Bowcombe is a hamlet on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
. It has an elevation of and is located southwest of
Newport in the centre of the Island. Public transport is provided by
Southern Vectis
Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway (Great Britain), Southern Railway b ...
buses on route 12.
Geography
The hamlet gives its name to the nearby
Bowcombe Down and 2000-acre Bowcombe View Shooting Ground. The down is home to a listed historical site that contains a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
barrow and an
Anglo-Saxon cemetery.
History
Bowcombe was mentioned in the
Doomsday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
at the time it had 60 households, which was very large for a settlement at the time, with a total value of £20 in 1066. In 1870–72
John Marius said of the village in the
Imperial Gazetteer "Bowcombe vale, around it, formerly displayed much beauty, but has suffered by destruction of its wood." In the account, it describes that to the west there are traces of a
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
and that it "commands a rich and extensive view." At the time it had a population of 93.
Notable residents
*
Sir William Stephens (c. 1641 – 1697) Member of Parliament.
References
External links
Villages on the Isle of Wight
{{IsleofWight-geo-stub