St Catherine's Oratory

St Catherine's Oratory, the medieval tower islanders call the Pepperpot, stands on St Catherine's Down above Chale Bay on the Isle of Wight. Walter de Godeton, Lord of Chale, built it in 1328 as a penance for plundering wine from the wreck of the St Marie of Bayonne in 1313, after the Church threatened to excommunicate him unless he raised a lighthouse. A priest tended the light until the Dissolution, and the octagonal tower, propped by four later buttresses, is Britain's only surviving medieval lighthouse. The National Trust cares for the down with English Heritage, which looks after the tower. Dogs are welcome on the down, on a short lead around livestock and under close control elsewhere. Two Trust trails cross it, the 4.6-mile Monk and the Merchant walk from the Blackgang viewpoint car park and the 3.5-mile Tip of the Wight walk from Niton. Reviewers come for the views over the island and out to sea. Tips from visitors: start at the free viewpoint car park above Blackgang Chine and expect a steep climb across fields grazed by cattle, rougher near the top; for a sunset visit bring a torch and allow time to get down before dark.