Isle of Wight
The
Isle of Wight is an
English island and
county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of
Hampshire. It is part of the
United Kingdom.
Popular from
Victorian times as a holiday resort, the Isle of Wight is known for its natural beauty and as home to the
Royal Yacht Squadron at
Cowes, a town that hosts a world famous annual
regatta. Colloquially, it is known as "The Island" by its residents. It possesses a rich history including its own brief status as a
vassal kingdom in the
fifteenth century, home to poet
Alfred Lord Tennyson and
Queen Victoria's much loved summer residence and final home
Osborne House. Its maritime history encompasses boat building and sail making through to the manufacture of
flying boats and the world's first
hovercraft. It is home to the
Isle of Wight Festival, which, in
1970, was one of the largest
rock music events ever held, with estimates reaching 600,000 attendees, overtaking the record set at
Woodstock a year earlier. The
Isle of Wight Festival was revived in 2002 to critical acclaim, headliners in 2006 were
Coldplay,
Foo Fighters and
The Prodigy. The island is also one of the richest
fossil locations for
dinosaurs in
Europe.
In
686AD, it became the last part of the
British Isles to convert to
Christianity - almost a century after
Great Britain.
Until the revival of
Rutland, in
1997, it was the smallest
county in England but it remains, with just one
Member of Parliament and 132,731 permanent residents in the
2001 census, the most populated
Parliamentary constituency in the
United Kingdom.
The Isle of Wight's
county flower is the
Pyramidal Orchid[
1].
Isle of Wight is approximately diamond in shape and covers an area of
147 square miles (381 square km). Nearly half this area, mainly in the west of the Island, is designated as the
Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The landscape of the Island is remarkably diverse, leading to its oft-quoted description of "England in Miniature". The West Wight is predominantly rural, with dramatic coastlines dominated by the famous chalk
downland ridge, running across the whole Island and ending in The Needles stacks - perhaps the most photographed aspect of the Isle of Wight. The highest point on the island is
St Boniface Down, at 241m/791ft, which is also a
Marilyn.
The rest of the Island landscape also has great diversity, with perhaps the most notable habitats being the soft cliffs and sea ledges, which are spectacular features as well as being very important for wildlife, and are internationally protected. The
River Medina flows north into the
Solent, whilst the other main river, the
River Yar flows roughly north-east, emerging at
Bembridge Harbour on the eastern end of the Island. Confusingly, there is another entirely separate river at the western end also called the
River Yar flowing the short distance from
Freshwater Bay to a relatively large estuary at
Yarmouth. Where distinguishing the two becomes necessary, each may be referred to as the
eastern or
western Yar. The south coast of the island adjoins the
English Channel.
Island wildlife is remarkable, thought to be the only place in
England where the
red squirrel is flourishing, with a stable population. Unlike the rest of England, no
grey squirrels are to be found on the Island[
2], nor are there any wild
deer but, instead, rare and protected species, such as the
dormouse and many rare
bats, can be found. The
Glanville Fritillary butterfly's distribution in the
United Kingdom is largely restricted to the edges of the crumbling cliffs of the Isle of Wight.
 |
A satellite photograph of the Isle of Wight and the Solent |
By far the main form of access is by
boat from the mainland, with regular vehicle
ferry services being available from
Lymington to
Yarmouth,
Southampton to East
Cowes, and
Portsmouth to
Fishbourne. Foot passengers may also use the
hovercraft service between
Southsea and
Ryde Esplanade or two high-speed
catamaran services: from Southampton to West Cowes or from Portsmouth to
Ryde Pier Head. The latter provides a direct link between the rail systems of the island and mainland. The island is also served by airports for light
aircraft, at Bembridge and Sandown.
The island is the home of the smallest
train operating company in the United Kingdom's
National Rail network, the
Island Line, running some 8½ miles from Ryde Pier Head to
Shanklin, down the eastern side of the island. The island also has a steam-operated heritage railway, the
Isle of Wight Steam Railway, which connects with the Island Line at
Smallbrook Junction.
Much of the land now making up the Isle of Wight was deposited during the late
Cretaceous, at times part of a large river
valley complex which consisted of much of the current southern coast of
England. The swamps and ponds of the region at that time made the island excellent for the preservation of fossils, which means that it is now one of the richest locations for finding
dinosaurs in
Europe (for more information see the
dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight article).
The Isle of Wight became an island sometime after the end of the last
Ice Age, when
post-glacial rebound caused the land level to sink, the
Solent flooding and separating the island from the mainland. The island was part of the
Celtic British Isles and, known to the Romans as
Vectis, was captured by
Vespasian in the
Roman invasion. After the Roman era, the Isle of Wight was settled by the
Jutes, a
Germanic tribe, in the early stages of the
Anglo-Saxon invasions. The latter's corruption of
Vectis into
Wiht (the
Latin v was pronounced [w]) is the root of the island's name.
The
Norman Conquest created the position of
Lord of the Isle of Wight.
Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of
Carisbrooke Castle were founded. The island did not come under full control of the crown until it was sold by the dying last Norman Lord, Lady Isabella de Fortebus, to
Edward I in
1293. The Lordship thereafter became a Royal appointment, with a brief interruption when
Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick was crowned King of the Isle of Wight,
King Henry VI assisting in person at the ceremony, placing the crown on his head. He died in
1445, aged 22. With no male heir, his regal title expired with him.
Henry VIII, who developed the
Royal Navy and its permanent base at
Portsmouth, fortified the island at Yarmouth, East & West Cowes and Sandown, sometimes re-using stone from dissolved monasteries as building material. Sir Richard Worsley, Captain of the Island at this time, successfully commanded the resistance to the last of the French attacks in
1545. Much later on, after the
Spanish Armada in
1588, the threat of Spanish attacks remained and the outer fortifications of Carisbrooke Castle were built, between
1597 and
1602. During the
English Civil War King Charles fled to the Isle of Wight, believing he would receive sympathy from the governor Robert Hammond. Hammond was appalled, and incarcerated the king in Carisbrooke Castle.
 |
Osborne House and its magnificent grounds are now open to the public |
Queen Victoria made
Osborne House on the Isle of Wight her summer home for many years and, as a result, it became a major holiday resort for members of European royalty, whose many houses could later claim descent from her, through the widely flung marriages of her offspring. During her reign, in
1897, the World's first
radio station was set up by
Marconi, at the Needles battery, at the western tip of the Island.
In
1904, a mysterious illness began to kill
honeybee colonies on the island and had nearly wiped out all hives by
1907, when the
disease jumped to the mainland and decimated
beekeeping in the
British Isles. Called the Isle of Wight Disease, the cause of the mystery ailment was not identified until
1921, when it was traced to the
mite Acarapis woodi. The disease (now called
Acarine Disease) frightened many other nations, because of the importance of bees in
pollination of many food plants. Laws against importation of honeybees were passed, but this merely delayed the eventual spread of the parasite to the rest of the world.
The
Isle of Wight Festival could describe several events, but usually the term refers to one very large
rock festival that took place near
Afton Down, West Wight in
1970, following two smaller concerts in
1968 and
1969. The
1970 show was notable both for being one of the last public performances by
Jimi Hendrix and for the number of attendees reaching, by many estimates, 600,000[
3] (despite only 50,000 tickets being sold), and overtaking the attendance at
Woodstock in the previous year. The festival was revived in
2002 and is now an annual event, with other, smaller musical events of many different genres across the Island becoming associated with it.
Main article: Politics of the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a
Ceremonial and
Administrative county. As it has no district councils (only the county council), it is effectively a
Unitary county, although not officially. It is unique in England in this way - all other Unitary areas are single districts with no county council, while the Isle of Wight is the other way round. It also has a single
Member of Parliament, and is by far the most populous
constituency in the UK (more than 50% above the average of English constituencies).
As a constituency of the
House of Commons, it is traditionally a battleground between the
Conservatives and the
Liberal Democrats. The current MP,
Andrew Turner is a Conservative, and his predecessor Dr
Peter Brand was a Liberal Democrat.
The
Isle of Wight Council election of
2005 was a landslide victory for the Conservative Party, displacing the long serving "Island First" group; a coalition of
Liberal Democrats and independents.
The distinctive Isle of Wight accent is a somewhat stronger version of the traditional Hampshire
dialect, featuring the dropping of some
consonants and an emphasis on longer
vowels. This is similar to the
West Country drawl heard in south-western England, but less removed in sound from the
Estuary English of the South East. In common with many other English regional dialects and accents, a strong island accent is not now commonly heard, and as speakers tend to be older, this decline is likely to continue.
The island also has its own local and regional words. Some words, including
grockle (visitor) and
nipper/nips (a younger person) are still commonly used and are shared with neighbouring areas. A few are unique to the island, for example
overner (a mainlander who has settled on the island) and
caulkhead (someone born on the island or, for sticklers, those born there from long-established island stock). Other words are more obscure and used now mainly for comic emphasis, such as
mallishag (meaning
caterpillar) and
nammit ("noon-meat", meaning food).
Sources
*
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Isle of Wight at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 831 | 28 | 218 | 585 |
| 2000 | 1,202 | 27 | 375 | 800 |
| 2003 | 1,491 | 42 | 288 | 1,161 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Industry and agriculture
The largest industry on the Isle of Wight is tourism, but the Island has a strong agricultural heritage, including sheep, dairy farming and arable crops. Traditional agricultural commodities are more difficult to market off the Island because of transport costs, but Island farmers have managed successfully to exploit some specialist markets. The high price of these products overcomes the transport costs. One of the most successful agricultural sectors at present is crops grown undercover, particularly salad crops, including tomatoes and cucumbers. The Isle of Wight has a longer growing season than much of the
United Kingdom and this also favours such crops.
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 Island's annual calendar. The favourable climate has led to the success of
vineyards, including one of the oldest in the British Isles, at Adgestone near
Sandown [
4].
Lavender is also grown for its oil [
5].
The making of sailcloth, boats and other connected maritime industry has long been associated with the island, although somewhat diminished in recent years. Although they have reduced the extent of the plants and workforce, including the sale of the main site,
GKN operate what was once the
British Hovercraft Corporation a subsidiary of, and latterly when manufacturing focus changed known as,
Westland Aircraft. Prior to its purchase by Westland, it was the independent
Saunders-Roe. It remains one of the most notable historical firms, having produced many of the
flying boats, and the world's first
hovercraft. The island's major manufacturing activity today is in composite materials, including a large manufacturer of wind turbine blades (Vesta's).
Bembridge airfield on the island is the home of
Britten-Norman, manufacturers of the world-famous
Islander and
Trislander aircraft. This is shortly to become the site of the European assembly line for
Cirrus light aircraft.
A major contribution to the local economy comes from the world-famous international
sailing regatta,
Cowes Week, which is held every August and attracts over a hundred thousand visitors to the island. Other major sailing events are held at Cowes, including the
Admiral's Cup held biennially in July and the
Commodores' Cup in August.
In
2005,
Northern Petroleum began exploratory drilling for
oil, with its Sandhills-2 borehole at Porchfield but ceased operations in October that year, after failing to find significant reserves.
Services
Tourism and heritage
 |
Compton Chine, looking east towards Blackgang |
The heritage of the Island is a major asset, which has for many years kept its economy going. Holidays focused on natural heritage, including both wildlife and geology, are becoming a growing alternative to the traditional
seaside resort holiday. The latter has been in decline in the UK domestic market, due to the increased affordability of air travel to alternative destinations.
Tourism is still the largest industry on the Island. As well as more traditional tourist attractions, the island is often host to walking or cycling holidays, through the attractive scenery. Almost every town and village on the Island plays host to hotels, hostels and camping sites. Out of the peak summer season, the island is still an important destination for coach tours from other parts of the
United Kingdom and an annual walking festival has attracted considerable interest.
Transport and communications
 |
Ferry routes and main roads |
There are three ferry companies which operate routes between the mainland and the Island:
*
Red Funnel - operates a car and passenger service between
Southampton and East
Cowes. A high speed passenger only services operates from "West"
Cowes under the name of "Red Jet".
*
Wightlink - operates a car and passenger service between
Portsmouth and
Fishbourne (near
Ryde), and between
Lymington and
Yarmouth. It also operates a passenger-only service between
Portsmouth Harbour (train station) and
Ryde Pier Head (train station) under the name "Fast Cat" (known as the Vomit Comet by the locals due to its colour), so named because the boats used are
catamarans.
*
Hovertravel - carries passengers between
Southsea and
Ryde aboard a
hovercraft.
There are regular proposals for further routes, and during
Cowes Week additional services have been known to operate - notably a fast catamaran service between West Cowes and Lymington.
An electric
railway service operates between Ryde Pier Head and
Shanklin via
Brading and
Sandown using former
London Underground trains.
A sign used to greet visitors to the Island disembarking from the car ferry at
Fishbourne, stating 'Island roads are different, please drive carefully'. It is a joke amongst local residents that the reason Island roads are different is due to a lack of maintenance by the council. Nevertheless the lighter traffic, quieter roads and slower speeds are noticeable to the visitor and are one of the reasons the Island has remained attractive to tourists from the busier mainland.
There are two small airfields for General Aviation: Isle of Wight Airport [
6] at Sandown and Bembridge Airport [
7]. These are busy with day-trippers in summer.
All of the Island telephone exchanges are broadband enabled and in addition, some urban areas such as
Cowes and Newport are covered by cable lines. Some areas, such as Arreton, have no broadband in certain places.
The
Isle of Wight County Press [
8] is the major local newspaper, published weekly each Friday or the last working day before a public holiday falls on that day. There is also a local radio station,
Isle of Wight Radio [
9], broadcasting on 107 and 102 FM (also available over the internet), and a regional television station which broadcasts from the Island,
Solent TV [
10].
The island geography close to the densely populated south of England led to it gaining three prisons:
Albany,
Camphill and
Parkhurst located outside Newport on the main road to Cowes. Albany and Parkhurst were once 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 (known to be some of the most dangerous murderers in the prison system) made their way out of the prison on 3 January 1995 to enjoy four days of freedom before being recaptured. Parkhurst especially enjoyed notoriety as one of toughest jails in the British Isles and "hosted" many notable inmates, including the Yorkshire Ripper
Peter Sutcliffe and the
Kray twins.
Camphill is located 1 mile (1.6Km) to the west of Albany and Parkhurst, on the very edge of
Parkhurst Forest. Originally an army barracks with a small estate of tree-lined roads with well-proportioned officer's houses (with varying grandeur according to rank) to the South and East. Having been converted to a
borstal and later a low category prison, it maintains its ties to the housing around it as although now most privately owned, clean water is still provided from the prison itself and residents pay only sewerage fees to the water authority (Southern Water). The estate is accessed by two, gated, private roads. These are closed for one day each year so as not to become a public right of way.
*
Alum Bay*
Appuldurcombe House  |
English Heritage |
*
Blackgang Chine*
Carisbrooke Castle |
English Heritage |
*
Dinosaur Isle *
Golden Hill Fort  |
Country Park |
*
Fort Victoria |
Country Park |
*
Isle of Wight Steam Railway  |
Heritage Railway |
*
Osborne House |
English Heritage |
*
The Needles  |
National Trust |
*
Robin Hill*
Yarmouth Castle |
English Heritage |
*
Quarr Abbey*
The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four", written by
Paul McCartney, refers to a rented summer cottage on the Isle of Wight.
*"
Ticket To Ride", the
Beatles classic, is a pun on 'Ticket to Ryde', the ferry port to the North of the Island.
*Called
The Island in some editions of
Thomas Hardy's novels in his fictional
Wessex.
*In a similar fashion the island, with fictionalized placenames, is the setting of
Maxwell Gray's
1886 novel,
The Silence of Dean Maitland [
11].
*The Isle of Wight is the setting of
Julian Barnes's novel
England, England.
*The island also features in
John Wyndham's novel
The Day of the Triffids and
Simon Clark's sequel to it,
The Night of the Triffids.
*
Robert Rennick has written a series of detective thrillers set on the Island, including
The Fallen*In radio series
Nebulous, the Isle of Wight has been accidentally disintegrated by Professor Nebulous while he was trying to move it slightly to the left.
*In the game
spirit of the stones the talismans are hidden on the Isle of Wight. The computer game by commodore is also set on the Isle of Wight
*In the
Doctor Who episode Father's Day,
the Doctor remarks
The past is another country, 1987 is just the Isle of Wight.
*Bob Dylan recorded the songs "
Like A Rolling Stone", "
The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)", "Minstrel Boy", and "
She Belongs to Me" for the album
Self Portrait live on the Isle of Wight
*The Isle of Wight is the setting in
D.H. Lawrence's book
The Trespasser, filmed for TV in 1981 on location.
*
Hansard, Wednesday 14th November 2001 column 850
*
Isle of Wight County Press [
12]
*
Isle of Wight Council*
Isle of Wight Tourism*
Isle of Wight County Press Newspaper
