miles south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of an oil refinery, operated by Exxon-Mobil, which is the largest facility of its kind in the United...

 in the south west. The village of Alverstoke
Alverstoke
Alverstoke is a parish in the borough of Gosport, Hampshire, England, that encompasses land stretching from Haslar to Stokes Bay. Alverstoke lies within half a mile of the shore of Stokes Bay and near the head of a creek which extends a mile westward from Portsmouth Harbour...

 is close by. The annual Stokes Bay Festival takes place here every year during Cowes Week
Cowes Week
Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world...

.

To the east of Stokes Bay is Fort Gilkicker
Fort Gilkicker
Fort Gilkicker is a historic Palmerston fort built at the eastern end of Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hampshire to dominate the key anchorage of Spithead. It was erected between 1863 and 1871 as a semi-circular arc with 22 casemates, to be armed with 5 12" guns, 17 10" guns and 5 9" guns. The actual...

, which was built in 1871 to guard the headland and the western approaches to Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent River. The city of Portsmouth lies to the east on Portsea Island, and Gosport to the west on the mainland...

 and housed 22 gun emplacements. It was used in both world wars to protect Portsmouth and air attacks and fell into disrepair shortly after 1945; it is on the Buildings at Risk Register and support is being sought for its conservation and for an alternative use.

There was also a pier, adjacent to Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Lifeboat station
Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service
Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service is an independent Inshore Rescue Lifeboat Service located at Stokes Bay on the peninsula of Gosport, Hampshire. The service provides free marine rescue cover in the Solent from Portsmouth Harbour to Titchfield Haven, on the approaching shores of...

, from which a ferry service ran which was the quickest crossing to 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...

. The pier had a railway station, opened 6 April 1863, which had a branch line (Stokes Bay Line
Stokes Bay Line
The Stokes Bay Line was a one and a half mile long Stokes Bay Railway and Pier Company built branch railway line that ran between a junction on the Fareham to Gosport Line just west of Gosport to Stokes Bay and a pier for a steamer service to the Isle of Wight via one intermediate station, Gosport...

) from the Fareham to Gosport Line
Fareham to Gosport Line
The Fareham-Gosport Line was built as the southern half of the Bishopstoke to Gosport Branch Railway, opened by the London and South Western Railway on 29 November 1841...

. This railway stopped running services to the pier on 1 November 1915 and sold the land to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 in 1922. The line was not as popular as the Portsmouth to Ryde crossing although the journey from London was longer than from Portsmouth. Most of the railway line is a cycle path.

The Admiralty used the pier from 1922 to transport munitions and fuel and had a narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

 railway line which replaced the branch line. The pier was then used as a torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 station and fell into disrepair before being demolished in the late 1970's.
The Solent
Solent
The Solent is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually...

 opposite Stokes Bay is often used by extremely large warships (e.g. US supercarrier
Supercarrier
Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial...

s) to anchor, as Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent River. The city of Portsmouth lies to the east on Portsea Island, and Gosport to the west on the mainland...

 is not deep enough to berth them .
It has also been the site of many fleet reviews, the most recent being to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 in 2005.

To the east is the 9-hole Gosport and Stokes Bay Golf Club. This area of the Bay also contains a number of fresh and salt-water margin lagoons and provides a unique habitat for rare flora, including several specimens of the Kermes Oak
Kermes Oak
Quercus coccifera, the Kermes Oak, is an oak in the Turkey oak section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is native to the western Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece.-Description:...

(A shrub of the Quercus family, native to the Mediterranean).

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