Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun". Brighstone is the largest village in the area locally known as the Back of the Wight and extends toward

Limerstone Limerstone is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight in England. It is located on the B3399 road between Brighstone (where the 2011Census population was listed) and Shorwell, approximately 5 miles (8km) southwest of Newport. Public transport is provided b ...

and

Mottistone Mottistone is a village on the Isle of Wight, located in the popular tourist area the Back of the Wight.http://www.backofthewight.net It is located 8 Miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trus ...

. In Roman times a villa was built to the north, to take advantage of the clean waters of the

Buddle Brook Buddle Brook a small river on the Isle of Wight, England. The Brook drains water from the southern side of Brighstone Down and as far to the east as the village of Shorwell. Its flow is the greatest of the streams in the South-West of the Island ...

History

Brighstone history dates back to the 9th century when it was given to the Bishopric of Winchester by King Egbert. Brighstone parish was formed in 1644. The civil parish comprises the main village of Brighstone together with the smaller villages of

Brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

, Hulverstone,

and

. The entire parish lies within an area of the Isle of Wight AONB and its coastline is designated as Heritage Coast and

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

St. Mary's Church, Brighstone St. Mary's Church is a parish church in the Church of England located in Brighstone, Isle of Wight. The churchyard contains a memorial stone to George Albert Cairns VC. History The church is medieval dating from the twelfth century. The sh ...

is a venerable old church that has stood for more than eight centuries. The village also features Brighstone Shop and Museum, owned by the National Trust, displaying exhibitions on village life in the 19th century and contains a wealth of information about the Brighstone lifeboats. In 2021 a newly-identified species of dinosaur was named '' Brighstoneus simmondsi'' to reflect that its fossilised remains had been discovered at a nearby excavation site; it was discovered alongside another dinosaur, ''

Neovenator salerii ''Neovenator'' (nee-o-ven-a-tor meaning "new hunter") is a genus of carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur. It is known from several skeletons found in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian~130-125 million years ago) Wessex Formation on the south coas ...

'' in 1978.

Today

Brighstone is popular with tourists for its thatched cottages and local shops. Several large events are hosted in the village each year, including the

Brighstone Show Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name "Egbert of Wessex, Ecgbe ...

, Art exhibitions and the

Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival is a local event occurring in various venues around Brighstone and Mottistone on the Isle of Wight in England for the winter tourist season. This charitable event raises money for local and national charities. ...

. The local scout hut functions as a Youth Hostel during the summer.

Notable residents

The village pub is called The Three Bishops, named after three rectors of Brighstone parish who went on to become famous bishops.Flickr image of plaque in Brighstone church. By ROBERTFROST1960
/ref> The first was the 17th-century

Bishop Ken Thomas Ken (July 1637 – 19 March 1711) was an English cleric who was considered the most eminent of the English non-juring bishops, and one of the fathers of modern English hymnody. Early life Ken was born in 1637 at Little Berkhampstead, ...

who wrote the famous hymns "Awake my soul and with the sun" and "Glory to Thee my God this night". Bishop Samuel Wilberforce became rector in 1830, and used to entertain his father, anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. Wilberforce Road is named after him, and Brighstone's village hall is called the Wilberforce Hall. The third bishop, Doctor George Moberly, was headmaster of Winchester College before becoming rector of Brighstone in 1866 and bishop of Salisbury a few years later. Another notable person who lived in the village in the 19th century was the clergyman and amateur palaeontologist William Fox, who discovered several species of dinosaur in Brighstone Bay.

Bus routes

The village is linked to other parts of the island by Southern Vectis bus route 12, serving

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

, Totland and

as well as intermediate villages.

References

External links