The present-day casual visitor to this splendid location could be forgiven for being surprised to learn that the Castle and its grounds have always been and still are, at serious risk from the sea. Glimpsing a view of the famous Needles from the Visitors' Centre, the cliff edge looks a long way away, through the mature woodlands which cloak the coast. The very aspect which Lord Bute once called “the fairest outlook in England” , Christchurch Bay, has however been a naturally eroding coastline since the birth of the Bay perhaps 3,000 years ago. Successive owners of the Castle, including the present Borough Council, have had a ceaseless battle with the elements which is every bit as fascinating as other elements of its history. Fortunately, to add to the recent engineering records of the Council, history has left some tantalising snippets of the struggles of two former owners, Louisa, Lady Waterford and Major General Edward Stuart Wortley, each of which inherited particular problems.

 This booklet outlines these problems and how they were faced by these two landowners, without the benefit, it should be said, of modern technological tools. It also describes how the present Council took on what in the 1960s looked like an impossible task of halting a rampaging rate of erosion on Highcliffe Cliffs and the Castle grounds. It concludes by looking at what will be the future.