The Isle of Wight ( ) is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, off the coast of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, from which it is separated by the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
. It is the
largest
Large means of great size.
Large may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics
* Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers
* Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...
and
second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since
Victorian times
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...
. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields,
downland
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
and
chine
A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...
s. The island is
historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
part of Hampshire, and is designated a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.
MAB's work enga ...
.
The island has been home to the poets
Algernon Charles Swinburne and
Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
built her summer residence and final home,
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...
at
East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes.
The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Isle ...
, on the Isle. It has a maritime and industrial tradition of
boat-building, sail-making, the manufacture of
flying boats,
hovercraft, and Britain's
space rockets. The island hosts annual music festivals, including the
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
, which in 1970 was the largest rock music event ever held. It has well-conserved wildlife and some of the richest cliffs and quarries of
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s in Europe.
The island has played an important part in the defence of the ports of
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, and has been near the front-line of conflicts through the ages, having faced the
Spanish Armada and weathered the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
. Rural for most of its history, its Victorian fashionability and the growing affordability of holidays led to significant urban development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The island became a separate
administrative county
An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...
in 1890, making it independent of Hampshire. It continued to share the
Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire until 1974, when it was made its own
ceremonial county. The Isle no longer has administrative links to Hampshire, though the two counties share their
police force
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
and
fire and rescue service
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
, and the island's
Anglican churches belongs to the
Diocese of Portsmouth (originally
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
). A
combined local authority with Portsmouth and Southampton was considered, but was unlikely to proceed as of 2017.
The quickest public transport link to the mainland is the
hovercraft (
Hovertravel
Hovertravel is a ferry company operating from Southsea, Portsmouth to Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK. It is the only passenger hovercraft company currently operating in Britain since Hoverspeed stopped using its craft in favour of catamarans and sub ...
) from
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
to
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...
. Three vehicle ferry and two catamaran services cross the Solent to
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
,
Lymington
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
via the island's largest ferry operator,
Wightlink
Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only ...
, and the island's second largest ferry company,
Red Funnel
Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited,[Domesday 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 manus ...]
called the island ''Wit.'' The modern Welsh name is ''Ynys Wyth'' (''ynys'' meaning island). These are all variant forms of the same name, possibly Celtic in origin.
Inhabitants of the Isle of Wight were known as ''Wihtware''.
Toponym
* Place of the division
* The island that lifts up out of the sea.
History
Pre-Bronze Age
During
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
glacial period
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
s, sea levels were lower and the present day Solent was part of the valley of the
Solent River. The river flowed eastward from Dorset, following the course of the modern Solent strait, before travelling south and southwest towards the major Channel River system. At these times extensive gravel terraces associated with the Solent River and the forerunners of the island's modern rivers were deposited. During warmer interglacial periods silts, beach gravels, clays and muds of marine and estuarine origin were deposited as a result of higher sea levels, similar to those experienced today.
![Upper Palaeolithic Flint Handaxe (FindID 402440)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Upper_Palaeolithic_Flint_Handaxe_%28FindID_402440%29.jpg)
The earliest clear evidence of
Lower Palaeolithic
The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...
archaic human occupation on what is now the Isle of Wight is found close to
Priory Bay
Priory Bay is a small privately owned bay on the northeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the east of Nettlestone village and another mile along the coast from Seaview. It stretches from Horestone Point in the north to Nodes ...
. Here more than 300
acheulean handaxes have been recovered from the beach and cliff slopes, originating from a sequence of Pleistocene gravels dating approximately to
MIS 11-
MIS 9 Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9) is a Marine Isotope Stage in the geological record. It is the final period of the Lower Paleolithic, and lasts from 337,000 to 300,000 years ago according to Lisiecki and Raymo's LR04 Benthic Stack, which has been ado ...
(424,000–374,000 years ago). Reworked and abraded artefacts found at the site may be considerably older however, closer to 500,000 years old. The identity of the hominids who produced these tools is unknown, but sites and fossils of the same age range in Europe are often attributed to ''
Homo heidelbergensis
''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...
'' or early populations of
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
s.
A
Middle Palaeolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Pale ...
Mousterian
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the l ...
flint assemblage, consisting of 50 handaxes and debitage, has been recovered from Great Pan Farm in the Medina Valley near Newport. Gravel sequences at the site have been dated to the
MIS 3 interstadial, during the
last glacial period (c. 50,000 years ago). These tools are associated with late Neanderthal occupation, and evidence of late Neanderthal presence is seen across Britain at this time.
No major evidence of
Upper Palaeolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
activity exists on the Isle of Wight. This period is associated with the expansion and establishment of populations of
modern human
Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extin ...
(''Homo sapiens'')
hunter-gatherers
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
in Europe, beginning around 45,000 years ago. However, evidence of late Upper Palaeolithic activity has been found at nearby sites on the mainland, notably
Hengistbury Head
Hengistbury Head (), formerly also called Christchurch Head, is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Mudeford in the English county of Dorset. It is a site of international importance in terms of its archaeology ...
in Dorset, dating to just prior to onset of the
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
and the end of the last glacial period.
![Neolithic Arrowhead (hollow based) (FindID 453951)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Neolithic_Arrowhead_%28hollow_based%29_%28FindID_453951%29.jpg)
A submerged escarpment 11m below sea level off
Bouldnor Cliff
Bouldnor Cliff is a submerged prehistoric settlement site in the Solent. The site dates from the Mesolithic era and is in approximately of water just offshore of the village of Bouldnor
Bouldnor is a hamlet near Yarmouth on the west co ...
on the island's northwest coastline is home to an internationally significant
mesolithic archaeological site. The site has yielded evidence of seasonal occupation by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers dating to c. 6050 BC. Finds include flint tools, burnt flint, worked timbers, wooden platforms and pits. The worked wood shows evidence of the splitting of large planks from oak trunks, interpreted as being intended for use as dug-out canoes. DNA analysis of sediments at the site yielded wheat DNA, not found in Britain until the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
2,000 years after the occupation at Bouldnor Cliff. It has been suggested this is evidence of wide-reaching trade in Mesolithic Europe; however, the contemporaneity of the wheat with the Mesolithic occupation has been contested. When hunter-gatherers used the site it was located on a river bank surrounded by wetland and woodland. As sea levels rose throughout the Holocene the river valley slowly flooded, submerging the site.
Evidence of Mesolithic occupation on the island is generally found along the river valleys, particularly along the north of the Island, and in the former catchment of the western Yar. Further key sites are found at Newtown Creek, Werrar and Wootton-Quarr.
Neolithic occupation on the Isle of Wight is primarily attested to by flint tools and monuments. Unlike the previous Mesolithic hunter-gatherer population, Neolithic communities on the Isle of Wight were based on farming and linked to a migration of Neolithic populations from France and northwest Europe to Britain c. 6,000 years ago.
The Isle of Wight's most visible Neolithic site is the Longstone at
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 ...
, the remains of an early Neolithic
long-barrow. Originally constructed with two standing stones at the entrance, only one remains standing today. A Neolithic mortuary enclosure has been identified on
Tennyson Down
Tennyson Down is a hill at the west end of the Isle of Wight just south of Totland. Tennyson Down is a grassy, whale-backed ridge of chalk which rises to 482 ft/147m above sea level. Tennyson Down is named after the poet Lord Tennyson who li ...
near
Freshwater.
Bronze and Iron Age
Bronze Age Britain had large reserves of tin in the areas of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
and
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
is necessary to
smelt
Smelt may refer to:
* Smelting, chemical process
* The common name of various fish:
** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae
** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni''
** Big-scale sand smelt ''Ath ...
bronze. At that time the sea level was much lower and carts of tin were brought across the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
at low tide
for export, possibly on the
Ferriby Boats
The Ferriby Boats are three Bronze-Age British sewn plank-built boats, parts of which were discovered at North Ferriby in the East Riding of the English county of Yorkshire. Only a small number of boats of a similar period have been found ...
. Anthony Snodgrass
suggests that a shortage of tin, as a part of the
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 prin ...
Collapse and trade disruptions in the Mediterranean around 1300 BC, forced metalworkers to seek an alternative to bronze. From the 7th century BC, during the
Late Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, the Isle of Wight, like the rest of Great Britain, was occupied by the
Celtic Britons, in the form of the
Durotriges
The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire, south Somerset and Devon east of the River Axe and the discovery of an Iron Age hoard in 2009 at Shalfl ...
tribe; as attested by finds of their coins, for example, the South Wight Hoard, and the Shalfleet Hoard. The island was known as ''Ynys Weith'' in
Brittonic Celtic.
South eastern Britain experienced significant immigration that is reflected in the genetic makeup of the current residents.
As the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
began, the value of tin likely dropped sharply, greatly changing the Isle of Wight's economy. Trade however continued, as evidenced by the local abundance of European
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
coins.
Roman period
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
reported that the
Belgae took the Isle of Wight in about 85 BC, and recognised the culture of this general region as "Belgic", but made no reference to Vectis.
The Roman historian
Suetonius mentions that the island was captured by the commander
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
. The Romans built no towns on the island, but the remains of at least seven
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
s have been found, indicating the prosperity of local agriculture. First-century exports were principally hides, slaves, hunting dogs, grain, cattle, silver, gold, and iron.
Early Medieval period
![IOW-738404 Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) Pin (FindID 482515)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/IOW-738404_Early-Medieval_%28Anglo-Saxon%29_Pin_%28FindID_482515%29.jpg)
There are indications that the island had wide trading links, with a port at
Bouldnor
Bouldnor is a hamlet near Yarmouth on the west coast of the Isle of Wight in southern England. It is the location of Bouldnor Battery, a gun battery emplacement.
Bouldnor is located on the A3054 road, and public transport is provided by buse ...
,
evidence of Bronze Age tin trading,
and finds of
Late Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
coins. Starting in AD 449, the 5th and 6th centuries saw groups of
Germanic-speaking peoples from Northern Europe crossing the English Channel and gradually set about conquering the region.
During the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
the island was settled by
Jutes
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic nation ...
as the pagan kingdom of the
Wihtwara
The Wihtwara were one of the tribes of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Their territory was a tribal kingdom located on the Isle of Wight before it was conquered by the Kingdom of Wessex in the late seventh century. The tribe's name is preserved in the na ...
under King
Arwald
King Arwald (died 686 AD) was the last King of the Isle of Wight and last pagan king in Anglo-Saxon England. Saint Arwald is the name collectively given to King Arwald's sons or brothers who, being baptised before their execution, were later ca ...
. In 685 it was invaded by King
Cædwalla of
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
who tried to replace the inhabitants with his own followers. Though in 686 Arwald was defeated and the island became the last part of English lands to be converted to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, Cædwalla was unsuccessful in driving the Jutes from the island. Wight was then added to Wessex and became part of England under King
Alfred the Great, included within the
shire of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
.
It suffered especially from
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
raids, and was often used as a winter base by Viking raiders when they were unable to reach Normandy. Later, both
Earl Tostig
Tostig Godwinson ( 102925 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed ...
and his brother
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the ...
(who became King Harold II) held manors on the island.
Norman Conquest – 19th century
![IOW-778213 Medieval Coin, Penny of Edward I (FindID 432899)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/IOW-778213_Medieval_Coin%2C_Penny_of_Edward_I_%28FindID_432899%29.jpg)
The Norman Conquest of 1066 created the position of
Lord of the Isle of Wight
The Lord of the Isle of Wight was a feudal title, at times hereditary and at others by royal appointment in the Kingdom of England, before the development of an extensive peerage system.
William the Conqueror granted the lordship of the Isle of ...
; the island was given by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
to his kinsman
William FitzOsbern
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Breteuil ( 1011 – 22 February 1071), was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. FitzOsbern was created Earl of Hereford ...
.
Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.
Early history
The site of Carisb ...
were then founded. Allegiance was sworn to FitzOsbern rather than the king; the Lordship was subsequently granted to the
de Redvers family by Henry I, after his succession in 1100.
![Carisbrooke Castle gate 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Carisbrooke_Castle_gate_2.jpg)
For nearly 200 years the island was a semi-independent feudal fiefdom, with the de Redvers family ruling from Carisbrooke. The final private owner was the Countess
Isabella de Fortibus
Isabel de Forz (July 1237 – 10 November 1293) (or Isabel de Redvers, Latinized to Isabella de Fortibus) was the eldest daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (1217–1245). On the death of her brother Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl ...
, who, on her deathbed in 1293, was persuaded to sell it to
Edward I. Thereafter the island was under control of the English Crown and its Lordship a royal appointment.
The island continued to be attacked from the continent: it was raided in 1374 by the fleet of
Castile, and in 1377 by French raiders who burned several towns, including
Newtown.
Under
Henry VIII, who developed the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and its
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
base, the island was fortified at
Yarmouth, Cowes, East Cowes, and
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...
.
The
French invasion on 21 July 1545 (famous for the sinking of the ''
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...
'' on the 19th) was repulsed by local
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
.
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
,
King Charles I fled to the Isle of Wight, believing he would receive sympathy from the governor
Robert Hammond, but Hammond imprisoned the king in Carisbrooke Castle.
![Berthe Morisot 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Berthe_Morisot_002.jpg)
During the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...
, the island was used as a staging post for British troops departing on expeditions against the French coast, such as the
Raid on Rochefort
The Raid on Rochefort (or Descent on Rochefort) was a British amphibious attempt to capture the French Atlantic port of Rochefort in September 1757 during the Seven Years' War. The raid pioneered a new tactic of "descents" on the French coast, ...
. During 1759, with a
planned French invasion imminent, a large force of soldiers was stationed there. The French called off their invasion following the
Battle of Quiberon Bay
The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as ''Bataille des Cardinaux'' in French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off the coast ...
.
19th century – present
In the mid 1840s
Potato Blight
''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "po ...
was found first in the UK on the Island having arrived from Belgium. It later was transmitted to Ireland.
In the 1860s, what remains in real terms the most expensive ever government spending project saw fortifications built on the island and in the Solent, as well as elsewhere along the south coast, including the
Palmerston Forts
The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the ...
,
The Needles Batteries
The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enemy ...
and
Fort Victoria, because of fears about possible French invasion.
The future
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
spent childhood holidays on the island and became fond of it. When she became queen she made
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...
her winter home, and so the island became a fashionable holiday resort, including for
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron (''née'' Pattle; 11 June 1815 – 26 January 1879) was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her Soft focus, soft-focus close-ups of famous ...
, and
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
(who wrote much of ''
David Copperfield
''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...
'' there), as well as the French painter
Berthe Morisot and members of European royalty.
Until the queen's example, the island had been rural, with most people employed in farming, fishing or boat-building. The boom in tourism, spurred by growing wealth and leisure time, and by Victoria's presence, led to significant urban development of the island's coastal resorts. As one report summarizes, "The Queen’s regular presence on the island helped put the Isle of Wight 'on the map' as a Victorian holiday and wellness destination ... and her former residence Osborne House is now one of the most visited attractions on the island" While on the island, the queen used a
bathing machine
The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled woo ...
that could be wheeled into the water on Osborne Beach; inside the small wooden hut she could undress and then bathe, without being visible to others. Her machine had a changing room and a WC with plumbing. The refurbished machine is now displayed at the beach.
On 14 January 1878,
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated an early version of the telephone to the queen, placing calls to Cowes, Southampton and London. These were the first publicly-witnessed long distance telephone calls in the
UK. The queen tried the device and considered the process to be "quite extraordinary" although the sound was "rather faint". She later asked to buy the equipment that was used, but Bell offered to make "a set of telephones" specifically for her.
The world's first radio station was set up by
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
in 1897, during her reign, at
the Needles Battery
The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enem ...
, at the western tip of the island. A high mast was erected near the Royal Needles Hotel, as part of an experiment of communicating with ships at sea. That location is now the site of the Marconi Monument. In 1898 the first paid wireless telegram (called a "Marconigram") was sent from this station, and the island was for some time
the home of the National Wireless Museum, near Ryde.
Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on 22 January 1901, at the age of 81.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
the island was frequently bombed. With its proximity to German-occupied France, the island hosted observation stations and transmitters, as well as the
RAF radar station at Ventnor. It was the starting-point for one of the earlier
Operation Pluto pipelines to feed fuel to Europe after the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
.
The
Needles Battery
The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enemy ...
was used to develop and test the
Black Arrow
Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW, was a British satellite carrier rocket. Developed during the 1960s, it was used for four launches between 1969 and 1971, all launched from the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia. Its final fl ...
and
Black Knight
The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...
space rockets, which were subsequently launched from
Woomera, Australia.
![Jimi Hendrix statue outside Dimbola Lodge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Jimi_Hendrix_statue_outside_Dimbola_Lodge.JPG)
The
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
was a very large
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
festival that took place near
Afton Down
Afton Down is a chalk down near the village of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. Afton Down faces Compton Bay directly to the west, while Freshwater is approximately one mile north.
It was the site of the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, where the ...
, West Wight in August 1970, following two smaller concerts in 1968 and 1969. The 1970 show was one of the last public performances by
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and attracted somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 attendees. The festival was revived in 2002 in a different format, and is now an annual event.
On 26 October 2020 an oil tanker the Nave Andromeda, suspected to have been hijacked by Nigerian stowaways, was stormed south east of the island by the
Special Boat Service
The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...
. Seven people believed to be Nigerians seeking UK asylum were handed over to Hampshire Police.
Governance
![Official portrait of Mr Bob Seely crop 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Official_portrait_of_Mr_Bob_Seely_crop_2.jpg)
The island has a single
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
. The
Isle of Wight constituency covers the entire island, with 138,300 permanent residents in
2011, being one of the most populated
constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
in the United Kingdom (more than 50% above the English average). In 2011 following passage of the
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act, the
Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The 2013 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, also known as the sixth Review, or just boundary changes, was an ultimately unfruitful cycle of the process by which constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are reviewe ...
was to have changed this, but this was deferred to no earlier than October 2022 by the
Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
With the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies in some doubt following the collapse of the House of Lords Reform Bill ...
. Thus the single constituency remained for the
2015,
2017 and
2019 general elections. However, two separate East and West constituencies are proposed for the island under the 2022 review now under way.
The Isle of Wight is a
ceremonial
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''.
Church and civil (secular ...
and
non-metropolitan county. Since the abolition of its two
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle A ...
councils and restructuring of the
Isle of Wight County Council into the new
Isle of Wight Council
The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...
in 1995, it has been administered by a single
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
.
Elections in the constituency have traditionally been a battle between the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and the
Liberal Democrats. Andrew Turner of the Conservative Party gained the seat from
Peter Brand of the Lib Dems at the
2001 general election. Since 2009, Turner was embroiled in controversy over his expenses, health, and relationships with colleagues, with local Conservatives having tried but failed to remove him in the runup to the 2015 general election. He stood down prior to the
2017 snap general election, and the new Conservative Party candidate
Bob Seely
Robert William Henry Seely (born 1 June 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Isle of Wight since June 2017. He was re-elected at the general election in December 2019 with an ...
was elected with a majority of 21,069 votes.
At the
Isle of Wight Council
The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...
election of 2013, the Conservatives lost the majority which they had held since 2005 to the
Island Independents
The Island Independents were a political group who stood as mutually-supporting independent candidates 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 ...
, with Island Independent councillors holding 16 of the 40 seats, and a further five councillors sitting as independents outside the group. The Conservatives regained control, winning 10 more seats and taking their total to 25 at the
2017 local election,
before losing 7 seats in
2021. A coalition entitled the Alliance Coalition was formed between independent, Green Party and Our Island councillors, with independent councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox leading the council since May 2021.
There have been small regionalist movements: the
Vectis National Party
The Vectis National Party was a minor political party operating on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. Formed in 1967,Adam Grydehøj and Philip Hayward"Autonomy Initiatives and Quintessential Englishness on the Isle of Wigh ...
and the Isle of Wight Party; but they have attracted little support at elections.
Geography
![IsleOfWight2022OSM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/IsleOfWight2022OSM.png)
The Isle of Wight is situated between the Solent and the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, is roughly
rhomboid
Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled.
A parallelogram with sides of equal length (equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboi ...
in shape, and covers an area of . Slightly more than half, mainly in the west, is designated as the
Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The island has of farmland, of developed areas, and of coastline. Its landscapes are diverse, leading to its oft-quoted description as "England in miniature". In June 2019 the whole island was designated a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.
MAB's work enga ...
, recognising the sustainable relationships between its residents and the local environment.
West Wight is predominantly rural, with dramatic coastlines dominated by the
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
downland
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
ridge, running across the whole island and ending in
the Needles
The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...
stacks. The southwestern quarter is commonly referred to as the
Back of the Wight
Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. ...
, and has a unique character. The highest point on the island is
St Boniface Down
St Boniface Down is a chalk down near Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, England. Its summit, , is the highest point on the island, with views stretching from Beachy Head to the east, Portsmouth to the north and the Isle of Portland to the west. ...
in the south east, which at is a
marilyn. The most notable habitats on the rest of the island are probably the soft cliffs and sea ledges, which are scenic features, important for wildlife, and internationally protected.
The island has three principal rivers. The
River Medina
The River Medina is the main river of the Isle of Wight, England, rising at St Catherine's Down near Chale, and flowing northwards through the county town Newport, towards the Solent at Cowes. The river is a navigable tidal estuary from Newpo ...
flows north into the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
, the
Eastern Yar
The River Yar on the Isle of Wight, England, rises in a chalk coomb in St. Catherine's Down near Niton, close to the southern tip of the island. It flows across the Lower Cretaceous rocks of the eastern side of the island, through the gap ...
flows roughly northeast to
Bembridge
Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...
Harbour, and the
Western Yar
The River Yar on the Isle of Wight, England, rises near the beach at Freshwater Bay, on the south coast, and flows only a few miles north to Yarmouth where it meets the Solent. Most of the river is a tidal estuary. Its headwaters have been tr ...
flows the short distance from
Freshwater Bay to a relatively large estuary at
Yarmouth. Without human intervention the sea might well have split the island into three: at the west end where a bank of pebbles separates Freshwater Bay from the
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
y backwaters of the Western Yar east of Freshwater, and at the east end where a thin strip of land separates
Sandown Bay
Sandown Bay is a broad open bay which stretches for much of the length of the Isle of Wight's southeastern coast. It extends from Culver Down, near Yaverland in the northeast of the Island, to just south of Shanklin, near the village of Lucc ...
from the marshy Eastern Yar basin.
The
Undercliff
The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset. All aro ...
between St Catherine's Point and
Bonchurch
Bonchurch is a small village to the east of Ventnor, now largely connected to the latter by suburban development, on the southern part of the Isle of Wight, England. One of the oldest settlements on the Isle of Wight, it is situated on The Unde ...
is the largest area of landslip morphology in western Europe.
The north coast is unusual in having four high tides each day, with a double high tide every twelve and a half hours. This arises because the western Solent is narrower than the eastern; the initial tide of water flowing from the west starts to ebb before the stronger flow around the south of the island returns through the eastern Solent to create a second high water.
Geology
The Isle of Wight is made up of a variety of rock types dating from early
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
(around 127 million years ago) to the middle of the
Palaeogene
The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...
(around 30 million years ago). The geological structure is dominated by a large
monocline which causes a marked change in age of strata from the northern younger
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
beds to the older Cretaceous beds of the south. This gives rise to a
dip of almost 90 degrees in the chalk beds, seen best at
the Needles
The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...
.
The northern half of the island is mainly composed of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
s, with the southern half formed of the
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
of the central east–west downs, as well as Upper and Lower
Greensand
Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and co ...
s and
Wealden strata.
These strata continue west from the island across the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
into
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
, forming the basin of
Poole Harbour
Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being t ...
(Tertiary) and the
Isle of Purbeck
The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the no ...
(Cretaceous) respectively. The chalky ridges of Wight and Purbeck were a single formation before they were breached by waters from the
River Frome during the
last ice age, forming the Solent and turning Wight into an island.
The Needles
The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...
, along with
Old Harry Rocks
Old Harry Rocks are three chalk formations, including a Stack (geology), stack and a stump, located at Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England. They mark the most eastern point of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World H ...
on Purbeck, represent the edges of this breach.
All the rocks found on the island are
sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
, such as
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
s,
mudstones and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
s. They are rich in fossils; many can be seen exposed on beaches as the cliffs erode.
Lignitic coal is present in small quantities within seams, and can be seen on the cliffs and shore at
Whitecliff Bay
Whitecliff Bay is a sandy bay near Foreland which is the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, about two miles south-west of Bembridge and just to the north of Culver Down. The bay has a shoreline of around and has a popular sandy ...
. Fossilised
molluscs have been found there, and also on the northern coast along with
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ised
crocodiles,
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...
s and
mammal bones; the youngest date back to around 30 million years ago.
The island is one of the most important areas in Europe for
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s. The
eroding cliffs often reveal previously hidden remains, particularly along the
Back of the Wight
Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. ...
.
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
bones and
fossilised footprints can be seen in and on the rocks exposed around the island's beaches, especially at
Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown on Sandown Bay. It has about 200 houses. About of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of ''Yaverlan ...
and
Compton Bay
Compton Bay is a bay located on the southwest section of the Isle of Wight, England. Its northwestern edge is defined by the distinctive white chalk cliff of Freshwater Cliff, named after adjacent Freshwater Bay, which forms a small cove w ...
, from the strata of the
Wessex Formation
The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian stages (about 145–125 million years ago) of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vect ...
. As a result, the island has been nicknamed "Dinosaur Island" and
Dinosaur Isle was established in 2001.
The area was affected by sea level changes during the repeated
Quaternary glaciations. The island probably became separated from the mainland about 125,000 years ago, during the
Ipswichian interglacial.
File:Isle of Wight OS OpenData map.png, Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
map of the island
File:IOW geology.svg, Geological map of the island
File:Blackgang Chine c1910 - Project Gutenberg eText 17296.jpg, Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the oldest amusement park in the United Kingdom, having opened in 1843. Named after a now-destroyed chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs, it is about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wi ...
, circa 1910
File:Isle of Wight coastline.jpg, A view of the Needles
The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...
and Alum Bay
Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The waters and adj ...
Climate
Like the rest of the UK, the island has an
oceanic climate, but is somewhat milder and sunnier, which makes it a holiday destination. It also has a longer
growing season.
Lower Ventnor and the neighbouring
Undercliff
The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset. All aro ...
have a particular microclimate, because of their sheltered position south of the downs. The island enjoys 1,800–2,100 hours of sunshine a year. Some years have almost no snow in winter, and only a few days of hard frost. The island is in
Hardiness zone 9.
Flora and fauna
The Isle of Wight is one of the few places in England where the
red squirrel is still flourishing; no
grey squirrels Gray squirrel or grey squirrel may refer to several species of squirrel indigenous to North America:
*The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into the United Kingdom, I ...
are to be found. There are occasional sightings of wild deer, and there is a colony of wild goats on Ventnor's downs. Protected species such as the
dormouse
A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...
and rare
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
s can be found. The island is home to a population of
European hedgehogs, and a rescue organisation devoted to them, Save Our Hedgehogs Isle of Wight, was founded in 2019. The
Glanville fritillary
The Glanville fritillary (''Melitaea cinxia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is named for the naturalist who discovered it and the checkerboard pattern on its wings. These butterflies live in almost all of Europe, especially Finla ...
butterfly's distribution in the United Kingdom is largely restricted to the edges of the island's crumbling cliffs.
A competition in 2002 named the
pyramidal orchid
''Anacamptis pyramidalis'', the pyramidal orchid, is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus ''Anacamptis'' of the family Orchidaceae. The scientific name ''Anacamptis'' derives from Greek ανακάμτειν 'anakamptein' meaning 'b ...
as the Isle of Wight's
county flower
In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...
.
Settlements
![Newport High Street top](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Newport_High_Street_top.JPG)
*
Newport is the centrally located county town, with a population of about 25,000 and the island's main shopping area. Located next to the
River Medina
The River Medina is the main river of the Isle of Wight, England, rising at St Catherine's Down near Chale, and flowing northwards through the county town Newport, towards the Solent at Cowes. The river is a navigable tidal estuary from Newpo ...
, Newport Quay was a busy port until the mid-19th century.
*
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
, the largest town with a population of about 30,000, is in the northeast. It is
Victorian with the
oldest seaside pier in England and miles of sandy and pebble beaches.
*
Cowes hosts the annual
Cowes Week
Cowes Week ( ) is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily sailing races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,000 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest saili ...
and is an international sailing centre.
*
East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes.
The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Isle ...
is famous for
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...
,
Norris Castle
Norris Castle is located on the Isle of Wight. It was designed by James Wyatt for Lord Henry Seymour (politician), Lord Henry Seymour. The estate adjoins Osborne House, country home to Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria. On the othe ...
and as the home from 1929 to 1964 of
Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
History
The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a c ...
, the historic aircraft, flying boat, rocket and hovercraft company.
*
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...
is a popular seaside resort. It is home to the
Isle of Wight Zoo
The Wildheart Sanctuary, previously known as the Isle of Wight Zoo and Sandown Zoo, is a sanctuary inside the former Sandown Fort on the coastline of Sandown, Isle of Wight. The zoo was privately owned but became a charitable trust in 2017. Th ...
, the
Dinosaur Isle geological museum and one of the island's two 18-hole golf courses.
*
Shanklin
Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...
, just south of Sandown, attracts tourists with its high summer sunshine levels, sandy beaches,
Shanklin Chine
Shanklin Chine is a geological feature and tourist attraction in the town of Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight, England. A wooded coastal ravine, it contains waterfalls, trees and lush vegetation, with footpaths and walkways allowing paid access f ...
and the old village.
*
Ventnor
Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...
, built on the steep slopes of St Boniface Down on the south coast of the island, leads down to a picturesque bay that attracts many tourists. Ventnor Haven is a small harbour.
Economy
Socio-economic data
The table below shows the regional gross value (in millions of
pounds) added by the Isle of Wight economy, at current prices, compiled by the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for t ...
.
According to the 2011 census, the island's population of 138,625 lives in 61,085 households, giving an average household size of 2.27 people.
41% of households own their home outright and a further 29% own with a mortgage, so in total 70% of households are owned (compared to 68% for South East England).
Compared to South East England, the island has fewer children (19% aged 0–17 against 22% for the South East) and more elderly (24% aged 65+ against 16%), giving an average age of 44 years for an island resident compared to 40 in South East England.
Industry and agriculture
![Newpark Farm Isle of Wight - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Newpark_Farm_Isle_of_Wight_-_geograph.org.uk_-_70847.jpg)
The largest industry on the island is tourism, but it also has a strong agricultural heritage, including
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...
,
dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...
and arable
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...
s. Traditional agricultural commodities are more difficult to market off the island because of transport costs, but local farmers have succeeded in exploiting some specialist markets, with the higher price of such products absorbing the transport costs. One of the most successful agricultural sectors is now the growing of crops under cover, particularly salad crops including
tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
es and
cucumbers. The island has a warmer climate and a longer growing season than much of the United Kingdom.
Garlic has been successfully grown in
Newchurch for many years, and is even exported to France. This has led to the establishment of an annual
Garlic Festival at Newchurch, which is one of the largest events of the local calendar. A favourable climate supports two
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
s, including one of the oldest in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
at
Adgestone
Adgestone is a small hamlet on the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Larges ...
.
Lavender
''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...
is grown for its oil. The largest agricultural sector has been dairying, but due to low milk prices and strict legislation for UK milk producers, the dairy industry has been in decline: there were nearly 150 producers in the mid-1980s, but now just 24.
Maritime industries, especially the making of
sailcloth
Sailcloth encompasses a wide variety of materials that span those from natural fibers, such as flax, hemp or cotton in various forms of sail canvas, to synthetic fibers, including nylon, polyester, aramids, and carbon fibers in a variety of wov ...
and
boat building
Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires.
Construction materials and methods
Wood
Wo ...
, have long been associated with the island, although this has diminished somewhat in recent years.
GKN
GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
operates what began as the
British Hovercraft Corporation, a subsidiary of (and known latterly as)
Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...
, although they have reduced the extent of plant and workforce and sold the main site. Previously it had been the independent company
Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
History
The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a c ...
, one of the island's most notable historic firms that produced many
flying boats
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
and the world's first
hovercraft.
Another manufacturing activity is in
composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
s, used by boat-builders and the
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...
manufacturer
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
, which has a wind turbine blade factory and testing facilities in
West Medina Mills and
East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes.
The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Isle ...
.
Bembridge Airfield is the home of
Britten-Norman, manufacturers of the
Islander
Islander, Islanders, or The Islanders may refer to:
People
* Islander, referring to Jersey people
* Islander, New Zealand-English term usually meaning Pacific Islander
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''The Islander'' (Rylant novel), ...
and
Trislander aircraft. This is shortly to become the site of the European assembly line for
Cirrus
Cirrus may refer to:
Science
*Cirrus (biology), any of various thin, thread-like structures on the body of an animal
*Cirrus (botany), a tendril
* Infrared cirrus, in astronomy, filamentary structures seen in infrared light
*Cirrus cloud, a typ ...
light aircraft. The Norman Aeroplane Company is a smaller aircraft manufacturing company operating in
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...
. There have been three other firms that built planes on the island.
In 2005, Northern Petroleum began exploratory drilling for
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
at its Sandhills-2 borehole at
Porchfield, but ceased operations in October that year after failing to find significant reserves.
Breweries
There are three
breweries on the island. Goddards Brewery in
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
opened in 1993. David Yates, who was head brewer of the Island Brewery, started brewing as Yates Brewery at the Inn at
St Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...
in 2000. Ventnor Brewery, which closed in 2009, was the last incarnation of
Burt's Brewery, brewing since the 1840s in
Ventnor
Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...
. Until the 1960s most pubs were owned by
Mews
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...
Brewery, situated in Newport near
the old railway station, but it closed and the pubs were taken over by Strong's, and then by
Whitbread
Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England.
The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s.
Its largest division ...
. By some accounts Mews beer was apt to be rather cloudy and dark. In the 19th century they pioneered the use of
screw top A screw cap or closure is a common type of closure for bottles, jars, and tubes.
Usage
A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engi ...
cans for export to
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
.
Services
Tourism and heritage
The island's heritage is a major asset that has for many years supported its tourist economy. Holidays focused on natural heritage, including wildlife and geology, are becoming an alternative to the traditional British
seaside holiday, which went into decline in the second half of the 20th century due to the increased affordability of foreign holidays. The island is still an important destination for coach tours from other parts of the United Kingdom.
![Isle of Wight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Isle_of_Wight.jpg)
Tourism is still the largest industry, and most island towns and villages offer hotels, hostels and camping sites. In 1999, it hosted 2.7 million visitors, with 1.5 million staying overnight, and 1.2 million day visits; only 150,000 of these were from abroad. Between 1993 and 2000, visits increased at an average rate of 3% per year.
At the turn of the 19th century the island had ten
pleasure pier
Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...
s, including two at
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
and a "chain pier" at
Seaview. The Victoria Pier in Cowes succeeded the earlier Royal Pier but was itself removed in 1960. The piers at Ryde, Seaview,
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...
,
Shanklin
Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...
and
Ventnor
Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...
originally served a coastal steamer service that operated from Southsea on the mainland. The piers at Seaview, Shanklin, Ventnor and
Alum Bay
Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The waters and adj ...
were all destroyed by various storms during the 20th century; only the railway pier at Ryde and the piers at Sandown,
Totland
Totland is a village, civil parish and electoral ward on the Isle of Wight. Besides the village of Totland, the civil parish comprises the western tip of the Isle of Wight, and includes The Needles, Tennyson Down and the hamlet of Middleton.
Th ...
Bay (currently closed to the public) and Yarmouth survive.
Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the oldest amusement park in the United Kingdom, having opened in 1843. Named after a now-destroyed chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs, it is about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wi ...
is the oldest theme park in Britain, opened in 1843. The skeleton of a dead whale that its founder Alexander Dabell found in 1844 is still on display.
As well as its more traditional attractions, the island is often host to walking or cycling holidays through the attractive scenery. An
annual walking festival has attracted considerable interest. The
Isle of Wight Coastal Path
The Isle of Wight Coastal Path (or Coastal Footpath) is a circular long-distance footpath of 70 miles (113 km) around the Isle of Wight, UK. It follows public footpaths and minor lanes, with some sections along roads.
Route
The p ...
follows the coastline as far as possible, deviating onto roads where the route along the coast is impassable.
The tourist board for the island is Visit Isle of Wight, a
non-profit company
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. It is the Destination Management Organisation for the Isle of Wight, a public and private sector partnership led by the private sector, and consists of over 1,200 companies, including the ferry operators, the local bus company, rail operator and tourism providers working together to collectively promote the island. Its income is derived from the Wight BID, a
business improvement district levy fund.
A major contributor to the local economy is sailing and marine-related tourism.
Summer Camp
A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...
at Camp Beaumont is an attraction at the old
Bembridge School
Bembridge School was a British independent school in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, founded in 1919 by social reformer and Liberal MP John Howard Whitehouse, set in over on the easternmost tip of the island. Whitehouse intended for the school ...
site.
Media
The main local newspaper is the ''
Isle of Wight County Press
The ''Isle of Wight County Press'' is a local, compact newspaper published every Friday on the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated ...
'', published on most Fridays. The Island's leading news website, ''Island Echo'', was launched in May 2012 and now publishes in excess of 5,000 news articles a year. Other online news sources for the Isle of Wight include ''On the Wight''.
The island has a local commercial radio station and a
community radio
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...
station: commercial station
Isle of Wight Radio
Isle of Wight Radio is an independent local radio station in Newport on the Isle of Wight. The station began transmitting from Briddlesford Farm AM transmitter on 15 April 1990. Isle of Wight Radio switched to FM in March 1998, its main transmi ...
has broadcast in the
medium-wave
Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...
band since 1990 and on 107.0 MHz (with three smaller transmitters on 102.0 MHz)
FM since 1998, as well as
streaming on the Internet. Community station
Vectis Radio has broadcast online since 2010, and in 2017 started broadcasting on FM 104.6. The station operates from the Riverside Centre in Newport. The island is also covered by a number of local stations on the mainland, including the BBC station
BBC Radio Solent
BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton.
According to RAJAR, the station has a ...
broadcast from
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. The island's not-for-profit community radio station Angel Radio opened in 2007. Angel Radio began broadcasting on 91.5 MHz from studios in Cowes and a transmitter near Newport.
The island has had community television stations in the past, first TV12 and then
Solent TV
Solent TV was an independent not-for-profit television channel broadcasting on the Isle of Wight. It was transmitted from the Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight on UHF channel 54 (735.25 MHz). It began broadcasting in October 2002 but ce ...
from 2002 until its closure on 24 May 2007. iWight.tv is a local internet video news channel. The Isle of Wight is part of the
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving
Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying b ...
region and the
ITV Meridian
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...
region.
Important broadcasting infrastructure includes
Chillerton Down transmitting station with a mast that is the tallest structure on the island, and
Rowridge transmitting station
The Rowridge transmitting station is a facility for FM radio and television transmission at Rowridge on the Isle of Wight in southern England.
It currently has a tall guyed mast, owned and operated by Arqiva (previously National Grid Wire ...
, which broadcasts the main television signal both locally and for most of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
and parts of
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
and
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
.
Culture
Language and dialect
The local accent is similar to the traditional
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
of Hampshire, featuring the dropping of some
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...
s and an emphasis on longer
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s. It is similar to the
West Country dialects
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompass ...
heard in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
, but less pronounced.
The island has its own local and regional words. Some, such as ''nipper/nips'' (a young male person), are still sometimes used and shared with neighbouring areas of the mainland. A few are unique to the island, for example ''overner'' and ''caulkhead'' (see below). Others are more obscure and now used mainly for comic emphasis, such as ''mallishag'' (meaning "
caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
"), ''gurt'' meaning "large", ''nammit'' (a mid-morning snack) and ''gallybagger'' ("scarecrow", and now the name of a local cheese).
Identity
There remains occasional confusion between the Isle of Wight as a county and its former position within
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
. The island was regarded and administered as a part of Hampshire until 1890, when its distinct identity was recognised with the formation of
Isle of Wight County Council (see also ''
Politics of the Isle of Wight
As a geographical entity distinct from the mainland, the Isle of Wight has always fought to have this identity recognised. The Isle of Wight is currently a ceremonial and Non-metropolitan county and as it has no district councils (only the county ...
''). However, it remained a part of Hampshire until the local government reforms of 1974 when it became a full
ceremonial county with its own
Lord Lieutenant.
In January 2009, the
first general flag for the county was accepted by the
Flag Institute
The Flag Institute is a UK membership organisation headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, England, concerned with researching and promoting the use and design of flags. It documents flags in the UK and internationally, maintains a UK Flag Regi ...
.
Island residents are sometimes referred to as "Vectensians", "Vectians" or, if born on the island, "caulkheads". One theory is that this last comes from the once prevalent local industry of
caulking
Caulk or, less frequently, caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping.
The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between boards on ...
or sealing wooden boats; the term became attached to islanders either because they were so employed, or as a derisory term for perceived unintelligent labourers from elsewhere. The term "overner" is used for island residents originating from the mainland (an abbreviated form of "overlander", which is an archaic term for "outsider" still found in parts of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
).
Residents refer to the island as "The Island", as did
Jane Austen in ''
Mansfield Park
''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...
'', and sometimes to the UK mainland as "North Island".
To promote the island's identity and culture, the High Sheriff Robin Courage founded an Isle of Wight Day; the first was held on Saturday 24 September 2016.
Sport
Sport plays a key part of culture on the Isle of Wight. Sports include golf, marathon, cycling and sailing.
Music
![1970-Isle of Wight Festival- 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/1970-Isle_of_Wight_Festival-_5.JPG)
The island is home to the
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
and until 2016,
Bestival
Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was organ ...
before it was relocated to
Lulworth Estate
The Lulworth Estate is a country estate located in central south Dorset, England. Its most notable landscape feature is a five-mile stretch of coastline on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site, including Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove.
...
in Dorset. In 1970, the festival was headlined by
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
attracting an audience of 600,000, some six times the local population at the time. It is the home of the bands
The Bees,
Trixie's Big Red Motorbike
Trixie's Big Red Motorbike was an indie pop band formed on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, in 1981. They released two singles, one EP and one flexi disc. A vinyl compilation album of their music called ''The Intimate Sound of Trixie’s Bi ...
,
Level 42
Level 42 is an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s.
Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on th ...
, and
Wet Leg
Wet Leg are a British indie rock band from the Isle of Wight, founded in 2019 by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. They debuted with the single "Chaise Longue" in 2021. Their self-titled debut album debuted in 2022 at number one on the UK A ...
.
Landmarks
Transport
![Southern Vectis 1054 YN03 DFL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Southern_Vectis_1054_YN03_DFL.JPG)
The Isle of Wight has of roadway. It does not have a motorway, although there is a short stretch of dual carriageway towards the north of Newport near the hospital and prison.
A comprehensive bus network operated 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 before being nationalised in 1969. ...
links most settlements, with Newport as its central hub.
Journeys away from the island involve a ferry journey. Car ferry and passenger catamaran services are run by
Wightlink
Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only ...
and
Red Funnel
Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited,[Hovertravel
Hovertravel is a ferry company operating from Southsea, Portsmouth to Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK. It is the only passenger hovercraft company currently operating in Britain since Hoverspeed stopped using its craft in favour of catamarans and sub ...]
.
The island formerly had
its own railway network of over , but only one line remains in regular use. The
Island Line Island Line or Island line may refer to:
* Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong
* Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England
** Island Line (brand)
Island Line is a brand of the ...
is part of the United Kingdom's
National Rail
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...
network, running a little under from to , where there is a connecting ferry service to station on the mainland network. The line was opened by the
Isle of Wight Railway
The Isle of Wight Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom; it operated of railway line between Ryde and Ventnor. It opened the first section of line from Ryde to Sandown in 1864, later extending to Ventnor in 1866. ...
in 1864, and from 1996 to 2007 was run by the smallest train operating company on the network,
Island Line Trains
Island Line is a brand of the South Western Railway train operating company which runs the Island Line on the Isle of Wight. A stand-alone franchise from 1996 until 2007, it then became part of the South Western franchise operated by South W ...
. It is notable for utilising old ex-
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...
, due to the small size of its tunnels and unmodernised signalling. Branching off the Island Line at is the heritage
Isle of Wight Steam Railway
The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the Isle of Wight. The railway passes through of countryside from to station, passing through the small village of Havenstreet, where the line has a station, headquarters and a depo ...
, which runs for to the outskirts of on the former line to Newport.
There are two airfields for general aviation,
Isle of Wight Airport at Sandown and
Bembridge Airport
Bembridge Airport is an unlicensed aerodrome located about a mile south-west of the village of Bembridge, Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which i ...
.
The island has over of cycleways, many of which can be enjoyed off-road. The principal trails are:
* The Sunshine Trail, which is a circular route linking Sandown, Shanklin, Godshill, and Wroxall of ;
* The Red Squirrel Trail, a track between Cowes and Sandown that is in total;
* The Round the Island Cycle Route of .
Prisons
The Isle of Wight is near the densely populated south of England, yet separated from the mainland. This position led to it hosting three prisons:
Albany,
Camp Hill and
Parkhurst, all located outside Newport near the main road to Cowes. Albany and Parkhurst were among the few Category A prisons in the UK until they were downgraded in the 1990s. The downgrading of Parkhurst was precipitated by a major escape: three prisoners (two murderers and a blackmailer) escaped from the prison on 3 January 1995 for four days, before being recaptured. Parkhurst enjoyed notoriety as one of the toughest jails in the United Kingdom, and housed many notable inmates including the Yorkshire Ripper
Peter Sutcliffe
Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
, New Zealand drug lord
Terry Clark and the
Kray twins.
Camp Hill is located adjacent but to the west of Albany and Parkhurst, on the very edge of Parkhurst Forest, having been converted first to a
borstal
A Borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a Borstal school.
Borstals were run by HM Prison Service ...
and later to a Category C prison. It was built on the site of an army camp (both Albany and Parkhurst were barracks); there is a small estate of tree-lined roads with the former officers' quarters (now privately owned) to the south and east. Camp Hill closed as a prison in March 2013.
The management of all three prisons was merged into a single administration, under
HMP Isle of Wight in April 2009.
Education
There are 69
local education authority-maintained schools on the Isle of Wight, and two
independent schools
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
. As a rural community, many of these are small and with fewer pupils than in urban areas. The
Isle of Wight College is located on the outskirts of Newport.
From September 2010, there was a transition period from the three-tier system of primary, middle and high schools to the two-tier system that is usual in England. Some schools have now closed, such as Chale C.E. Primary. Others have become "federated", such as Brading C.E. Primary and St Helen's Primary. Christ the King College started as two "middle schools", Trinity Middle School and Archbishop King Catholic Middle School, but has now been converted into a dual-faith secondary school and sixth form.
Since September 2011 five new secondary schools, with an age range of 11 to 18 years, replaced the island's high schools (as a part of the previous three-tier system).
Notable people
Notable residents have included:
17th century and earlier
* King
Arwald
King Arwald (died 686 AD) was the last King of the Isle of Wight and last pagan king in Anglo-Saxon England. Saint Arwald is the name collectively given to King Arwald's sons or brothers who, being baptised before their execution, were later ca ...
, last pagan king in England
* King
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...
, who was imprisoned at
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.
Early history
The site of Carisb ...
* Earl
Tostig Godwinson
Tostig Godwinson ( 102925 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed ...
, who supported Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion
* Actor, highwayman and conspirator
Cardell "Scum" Goodman
* Soldier and regicide of Charles I
Thomas Harrison, imprisoned at Carisbrooke with
John Rogers and
Christopher Feake
Christopher Feake (1612–1683) was an English Independent minister and Fifth-monarchy man. He was imprisoned for maligning Oliver Cromwell in his preaching. He is a leading example of someone sharing both Leveller views and the millenarian appro ...
* Soldier
Peter de Heyno
Peter de Heyno was the Lord of Stenbury, Isle of Wight under Edward III.
In 1377 a raiding force of French and Castilians invaded the Isle of Wight and burnt Yarmouth and Newtown which he had to defend. They laid siege to Carisbrooke Castle dur ...
* Philosopher and
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
Robert Hooke
* Murderer
Michal Morey
18th century
* Marine painter
Thomas Buttersworth
Thomas Buttersworth (5 May 1768 – November 1842) was an English seaman of the Napoleonic wars period who became a marine painter. He produced works to commission, and was little exhibited during his lifetime.
Life
Butterworth was born on the ...
* Explorer
Anthony Henday
Anthony Henday (fl. 1750–1762) was one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of what would eventually become western Canada. He ventured farther westward than any white man had before him.
As an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company ...
* Radical journalist
John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he f ...
19th century
*
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
and
Prince Albert (monarch and consort), who built and lived at
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...
* Photographer
Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron (''née'' Pattle; 11 June 1815 – 26 January 1879) was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her Soft focus, soft-focus close-ups of famous ...
, who lived at
Dimbola Lodge
The Dimbola Museum and Galleries are located in Dimbola, that was the Isle of Wight home of the Victorian pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron from 1860 to 1875. It is now owned by the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, which runs the Dimbola ...
* Irish Republican
Thomas Clarke
* Naval captain
Jeremiah Coghlan CBG, who retired to Ryde
* Writer
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
* Novelist
Gertrude Fenton
* Poet
John Keats
* Inventor and radio pioneer
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
* Philosopher
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, who stayed at 1, St. Boniface Gardens, Ventnor
* Poet and hymnwriter
Albert Midlane
* Geologist and engineer
John Milne
John Milne (30 December 1850 – 31 July 1913) was a British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph.
Biography
Milne was born in Liverpool, England, the only child of John Milne of Milnrow, and at first raised ...
* Regency architect
John Nash
* Novelist Miss
Harriet Parr
Harriet(t) may refer to:
* Harriet (name), a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)''
Places
* Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia
* Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States
* Harriett, Texas, ...
* Early Hong Kong Government administrator
William Pedder
William Pedder (21 June 1801 – 1854) was a lieutenant in the British Navy who was the fourth person appointed, under the first two Chief Superintendents, for the administration of the Government of Hong Kong and its second legal officer. He wa ...
* New Zealand PM
Henry Sewell
Henry Sewell (7 September 1807 – 14 May 1879) was a prominent 19th-century New Zealand politician. He was a notable campaigner for New Zealand self-government, and is generally regarded as having been the country's first premier (an office ...
* Poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne
* Poet
Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
20th century onwards
* Scriptwriter
Raymond Allen
*
Concert organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...
E. Power Biggs
* Darts player
Keegan Brown
Keegan Brown (born 5 November 1992) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2014 PDC World Youth Championship.
Career Early career
Brown began playing darts at the age of ni ...
* Singer
Helen Clare
* Singer-songwriter
Sarah Close
Sarah Elizabeth Close (born 27 April 1995) is an English singer-songwriter. She gained popularity posting covers of songs on her YouTube channel. She released her debut single, "Call Me Out" on 3 March 2017, followed by her debut extended play ...
* Inventor of the hovercraft
Sir Christopher Cockerell
* Presenter and actor
Ray Cokes
Ray Cokes (born Raymond Christopher Cokes on 24 February 1958) is an English television presenter.
Career
Early life
Ray's father was an officer in the Royal Navy, who was stationed at various navy bases around the world. When Ray was 15 the ...
* Actress
Bella Emberg
* Yachtsman
Uffa Fox
Uffa Fox, CBE (15 January 1898 – 26 October 1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast, responsible for a number of innovations in boat design. Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offense, he is remembered for his ec ...
* Actor
Marius Goring
Marius Re Goring, (23 May 191230 September 1998) was a British stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' and as Julian Cr ...
* Musician
Jack Green
* Survival expert and Chief Scout
Bear Grylls
* Actress
Sheila Hancock
* Actor
Melvyn Hayes
Melvyn Hayes ('' né'' Hyams; 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for appea ...
* Folk-rock musician
Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...
* Actor
Geoffrey Hughes
* Conspiracy theorist
David Icke
David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries.
In 1990, Icke ...
* Actor
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
* Comedian
Phill Jupitus
* Actor
Laura Michelle Kelly
Laura Michelle Kelly (born 4 March 1981) is an English actress and singer, best known for originating the roles of Mary Poppins in ''Mary Poppins'' in the West End, for which she received the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and S ...
* Composer
Albert Ketèlbey
Albert William Ketèlbey (; born Ketelbey; 9 August 1875 – 26 November 1959) was an English composer, conductor and pianist, best known for his short pieces of light orchestral music. He was born in Birmingham and moved to Lon ...
* Iranian poet
Mimi Khalvati
* Musician
Mark King
* Yachtswoman
Ellen MacArthur
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur (born 8 July 1976) is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
MacArthur is a successful solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005, ...
* BBC ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' presenter
Cliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer.
He is best known for the BBC television programme '' Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's t ...
* Film director
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.
He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...
* Actor
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
* Cyclist
Kieran Page
Kieran Page (born 2 May 1983) is a Great Britain, British professional racing cyclist. He represented Britain at the junior road world championship in 2001, and competed in the Under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships in 2004 UCI Ro ...
* Musician
Frederick Riddle
Frederick Craig Riddle OBE (20 April 19125 February 1995) was a British violist. He was considered to be in the line from Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, through to the violists of today such as Lawrence Power.
Early life and career
Frede ...
* Performance artist
Nigel Rolfe
Nigel Rolfe (born 1950) is an English-born performance artist and video artist based in Ireland. He is a member of Aosdána, an elite association of Irish artists.
Biography
Rolfe was born on the Isle of Wight in 1950. He studied at the Farnha ...
* Heptathlete
Kelly Sotherton
Kelly Jade Sotherton (born 13 November 1976) is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, a ...
* Gardener and presenter
Alan Titchmarsh
* Novelist
Edward Upward
Edward Falaise Upward, FRSL (9 September 1903 – 13 February 2009) was a British novelist and short story writer who, prior to his death, was believed to be the UK's oldest living author. Initially gaining recognition amongst the Auden Group as ...
* Singer-songwriter
Lauran Hibberd
Lauran Amaly Hibberd (born 8 July 1997) is an English singer-songwriter from the Isle of Wight.
Biography
Hibberd started playing the guitar at the age of 14, later telling Music Week "I write two songs a week, I always have".
Her breakthrough ...
Overseas names
The Isle of Wight has given names to many parts of former colonies, most notably
Isle of Wight County
Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...
in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
founded by settlers from the island in the 17th century. Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
is a town named Isle of Wight.
Other notable examples include:
*
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
– an island off Maryland, United States
*
Dunnose Head, West Falkland
Dunnose Head is a small settlement in West Falkland in Philomel Pass, Queen Charlotte Bay. It is about 50 miles (80 km) west south west of Port Howard, and does not have a proper road connection.
Dunnose Head used to be part of Packe Brot ...
* Ventnor, Cowes on
Phillip Island
Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...
, Victoria, Australia
*
Carisbrook, Victoria
Carisbrook is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Pyrenees Highway, east of the regional and local government centre of Maryborough, in the Shire of Central Goldfields. At the 2016 census, Carisbrook had a population of 1115.
Carisb ...
, Australia
*
Carisbrook
Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, r ...
, a former stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand
*
Ryde, New South Wales
Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the ...
, Australia
* Shanklin,
Sandown, New Hampshire
Sandown is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,548 at the 2020 census, up from 5,986 at the 2010 census.
History
Once part of Kingston, Sandown was incorporated as a separate town in 1756 by coloni ...
, United States
*
Ventnor City, New Jersey, United States
*
Gardiners Island
Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline.
The isl ...
, New York, United States shown as "Isle of Wight" on some of the older maps.
Cultural references
Film
* The film ''
Something to Hide
''Something to Hide'' (in the U.S. also reissued as ''Shattered''), is a 1972 British thriller film, written and directed by Alastair Reid, based on a 1963 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. The film stars Peter Finch, Shelley Winters, Colin Blakel ...
'' (1972; US title '' Shattered''), starring
Peter Finch, was filmed near Cowes.
* The British film ''
That'll Be the Day
"That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespr ...
'' (1973), starring
David Essex
David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...
and
Ringo Starr, included scenes shot in Ryde (notably Cross Street), Sandown (school), Shanklin (beach) and Wootton Bridge (fairground).
* ''
Mrs. Brown
''Mrs Brown'' (also theatrically released as ''Her Majesty, Mrs Brown'') is a 1997 British drama film starring Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher, and Gerard Butler in his film debut. It was written by Jeremy Brock and ...
'' (1997), with Dame
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
and
Billy Connolly
Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...
, was filmed at Osborne House and Chale.
* The film ''
Fragile
Fragile or The Fragile may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Fragile'' (film), a 2005 film by Jaume Balagueró
* "Fragile" (''Smallville''), a television episode
Literature
* ''Fragile'' (manga), a 2016 Japanese series by Bin Kusamizu and Sab ...
'' (2005), starring
Calista Flockhart
Calista Kay Flockhart (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for portraying the title character on the Fox television series '' Ally McBeal'' (1997–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 199 ...
, is based on the Isle of Wight.
* ''
Victoria and Abdul
''Victoria & Abdul'' is a 2017 British biographical historical drama film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Lee Hall. The film is based on the book of the same name by Shrabani Basu, about the real-life relationship between Queen ...
'' (2017) starring Dame Judi Dench and
Ali Fazal
Ali Fazal (born 15 October 1986) is an Indian actor and model who primarily appears in Hindi films. He made his screen debut with a small role in the English language film '' The Other End of the Line'' before appearing in the American televisio ...
began shooting principal photography at Osborne House in September 2016.
Games
* John Worsley's
Commodore 64 game ''
Spirit of the Stones'' was set on the Isle of Wight.
Literature
The Isle of Wight was:
Music
*
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' song "
When I'm Sixty-Four
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. McCartney wrote the song when he was ab ...
" (1967), credited to
Lennon-McCartney and sung by
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
, refers to renting a cottage on the island;
Television
* ''
Survivors'', the BBC's 1970s post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama set after a worldwide pandemic kills off most of humanity, features an episode in which 500 survivors holed up in London are to be relocated to the Isle of Wight. Though referred to many times in the Series 2 episode "Lights of London – Part 2", the move itself is not shown (nor any footage of the island).
* ITV's dramatisation of
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...
's work ''
Blade on the Feather
''Blade on the Feather'' is a television drama by Dennis Potter, broadcast by ITV on 19 October 1980 as the first in a loosely connected trilogy of plays exploring language and betrayal. A pastiche of the John Le Carré spy thriller and trans ...
'' (19 October 1980) was filmed on the island.
* A 2002 ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' feature showed an
Aston Martin being driven around Cowes, East Cowes, and along the Military Road and seawall at Freshwater Bay.
* The setting for ''
Free Rein
''Free Rein'' is a British drama television series created and written by Vicki Lutas and Anna McCleery.
It stars Jaylen Barron, Navia Robinson (seasons 1-2) and Freddy Carter.
Produced in the UK by Lime Pictures, the ten-part first series prem ...
'' was based on the Isle of Wight.
* Portions of the 2021 drama series ''
It's a Sin
"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, ''Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...
'' on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
were supposedly set in the Isle of Wight, the home of one of the lead characters, although they were actually filmed in
Rhos-on-Sea
Rhos-on-Sea ( cy, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos) is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 7,593 at the 2011 census. It adjoins Colwyn Bay and is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late ...
and
Bangor in north Wales.
* The sitcom ''
The Cockfields
''The Cockfields'' is a British television sitcom created by Joe Wilkinson and David Earl, and produced by Yellow Door Productions for Gold. It aired over two series from 12 November 2019 until 12 November 2021, including a Christmas special, ...
'' is set on the Isle of Wight.
See also
*
High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight
The position of High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight was created in 1974.
Roll of High Sheriffs of the Isle of Wight
*1974–75 Lieut.-Colonel Claude Richard Henry Kindersley, D.S.O.,M.C., of Hamstead Grange, Yarmouth.
*1975–76 Rear-Admiral Jose ...
*
Isle of Wight gasification facility
The Isle of Wight gasification facility is a municipal waste treatment plant in southern England. It entered the commissioning phase in autumn 2008, and will be replaced by a new moving grate incinerator in 2019
The facility has been funded as pa ...
*
Isle of Wight NHS Trust
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is an NHS trust which provides physical health, mental health and ambulance services for the Isle of Wight.
The trust is unique in being the only integrated acute, community, mental health and ambulance health care pro ...
*
Isle of Wight Rifles
The 1st Isle of Wight Rifle Volunteers, later the 8th (Isle of Wight, 'Princess Beatrice's Own') Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, but known informally as the 'Isle of Wight Rifles', was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed to defend the Isl ...
*
List of civil parishes on the Isle of Wight
This is a list of civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Isle of Wight, England. There are 33 civil parishes.
Isle of Wight
The whole of the county is parished.
* Data SourceOffice of National Statistics: QS102EW - Population density Note ...
*
List of current places of worship on the Isle of Wight
there are about 130 places of worship in use on the Isle of Wight, England's largest island. A wide range of Christian denominations are represented, and Muslims have a mosque in the island's main town of Newport. The diamond-shaped, isl ...
*
List of Governors of the Isle of Wight
Below is a list of those who have held the office of Governor of the Isle of Wight in England. Lord Mottistone was the last lord lieutenant to hold the title governor, from 1992 to 1995; since then there has been no governor appointed.
Governors ...
*
List of hills of the Isle of Wight
This is a list of hills on the Isle of Wight. Many of these hills are important historical, archaeological and nature conservation sites, as well as popular hiking and tourist destinations on the Isle of Wight in southern England.
Colour key
Th ...
*
List of places on the Isle of Wight
This is a list of towns and villages in the county of Isle of Wight, England.
Towns
There are nine main towns, most located along the north and east coasts. By greater area population, Ryde is the largest with a population of 32,072. Newport is ...
*
Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight:
*1 April 1974 – 1979: Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (previously Governor of the Isle of Wight)
*1980–1985: Sir John Norris Nicholson, 2nd B ...
*
Yaverland Battery
Notes
References
Sources
Books
*
*
*
External links
Visit Isle of Wight Official WebsiteIsle of Wight Council websiteIsleofwight.com*
Photos
Images of the Isle of Wightat the
English Heritage Archive
The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway.
It is a public archive of architectural and arch ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Isle of
Islands of England
Islands of the English Channel
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
Natural regions of England
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
South East England
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...