Bowcombe is a 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#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. It has an elevation of and is located southwest of Newport in the centre of the Island. Public transport is provided by

Southern Vectis Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway before being nationalised in 1969. ...

buses on route 12.

Geography

The hamlet gives its name to the nearby Bowcombe Down and 2000-acre Bowcombe View Shooting Ground. The down is home to a listed historical site that contains a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

barrow and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.

History

Bowcombe was mentioned in the

Doomsday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

at the time it had 60 households, which was very large for a settlement at the time, with a total value of £20 in 1066. In 1870–72 John Marius said of the village in the Imperial Gazetteer "Bowcombe vale, around it, formerly displayed much beauty, but has suffered by destruction of its wood." In the account, it describes that to the west there are traces of a Roman road and that it "commands a rich and extensive view." At the time it had a population of 93.

Geography

History

Notable residents

References

External links