EAST FROM WHITE NOTHE

Oil On Canvas 30cm x 40cm SEPTEMBER 2023

I started this painting in September 2019, perched near the edge of the cliff, on top of White Nothe, on yet another very hot day.

I had photographed the area a few weeks earlier on a hike from The Smuggler's Inn in Osmington Mills, and decided to return to paint the stunning view.

The 1.5 mile walk from The National Trust car park with all my painting paraphernalia was a mission in itself.

I completed most of the painting before having to head back to my van when the weather closed in. My plan was to go back the next day, but the rain had set in, so this painting was put aside for 4 years, until I finished it at home in September 2023.

White Nothe (meaning "White Nose") is a chalk headland on the

Jurassic Coast, at the eastern end of Ringstead Bay,

near Weymouth in Dorset, England.

The area is well known for its geology and fossils. Its flanks are the result of prehistoric landslides and the inaccessible slopes of the undercliff provide a secluded wildlife habitat.

A zigzag path up the cliff is believed to be one of the locations alluded to as a smuggler's path in the British children's book Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner. Walking to the base of White Nothe along the shore from Ringstead Bay is possible, but it is cut off at high tide. At the top of the Smugglers path, a protruding nose shape comes out of the white cliff, giving the name to the area.

From the top of White Nothe, to the east, the chalk headland of Bat's Head can be viewed. Walking further east along a clifftop path below the summit of Chaldon Hill you reach Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove.

Immediately to the northwest of White Nothe is the Burning Cliff, which from 1826 smouldered with an underground fire for several years due to the bituminous shale.

Situated at the top of White Nothe is a World War II pillbox, constructed in 1940–41 of brick and concrete, as part of the anti-invasion measures. Unusually, the structure is also fitted with a Royal Observer Corps observation post built on top, which was to spot and report aircraft. There is also a row of former coastguards' cottages.