ALBIN'S 
 COMPANION 
 
 <r to thi; 
 
 ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 Price 5s. with an elegant coloured Map, 
 
^ <"£*- ^ 
 
 f fL4* 
 
 PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 Duke University 
 
 Kare Dooks 
 
4£omi)amoit 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ISLE OF WIGHT; 
 
 COMPRISING THE 
 
 3^t0tori? of ttje folanfcr, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF ITS LOCAL SCENERY, 
 
 AS WELL AS ALL 
 
 OBJECTS OF CURIOSITY, 
 
 By John Albin. 
 
 Ninth Edition, with considerable Additions. _ON* 
 
 =#* 
 
 Printed for the Author, and sold by Longma;}f^urst,QJees, 
 and Orrae, Paternoster. Row, London ; /* 
 ,'*>• "' I ^' 
 The Booksellers of the Island, Sonthu}iipton, PfiiHsmouth, 
 Portsea, Lytni7iQ0ii; <3fc. • y • * 
 
 Price 2s. tid. without, 4s. 6>^$Sth a,P|afii, and 5s. with an 
 Elegai^O^Wour^ftfap 
 
 1823. 
 
H * (> - &■ 
 
 Printed by J. Hall, Newport, Isle of Wi'orlit. 
 
TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE EARL OF MALMS BURY, 
 
 <S*obernor of tfje $&U of WMLiqW. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 THE distinguished situation which your 
 Lordship holds, naturally induces those who have to 
 offer any thing of interest relating to this beautiful 
 Island, to solicit your Lordship's patronage and sanc- 
 tion. 
 
 The condescension manifested in permitting this 
 little work to be inscribed xcith a name so honourable, 
 is a proof that your Lordship is not less disposed to 
 encourage whatever may be deemed useful, and is 
 intended to celebrate the charming and interesting spot 
 over which your Lordship presides. 
 
 That your Lordship may very long enjoy the satis- 
 faction of exercising similar acts of beneficence and 
 patronage, and secure the affections and gratitude, 
 both of the inhabitants and visitors of the Isle of Wight, 
 is the general hope, as it is the sincere wish, of 
 Your Lordship's 
 Much obliged, and most 
 Devoted humble Servant, 
 JOHIS ALBIN. 
 
 JULY, 1823. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A S this little work has been drawn up profes- 
 sedly as a guide to assist the tourist in his 
 various excursions through the Isle of Wight, and as 
 the mode of its arrangement and information under 
 the different heads are readily discoverable in the 
 book itself, few prefatory remarks appear to be 
 necessary. 
 
 It may not however be superfluous to observe, that 
 its usefulness has been sufficiently evinced, by tbe 
 rapid sale of the several editions through which it 
 has passed. 
 
 The Editor's wish and endeavours have ever been 
 to improve and adapt the whole work as a Companion 
 to the tourist throughout every part of the Island, 
 by pointing out with accuracy and fidelity, even 
 beautiful object and picturesque scene, worthy it.-e 
 notice of the inquisitive stranger, which a residence 
 of nearly forty years has enabled him to do. 
 
 The new map of the Island has received very par- 
 ticular attention, and has undergone every possible 
 correction and improvement. 
 
 A botanical arrangement of the more rare a d 
 interesting plants found in the Island, has also been 
 
IV 
 
 compiled, specifying their general habitats or places 
 of growth, together with several notes and observa- 
 tions; which arrangement may be had attached to 
 this edition, at the additional charge of one shilling, 
 and may also be had separately , neatly sewed. 
 
 The Editor concludes with the hope, that this 
 ninth edition, having undergone a complete revisal 
 with numerous additions, will be found deserving of 
 the same favourable sentiments, as were extended to 
 the former impressions. 
 
 July, 1823. 
 
% <£omnamoit 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 Before we enter upon a general description of the Island, perhaps 
 the most necessary information that can be given to strangers about 
 to make a tour through it, is a list of the principal Inns in the diff- 
 erent Towns. 
 
 The Chief Inns in 
 
 NEWPORT Are the Bugle, the {green Dragon, and the Wheat- 
 Sheaf. 
 
 OOWES The Fountain, the Vine, and the Marine Hotel. 
 
 RYDE The Hotel, the Bugle, and the Star. 
 
 YARMUU IH— The George. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 General view of the Island — situation— extent- 
 population — "soil —produce, fyc. 
 
 THHE Isle of Wight lies on the coast of Hamp- 
 shire, of Which county it forms a part. The 
 strait that separates it from the main land, and which 
 is called the solent sea, probably from the latin Sol- 
 vo or Solv'endo, to loosen or set free, is of unequal 
 breadth, being about one mile across towards the 
 western extremity, opposite Hurst Castle, and about 
 seven at the eastern extremity, opposite Portsmouth. 
 It is encompassed with rocks, especially towards 
 France, of which the most noted are, the Shingles 
 and the Needles, in the western point; in other 
 B 
 
parts, it is protected by cliffs of chalk and free stone. 
 These render it, in most places inaccessible; and 
 where the shore is almost level and lies exposed, as 
 it does towards the south-east, it is fortified by cas- 
 tles, forts, and blockhouses. 
 
 The form of this island has been compared to that 
 of a lozenge, or of a bird with expanded wings. Its 
 greatest length is from east to west about twenty-four 
 miles, and its breadth form north to south, fourteen. 
 Its superficial contents are reckoned to be from one 
 hundred to one hundred and twenty thousand acres, 
 or about two hundred square miles, and its circum- 
 ference about sixty miles. 
 
 Antiquaries have laboured to determine whether 
 the Isle of Wight was anciently an Island, or only a 
 peninsula. To those, however, who visit this spot 
 either for pleasure or business, the controversy is now 
 of little importance, and researches of this kind being 
 seldom supported by well-founded authorities, serve 
 at best to produce but ingenious speculations. It 
 may be sufficient, therefore, for our purpose to men- 
 tion that its name, with the Romans, was Vectis, 
 or Vecta ; while some derive Wight, from the Bri- 
 tish word Girith, (a breach or division^), as expres- 
 sive of its original separation from the main land. It 
 is, however, as easy to derive it from Vectis by one 
 of those changes of spelling and pronunciation com- 
 mon in barbarous times, especially as we find it cal- 
 led Wect, With, or Wict, in DoomesrJ ay-book. 
 Upon the whole, it is not improbable that it was al- 
 
3 
 
 ways pretty nearly disjoined from the main land, as 
 we now find it; or, if ever it was a peninsula with 
 an isthmus, it must have been at a period so remote, 
 as to afford no record or authority for the fact. Those 
 who wish to make themselves acquainted with all that 
 has been written on this subject, may consult with 
 advantage some late histories of great extent.* 
 
 The island is divided into two hundreds, called 
 East and West Medine, separated by the course of 
 the river Mede, (perhaps from the latin medium,) 
 Medham, or, as it is now called Medina, which, rising- 
 near the bottom of St. Catherine's down, runs north- 
 ward and discharges itself into the channel, between 
 East and West Cowes. 
 
 East Medine consists of fourteen parishes, namely, 
 
 Brading, Wootton, 
 
 Yaverland, Whippingham, 
 
 Shanklin, Arreton, 
 
 Bonchurch, Godshill, 
 
 St. Helens, St. Lawrence, 
 
 Newchurch, Whitwell, 
 
 Binstead, Niton, 
 
 * See Sir Richard Worsley's History of the Isle of Wight, and 
 th« mure recent History of the Island, by Mr. Albin, Ch. 2. 
 
 b2 
 
West Medina contains sixteen pari*h&. 
 
 Northwood, Brixton, 
 
 Carisbrooke, Calbourn, 
 
 St. Nicholas, Motteston, 
 
 Gatcombe, Brooke, 
 
 Chale, Shalfleet, 
 
 Kingston, Thorley, 
 
 Shorwell, Yarmouth, and 
 
 Newport, Freshwater, 
 
 The population of this island, according to the last 
 census, taken in the year 1821, amounted to 31,611 ; 
 having increased 6273 since the year 1811. The 
 chief towns are Newport, which may be considered 
 as the capital of the island, Cowes, Rydf, and 
 Yarmouth. 
 
 The air of this island, particularly in the higher 
 southern parts, is extremely salubrious, Instances 
 of longevity among the inhabitants are frequent ; and 
 the general appearance of health and vigour among 
 the lower ranks, sufficiently marks the importance of 
 the island to valetudinary visitors. Perhaps there 
 is no part of the kingdom more frequently or more 
 successfully resorted to, by those who wish either to 
 retain or recover that inestimable blessing health, 
 without which all other possessions are but splendid 
 mockeries. 
 
5 
 
 The fertilities of the island, which an improved 
 system of agriculture has of late years considerably 
 increased, have long been celebrated amongst the 
 inhabitants, and acknowledged by the ablest writers 
 on the subject; its annual produce has even been 
 estimated at seven times its consumption, but this cal- 
 culation is certainly exaggerated : the soil, however, 
 is extremely different in different parts of the country, 
 and sometimes remarkable varieties occur in a very 
 small district. In the parish of Brading for exam- 
 ple : the south part consists of a free, kind working 
 soil, mixed with a small proportion of sand ; the west, 
 of a light loam, mixed with chalk; and the north 
 and east parts of a stiff clay, scarcely yielding to the 
 operation of the husbandman. In many parts of the 
 island, the soil is gravelly, in others flinty; but its 
 general character is a strong and loamy earth, well 
 calculated for agricultural purposes. It abounds 
 with niarle, (both shell and stone,) chalk, fuller's and 
 brick earth, tobaeco-pipe-clay, stone of different qua- 
 lities, and various kinds of sands; of the last, a fine 
 white sort is found in the parish of Freshwater, on 
 the manor of Messrs. Rushworth, Hicks, and St. 
 Barbe, which is esteemed far superior to any other 
 in the kingdom, and is used in great quantities for 
 the glass and porcelain manufactories of London, 
 Bristol, and Worcester. There is also a bay, cal- 
 led Alum Bay, to the north of the Needles, from the 
 quantity of Alum found there. 
 
 b3 
 
6 
 
 The several species of grain in this island are 
 wheat, barley, oats, beans, and peas. In the eastern 
 part, the medium produce of wheat is about tweuty- 
 Jiine bushels, of oats, twenty-eight, of barley thirty, 
 of peas twenty-eight, and of beans twenty-four bush- 
 els per acre. In the southern and western parts it 
 is rather larger — wheat thirty bushels, oats forty, bar- 
 ley thirty, beans thirty-two, and peas twenty-eight 
 bushels per acre. The potato, although not perhaps 
 so much regarded here as so valuable an esculent de- 
 serves, }ields very satisfactory crops, from sixty to 
 one hundred and ten sacks per acre. There are 
 many parts here admirably adapted for the cultiva- 
 tion of the potato, and the surplusage consumption 
 of the island, might be carried at a trifling expence 
 to Portsmouth, where we presume it would find a 
 ready market* 
 
 The farms on the island are of a moderate size, 
 from £100 to £500 per annum, with a few from 
 £500 to £800. The average rent is about 20s. per 
 acre. Estates, when sold, fetch from twenty-eight 
 to tliirty years purchase. 
 
 The green crops are principally turnips, clover, 
 vetches, rye-grass, and trefoil. The pasture and 
 meadow land is extremely rich, and produces from 
 one to three tons of fine hay per acre. 
 
 Of animals, sheep have of late years principally 
 been attended to in the Isle of Wight. The number 
 of sheep annually shorn, is supposed to amount to 
 forty thousand. Five thousand lambs have been 
 
sold, in one year only, to the London butchers, one 
 of whom has been known to buy fifteen hundred at 
 one purchase. The breed in general use, is the Dor- 
 setshire, although lately they have been crossed by 
 the Leicester. The average weight of wool per fleece, 
 is from three to three and a half pounds, which is 
 chiefly exported in the fleece to diiferent trading 
 towns.* 
 
 The cows are mostly of the Alderney breed, though 
 mixed with the English sorts. Oxen are rare ; on 
 some, but few farms, they are worked as horses. 
 
 The horses are in general large, and great pains 
 are taken to improve them for the team, as well as 
 for the saddle. 
 
 Mr. Warner in his agricultural survey of the island 
 considers the hogs as of a breed peculiar to the coun- 
 try, being tall and large, marked with black spots, 
 and having very deep sides. 
 
 Although the game of the island has suffered con- 
 siderably by the multitude of sportsmen and military 
 yet there is every where plenty of hares and rabbits* 
 partridges, pheasants, lapwings, woodcocks, and va- 
 riety of wild fowl; and one park, Appuldurcombe, 
 stocked with deer. 
 
 * The island is much indebted to the late Mr. Keach, of 
 Ningwood Farm, and the late Mr. G. Noyes, of Pan Farm, who have 
 introduced a remarkably fine breed of Leicester rams, some of whose 
 fleeces hove weighed from nine to fourteen pounds each. 
 
8 
 
 The various species of fish usually found on the 
 English coast are caught here; and the quantities of 
 shell-fish taken on the southern side of the island, 
 have given to a village there the name of Crab-Niton, 
 from the great quantity of crabs that are caught 
 near it. 
 
 Timber was formerly plentiful in the island, but 
 the demands of the dock-yards have of late years 
 thinned the woods : the oak and the elm are the most 
 flourishing of what remains. The more profitable and 
 quick return made by land kept in tillage, also ope- 
 rates against the rearing of timber here, as well as 
 in most other parts of Great Britain. 
 
 Plantations of considerable extent however, have 
 lately been made by Sir Leonard Holmes, on some 
 of the most steril parts of the downs in the western, 
 districts of the island, where timber least abounds, 
 which are now in thriving condition, and promise in 
 future years amply to reward him for the expense 
 and spirit of the undertaking. 
 
 Of waste land, from what has been already said, it 
 may be supposed there is but little. Parkhurst, or 
 Carisbrook Forest, which lies north westward from 
 the centre of the island, and was formerly a waste 
 of three thousand acres, affording little advantage 
 either to the crown, or to its neighbours, has since 
 the publication of the last edition of this work, been 
 inclosed, and the greater part of it is now in a state 
 of improving cultivation. The wooded parts of the 
 
9 
 
 forest used to abound with deer, but this portion of 
 it being reserved to the crown, it was found neces- 
 sary for the preservation of the timber, that these 
 "antlered monarchs of the waste" should be excluded 
 from their sylvan recesses, and the fatal edict which 
 issued for their extermination was executed with un- 
 relenting fidelity. 
 
 In the eastern part of the island are some tracts 
 of marshy ground, covered at high tides, by the sea, 
 but left bare on its reflux; the largest of these is 
 Brading-haven, containing about nine hundred acres. 
 In the reign of Edward I. an idea was entertained, 
 that there was a possibility of recovering this usur- 
 pation from the sea, and attempts for that purpose 
 were then made, and have since been renewed, 
 though with little success.* 
 
 CHAPTER. II. 
 
 Military, Civil, and Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 JL hat the Romans invaded this island in common 
 with the rest of the kingdom, upon this and the ad- 
 joining coast, is highly probable, even if we had it 
 not upon the authority of some of their historians, 
 but it does not appear to have been considered as a 
 place of great importance. There are none of those 
 Roman encampments which are to be discovered in 
 
 *Albin's History of the Isle of Wight, p. 473, &c. 
 
10 
 
 almost every other part of the kingdom. It was after- 
 wards plundered by the invaders of England during the 
 heptarchy, but the detail of their military exploits, de- 
 tached from the general history of the country, would 
 form but a barren narrative. Soon after the conquest 
 of William I. it is mentioned as a place capable of 
 some defence ; and in the 13th. year of Edward III. 
 the inhabitants repulsed a strong party of French in- 
 vaders. Still, however, their internal security was 
 slight, for Carisbrooke Castle, though built at this 
 time, and a place of great strength, according to the 
 art of war then practised, was, from its situation, 
 calculated only for a retreat to the inhabitants, when 
 the island was in possession of an enemy. Node 
 Hill, now one of the avenues to Newport, was an- 
 ciently called Noddies' Hill, from a successful am- 
 buscade placed there in the time of Richard II. to 
 intercept the French,who were besieging Carisbrooke 
 castle, and by means of which they were cut off. 
 Their bodies were buried under this hill, to which 
 the triumphant inhabitants sarcastically gave the 
 name of Noddies' or Noddles' Hill. Other attempts 
 were afterwards made against the peace and proper- 
 ty of the island by the French, but with little success 
 and during the civil wars between the houses of 
 York and Lancaster it enjoyed profound tranquility, 
 their foreign enemies, the French, having likewise at 
 that period full employment at home. 
 - In the 36th year of Henry VIII the French, who 
 had prepared a great fleet for the invasion of th« 
 
11 
 
 kingdom, (upon which, however, they were unable to 
 land, owing to the dangers of the coast,) sent two 
 thousand men to this island, which they were ravaging 
 with the true spirit of depredation, when the intrepid 
 governor, Richard Wbrsley, collecting a sufficient 
 force, drove them back with loss and confusion to 
 their ships. 
 
 From this time more regular means of defence be- 
 gan to be adopted, and forts were built in different 
 parts of the island to oppose the landing of an ene- 
 my. One of the principal of these standing on Nor- 
 ton common, on the coast immediately opposite to 
 Hurst Castle, was called Worsley's Tower, in ho- 
 nour of the brave commander just mentioned. The 
 other fortresses were Carisbrooke Castle, Yar- 
 mouth, Freshwater, Sharpnore or Carey's Sconce, 
 Sandown or Sandham Fort, and Cowes Castle. 
 These will be noticed hereafter, when we come to 
 point out the various objects claiming the traveller's 
 attention. The military history of the island, after 
 the time of Henry VII F, becomes too closely united 
 with the general history of the kingdom to be de- 
 tached from it, so as to afford subject for a separate 
 narrative. 
 
 Of its civil history we have but very slender and 
 transient accounts in the early historians. During 
 the Saxon heptarchy, however, it appears <o have 
 frequently changed its masters. Cerdic, the first 
 Saxon monarch of the island, died in the year 534, 
 leaving the possession to his two nephews, Withgar 
 
12 
 
 ami Stuifa, whose exterminating swords appear to 
 Lave nearly annihilated the small remaining race of 
 original inhabitants, who had escaped the massacre 
 of the former despot. 
 
 The island, however, remained under the domi- 
 nion of these tyrants and their descendants, for up- 
 wards of five centuries, till it submitted to the arms 
 of the Norman Conqueror. On the conquest, Wl!- 
 liam granted it to a relation, William Eitz-Osborne, 
 who had distinguished himself in the battle of Has- 
 tings, and who (as the grant expressed it) was to 
 " hold this island as freely as the Conqueror held 
 the realm of England ;" and in this freedom he even 
 exceeded his master's tyranny, for he ejected all the 
 former possessors of the island, without distinction 
 of party, excepting only the officers and servants of 
 the late King Edward the Confessor. The island 
 then passed successively from one favourite to ano- 
 ther, until it fell to the lot of Richard de Rivers, 
 Earl of Devonshire, with whose successors (Earls 
 and Countesses of Devonshire) it remained until 
 the year 1293, when it was purchased by the crown 
 for the trifling sum of six thousand marks, or about 
 four thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 It now became the private property of the kings 
 of England, and was bestowed by them occasionally, 
 in grants and leases, to their particular favourites. 
 Edward II gave it to Piers Gaveston, his wife, and 
 the heirs of his body, but resumed the grant in the 
 following year, and conferred it on his eldest son 
 
13 
 
 Edward, then stiled Earl of Chester. Richard II 
 granted the lordship of it to William Montacute, Earl 
 of Salisbury, for the term of his natural life ; and in 
 this manner it was conveyed from lord to lord, as in- 
 terest, partiality, or political reasons prompted. One 
 of its lords, the Duke of Warwick, was crowned 
 king of the Isle of Wight, by patent of the 24th year 
 of Henry VI; but Henry VII resumed the juris- 
 diction of the island, and it has, ever since, been con- 
 sidered as part of the dominions of the crown ; ina- 
 lienable and subject to the crown as the rest of the 
 kingdom is ; and from this time we are to date the 
 appointment of captains and governors. During the 
 late reign, the governors have been, Thomas, 
 Lord Holmes; Hans Stanley, Esq.; Harry Duke 
 of Bolton; and Sir Richard Worsley; Lord Malms- 
 bury, at present fills that station. 
 
 In former times, the governors, captains, or 
 wardens, as they were called, possessed power not 
 much unlike those at present given to the governors 
 of our settlements in the East and West Indies, tinc- 
 tured, however, a little more with the arbitrary spi- 
 rit of the times. There is a curious instance of this, 
 but perhaps it will not excite much indignation, in 
 Sir John Oglander's memoirs : — •* I have heard 
 (says the writer), and partly knew it to be true, that 
 not onlv heretofore there was no lawyer or attorney 
 in our island, but in Sir George Carey's time (he was 
 captain of the island temp. Eliz.), an attorney com- 
 ing in to settle in the island was, by his command, 
 
14 
 
 with a pound of candles hanging at his breech light- 
 ed, with bells about his legs, hunted owte of the is- 
 land ; insomuch as our ancestors lived here so quietly 
 and securely, being neither troubled to London or 
 Winchester, so they seldom or never went out of 
 the Island ; insomuch as when they went to London, 
 thinking it an East India voyage, they always made 
 their wills, supposing no trouble like to travaile." 
 
 Fuller certainly records an old proverb, that " the 
 Isle of Wight hath no monks, lawyers, nor foxes/' 
 but he adds, " that it hath more of mirth than of 
 truth in it :" and as the late collector of provincial 
 proverbs, Captain Grose, humorously observes,*' that 
 there should be a fertile, healthy, and pleasant spot 
 without monks; a rich place without lawyers; and a 
 country abounding with lambs, poultry, and game, 
 without foxes, is evidently an improbability. 
 
 Through the middle of the Island, in the longest 
 direction, extend a range of high hills, affording ex- 
 cellent pasturage for sheep and commanding views 
 x)ver every part of the Isle, with the ocean on the 
 south 6ide, and on the north the beautiful coast of 
 Hampshire. The face of the country is very diver- 
 sified, bold hills of various elevations, intersected by 
 rich and cultivated vales, the swelling promontory, 
 and the lowly glen, appear in quick succession, to 
 animate and give interest to the prospects. 
 
 The butter is very good; but the cheese which is 
 made of the skim milk, beajs the appropriate name of 
 Isle of Wight Rock. 
 
15 
 
 The climate is extremely salubrious, and highly 
 favorable to vegetation ; its genial qualities and near 
 approximation in mildness to more southern regions, 
 may be instanced by the profusion of genial myrtles 
 in a number of the gardens. The central parts of the 
 Isle are subject to frequent rains, the high range of 
 hills proving a constant source of attraction to the 
 vapours, and in the winter months involving all be- 
 neath them in gloom and humidity. The general fer- 
 tility, however, is so little affected, and the vegetation 
 is so abundant, that this Island has been often si yled 
 the Garden of England ; an appellation perhaps, that 
 is partly suggested to the mind by the innumerable 
 plants and flowers which grow every where in wild 
 luxuriance. All the higher parts of the Isle are 
 composed of an immense mass of calcareous matter, 
 of a chalky nature, incumbent on schistus, which 
 run under the whole Isle, and appears at low water 
 mark, on the coast near Mottiston. This becomes so 
 indurated by exposure to the air, as to make very good 
 whetstones. The lime stone is burnt for manure ; 
 and in the pits where it is dug for that purpose, are 
 found numerous echini, shark's teeth, and ammonia?. 
 These fossils are particularly abundant in the range 
 of cliffs which forms the southern shore ; together 
 with bivalve and turbinated shells of various descrip- 
 tions : the cornua ammonis are of all sizes, from one 
 inch to a foot and a half in diameter. A stratum of 
 coal discovers itself at the foot of Bembridge Cliff, 
 and runs through the northern part of the Isle, ap- 
 c2 
 
16 
 
 pearing again at Warden Ledge in Freshwater parish. 
 On the north-side of this stratum lies a vein of white 
 sand, and another of fuller's earth: and on the south 
 side is another of red ochre. The coal is reported to 
 be of good quality, the upper part of the stratum is 
 about 3 feet wide; it dips to the northward : a shaft 
 was sunk by the late Sir Robert Worsley, at Bem- 
 bridge, to ascertain its depth; but the vein was there 
 so thin, that it was judged insufficient to defray the 
 expense; and the undertaking was abandoned. Free- 
 stones of several descriptions are found here, but none 
 of superior quality ; though that obtained in the quar- 
 ries near Quarr Abbey, was some ages ago inmuch re- 
 quest; but the superior nature of the Portland stone 
 has long destroyed its reputation. Red and yellow 
 ochres are particularly observable in Alum Bay, to 
 the north of the Needles, where their mingled strata 
 variagate the cliffs. In this bay native alum is found 
 in large quantities, and in other respects a consider- 
 able field is open for the investigation of the mineral- 
 ogist. Small masses of native sulphur are frequently 
 picked up on different parts of the shore. Argella 
 apyra, or pipe-clay, is very plentiful in different parts 
 of the Isle. Several chalybeate springs have been 
 found in different parts of the Island (besides the one 
 we have taken notice of at >Sand-rock.) The springs 
 of clear water are very numerous, and in general ex- 
 tremely pure and transparent, from the natural per- 
 colation which they undergo through the lime-stone 
 strata* 
 
17 
 
 The rents of the island, which are now granted 
 by patent to the governors, amount in the whole to 
 672/. 17s. 8d. 
 
 » During the civil wars in the seventeenth century, 
 the island was accidentally the scene of an affecting 
 part of the sufferings of Charles I. It was here he 
 took refuge, and expected to find friends; and here 
 he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies*. 
 
 We have only to add on the civil history of the 
 island, that it sends six members to parliament; two 
 for the borough of Newport, two for that of Yar- 
 mouth, and two for that of Newtown; of these we 
 shall treat more particularly in our next chapter. In 
 civil affairs, the Island is subject to the county of 
 Southampton; and in ecclesiastical matters, to the 
 jurisdiction of the bishop of Winchester. 
 
 The ecclesiastical antiquities of the island are at 
 this day but seldom an object of inquiry. To those 
 visitors, however, who may be disposed to investigate 
 the remains of early piety, it may be necessary to 
 point out the following: — 
 
 In Carisbrooke, is a church dedicated to St. Mary, 
 which William Fitz-Osborne, above-mentioned, gave, 
 with several other possessions in England, to the 
 abbey of Lyra in Normandy; upon which a prior 
 and some black jnonks, from the foreign monastery, 
 settled there. 
 
 • Particular account of which, see Albim's History of thereof 
 Wight. t 
 
 c3 
 
18 
 
 At Quarr, south-east of Newport, in 1132, Bald- 
 win de Rivers, afterwards Earl of Devonshire, built 
 an abbey of Cistercian monks, dedicated to the Vir- 
 gin Mary. Its yearly revenues, upon the suppres- 
 sion, were valued at 134/. 3s. lid. 
 
 At Marvel, not far from Newport, a college of 
 priests was founded by Henry de Blois, Bishop of 
 "Winchester, and augmented by Peter de Roch and 
 Henry Woodlock, two of his successors ; and near 
 this place there is a church, in which was a chantry 
 at the dissolution. 
 
 At St. Helens, upon the eastern coast, there was 
 an alien priory of Cluniac monks before the year 1155. 
 At St. Cross, near Newport, before the year 1155, 
 there was a priory, or hospital, dedicated to the Holy 
 Cross, which was a cell to the abbey of Tirone in 
 France. 
 
 At Appuldurcombe, seven miles south of New- 
 port, there was a cell of Benedictine monks, subor- 
 dinate^ to the abbey of St. Mary de Montisburg, in 
 Normandy. It was founded about the end of the 
 reign of King Henry III by Isabella de Fortibus, 
 and was dissolved, with the rest of the alien priories 
 by King Henry V. 
 
 At Barton, near East Cowes, so early as the time 
 of King Edward I, there was a priory of canons, of 
 the order of St. Austin, dedicated to the Holy Tri- 
 nity. It consisted of several chaplains under the 
 government of an archpresbyter, who, in the nine- 
 teenth of Henry VI, gave away the estate of the 
 priory ip St. Mary's college at Winchester. 
 
19 
 
 At Godshill, north of Appuldurcombe, there is 
 a church which was early appropriated to the abbey 
 of Lyra, in Normandy, in which are placed some very 
 superb monuments of the Worsley family, well worth 
 the inspection of the curious. 
 
 In the register of Winchester church, there is 
 mention of an hermitage at Chale, upon the coast 
 south west of Appuldurcombe, as early as the year 
 1312. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Principal Towns or Boroughs : — Newport, 
 Newtown, Yarmouth. 
 
 NEWPORT. 
 
 IS EWPORT, the principal town of the Island, was 
 a place of little note before the reign of Henry 11, 
 about which time, it is probable, the church was built, 
 and dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, the popular 
 saint of that time. The first charter of the incorpo- 
 ration was granted to Newport in the first year of the 
 reign of James I, but it sent members to parliament 
 as far back as the 23rd of Edward I. The privilege, 
 however, was disoontinued next year, and not re- 
 
20 
 
 stored until the 23rd of Elizabeth. The right of elec- 
 tion is in the corporation, which consists of a mayor, 
 recorder, ten aldermen, and twelve burgesses. 
 
 The town of Newport stands nearly in the centre 
 of the Island; a situation which, in many respects, 
 gives it a tlecided superiority. It is happily watered, 
 both on the east and west side by plentiful streams. 
 One of these rises at the farthest foot of the southern 
 hills; and the other commences at a place called 
 Raynor's Grove, about three miles distant from the 
 town. On each of these streams are corn mills: and 
 where they unite below the town, is a quay for the 
 convenience of commerce. 
 
 Newport is an extremely neat, handsome, and well 
 built town. It is disposed in five parallel streets in 
 length, and three in breadth, which cross each other 
 at right angles. It was originally intended to have 
 had three large squares at the intersections of the 
 streets, to serve as cattle, corn, and poultry markets. 
 But various encroachments have destroyed the uni^ 
 formity of the design. 
 
 The streets are well paved and lighted with 
 gass; kept remarkably clean and provided with foot 
 ways; and the buildings have a neat, commodious, 
 and pleasing appearance. The principal public build- 
 ing in the town is the new guildhall and market-place, 
 a large and elegant structure of the Ionic order, 
 lately erected at the expense ot the corp nation, 
 after a design presented to them by Mr. i\ ash, in 
 which his taste and talents have been eminently dis- 
 
21 
 
 played. The building stands handsomely in the cen- 
 tre of the town. A magnificent colonnade of Ionic pil- 
 lars, supported by arches of the same order, forms 
 the principal front on the west, whilst an elegant fa- 
 cade of corresponding architecture is extremely orna- 
 mental to the High Street, which runs parallel to it 
 on the south. See the elegant engraving facing title. 
 Though it is difficult, indeed impossible, to give by 
 description any accurate idea of a public edifice, it is 
 still due to the structure before us, to say, that in 
 beauty and chasteness of design, in taste, proportion, 
 and that happy union of utility and ornament, which 
 forms the perfection of public buildings, it deserves 
 all the praise that has been bestowed upon it. The 
 square or area of the base forms a spacious, commo- 
 dious market-place, excellently arranged in compart- 
 ments for butchers' shambles, fish and vegetable stalls, 
 and other requisite accommodations, with a large 
 pump on one side. Over the market place is a mag- 
 nificent town-hall ; the partitions, forming the apart- 
 ments for the juries, solicitors, witnesses, &c. are 
 screwed to the floor, to afford when required a facility 
 of removal. The hall communicates at the upper end 
 with the council chamber, where the grand jury meet, 
 being a room of the same width and elevation, and 
 about 30 feet by 20, separated from the hall by a 
 moveable partition, which being taken away the coun- 
 cil chamber is thrown into the hall, which then forms 
 one magnificent room, of 48 feet by 30, and 22 feet 
 high. 
 
22 
 
 At the lower end of the hall hangs a very spirited 
 full length portrait of Sir Leonard Holmes, in his re- 
 corder's robe, by On ei ; this picture was painted at 
 the expense of the inhabitants of the town, and by 
 them presented to the corporation, as a testimony of 
 their esteem for the individual whom it represents, 
 and a suitable acknowledgment of the liberality and 
 public spirit to which the Island was indebted, for the 
 accommodations the building affords. Besides the 
 large hall, there is also a room for the petty jury to 
 retire to, an office for the town clerk, and other use- 
 ful apartments. 
 
 In this hall the sessions of the peace for the bo- 
 rough, which take place twice a year, about Ladyday 
 and Michaelmas, are holden; and here all the meet- 
 ings of the corporation take place. Here also the 
 magistrates of the county, acting for the division of 
 the Island, by permission of the corporation, hold 
 their weekly meetings on every Saturday throughout 
 the year ; and indeed upon most occasions of general 
 assembly, upon public business or festivity, the doors 
 of the hall are readily thrown open by the corpora- 
 tion, to the public ser\ice. The present building was 
 erected on the scite of the old market-house, enlarged 
 by that of several houses adjoining, which were pur- 
 chased by the corporation, and pulled down for the 
 purpose. It cost altogether about £ 10,000 which 
 was raised by the sale of a considerable part of the 
 estates of the corporation in Newport and its neigh- 
 bourhood. The corner stone was laid on the 20 tk 
 
23 
 
 day of March, 1814, and it was finished in the month 
 of March, 1816. 
 
 Of the courts of the r stand the principal is the bo 
 rough court of Newport, holtieii once in three weeks, 
 before the mayor, recorder, justices, and jury. The 
 court has cognizance of debts to the amount of £ 10 
 and upwards; and for trespass, trover, &e. within 
 the borough. For recovery of these debts, process 
 issues, upon which warrants of arrest, under the com- 
 mon seal of the borough and signature of the town 
 clerk, are granted. 
 
 The ancient court of Pie Powder is also holden 
 once a year within the borough. There is also ano- 
 ther court of rather a singular constitution, which may 
 deserve description. 
 
 It is called the Curia Militum, knight's court, or 
 knighten court, and is held by the steward of the go- 
 vernor of the Island. This court is of very ancient 
 institution, and is supposed to have been erected by 
 William Fitz-Osborne, already mentioned, who re- 
 ceived the first grant of the Island from William the 
 Conquerer. It is plain, that it is of feudal origin; for 
 the judges of it were such as held a knight's fee, or 
 part of a knight's, from the lord of the Island: and 
 these judges, according to the feudal system, gave 
 judgment, as in courts of equity, without the inter- 
 vention of a jury. 
 
 The captain's steward, or his deputy, holds this 
 court by virtue of the captain's patent every Monday 
 three weeks, except that day happens to be a holiday. 
 
24 
 
 U bas.junisdicl.ion over the whole Island, except the 
 borough of Newport, and holds plea of all actions of 
 debt and trespass under the value of forty shillings; 
 and upon replevins granted by the steward or his de- 
 puty. 
 
 The proceedings are of the same nature as those 
 in our courts of equity, and are carried on by attor- 
 nies admitted by the court. Actions of debt are tried 
 by proof of plaintiff or defendant, or the defendant's 
 wager of law ; by two hands, if he prays it; and ac- 
 tions of trespass are determined by proof only. 
 
 A representation was made to Lord Conway the 
 governor, in 1626, concerning the nature of this court, 
 and the inconvenience arising from the small number 
 of its judges, who must be freeholders, holding of the 
 castle of Carisbrooke. This was also accompanied 
 with some useful hints for its improvement by the 
 introduction of juries, and the extension of its juris- 
 diction to causes of higher value; but no alteration 
 was made in its forms or powers. 
 
 In the year 1806, an act of parliament, for the re- 
 covery of small debts, within the Island, to the amount 
 of five p.ounds, was obtained by the voluntary sub- 
 scription of the inhabitants. 
 
 The principal classical school in Newport is the 
 free grammar school, for the instruction of a limited 
 number of boys. It was erected by public subscrip- 
 tion in 1619, and being properly endowed, and ably 
 conducted, is of great advantage to the Island, as a 
 seminary for such acquirements as may be necessary 
 
25 
 
 in common life, or as preparatory to studies upon a 
 larger scale. It is a plain stone building, containing 
 convenient apartments for the master. The school- 
 room, Which is fifty feet long, was the room in which 
 Charles I attempted a treaty with the parliament 
 commissioners in 1648. This was the last effort of 
 that unhappy monarch to save his crown and his life; 
 but the one was then gone, and the other was devoted. 
 The treaty was artfully spun out during two months, 
 and none of his counsel being allowed to be present, 
 he alone had to contend with fifteen men of the great- 
 est capacity in both houses of parliament. ** Yet 
 (says Hume) no advantage was ever obtained over him. 
 This was the scene, above all others, in which he was 
 qualified to excel. A quick conception — a cultivated 
 understanding — a chaste education — a dignified man- 
 ner; by these accomplishments, he triumphed in all 
 discussions of cool and temperate reasoning." When 
 the scite of this memorable treaty is pointed out, the 
 mind is naturally impressed with the tenderness of 
 local emotion, and led to meditate on that most strik- 
 ing example of the instability of human grandeur. 
 
 There is another school, supported partly by en- 
 dowment, and partly by voluntary subscription, for 
 the purpose of clothing and instructing girls in read- 
 ing, writing, needle-work, and other employments 
 suited to their expected situations in life. There are 
 also Sunday schools, supported by the services and 
 encouragement of the principal inhabitants, and two 
 public schools, one on the plan of Dr. Bell, and the 
 D 
 
26 
 
 other on that of J. Lancaster. These schools are 
 well conducted and well attended, upwards of 200 
 children being daily taught in each of them. On the 
 utility of such institutions, it would be needless to ex- 
 patiate. If there were no other motives than self- 
 interest, it would be a prevailing one with every per- 
 son who reflects upon the advantage of having honest 
 servants, honest labourers, and honest tenants ; and 
 who considers that the only season of improvement is 
 in early youth, before the mind has become vitiated, 
 and the manners debased. But there is a superior 
 motive ; for he who impresses on the youthful mind 
 the principles of religion, confers the highest obliga- 
 tion which human nature is capable of receiving. 
 
 There are also other schools in the town, in which 
 youth of both sexes are instructed in every branch of 
 useful and polite literature. 
 
 The number of houses in Newport is upwards of 
 eight hundred; and the number of inhabitants, about 
 five thousand. This population however must of 
 course be ever fluctuating. The increase and de- 
 crease of the inhabitants of a town like this being cir- 
 cumstances that imperceptibly occur, and but for the 
 intervention of some sudden calamity, which visibly 
 thins, or some extraordinary influx, which as visibly 
 increases the number, are seldom the objects of cal- 
 culation. 
 
 Upon the character of the inhabitants it is unne- 
 cessary to enlarge. Claims to superior virtues of any 
 kind have generally in them more of vanity than truth, 
 
27 
 
 and as to local peculiarities, they are every day wear- 
 ing away with the changing character of the times. 
 An extended communication between the inhabitants 
 of all extremes of the empire, which increasing trade 
 and population naturally produces, has also of late 
 years given an assimilation of habits, manners, and 
 character throughout the kingdom. Whatever pre- 
 tensions therefore our island ancestors might former- 
 ly have had to extraordinary virtue, simplicity, or 
 hospitality, the inhabitants of the present day differ 
 not in character from those of other places. They 
 have neither more virtues to boast, nor more vices 
 to deplore; though it must be confessed that the im- 
 mense military depots that have for the last thirty 
 years been established, however they may have en- 
 riched the trading interests, have not improved the 
 moral virtues of the island. 
 
 The fair sex have indeed generally engaged the ad- 
 miration of visitors. " Here (says a late writer) 
 beauty has its exquisite triumphs, and in witnessing 
 these, the market and gala days of Newport have 
 often detained the strangers eye with complacency 
 and pleasure*." This compliment it would be diffi- 
 cult to expand without taking from its force. 
 
 The markets, whither the visitor has just been so 
 attractively directed, are held twice a week, on Wed- 
 nesdays and Saturdays, the former chiefly for cattle, 
 but the latter is the principal. Two hundred wag- 
 
 * Sketches of Description, &c. 1792, p. 55, 56. 
 D 2 
 
28 
 
 gons of grain have formerly been loaded and brought 
 for sale, amounting to fourteen or fifteen hundred 
 quarters, of which a great part was manufactured in 
 the island into flour, malt, and biscuit, for the use of 
 the navy, and the rest purchased by factors and mer- 
 chants for exportation, but peace has diminished the 
 consumption. Provisions of other kinds are also 
 brought to the market in great abundance, especially 
 poultry and butter. The markets for corn and grain 
 are usually in some degree discontinued during the 
 harvest, which is generally abundant ; and a large 
 supply of hands is annually imported from Cornwall, 
 Somersetshire, and Devonshire, for the purpose of 
 reaping it. 
 
 In this market the question, as to the legality of 
 using the customary, instead of the Winchester bush- 
 el of eight gallons, was first agitated ; and much to 
 the honour of the gentlemen who promoted the in- 
 quiry, afterwards brought to a legal decision in the 
 court of king's bench; when the use of the Winches- 
 ter, as the only legal standard bushel of the kingdom, 
 was finally established : a decision replete with good 
 policy, as by equalizing the measure, the price of 
 grain per quarter is brought to an average estimate, 
 and thereby tends to quiet the apprehensions of the 
 community against unfounded and imaginary fears of 
 scarcity. 
 
 A particular branch of a large lace manufactory, 
 which employs nearly four hundred children, has 
 been recently introduced, v/hidi promises to be of ser- 
 
29 
 
 vice to the island, by employing a large portion of the 
 children of the labouring poor. 
 
 Amongst public amusements, the Drama always 
 stands conspicuous, and as a rational entertainment is 
 more attended to than any other. The Theatre at 
 Newport is sufficiently large, and has lately been 
 considerably ornamented and improved. The regu- 
 lar season is during the months of August, September, 
 and October, when it is well attended, particularly 
 during the Michaelmas Saturdays. There are also 
 assemblies at stated times, for which purpose there 
 are two rooms of considerable elegance. Nor is the 
 "traveller's best home" wanting to complete the ac- 
 commodations of Newport. The Inns are excellent; 
 in no town in England are superior comforts of every 
 kind to be found. 
 
 The permanent library which is a handsome stone 
 building in St. James's-square, forms also one of the 
 most useful and interesting establishments of the 
 town. It is called, " the Isle of Wight Institution," 
 and is supported by an annual subscription of £ l..os. 
 for each member, with an admission fee of one guinea 
 and a half. It was established in the year 1810, and 
 now contains a good collection of books, which is 
 every year increasing; newspapers, reviews, and 
 other periodical publications, are also supplied : 
 strangers may have access through the introduction 
 of a member. There is also another book society 
 and reading room, on nearly the same plan; called 
 the Vectis Reading Society, held in a room over the 
 d3 
 
30 
 
 shop of Mr. J. Mew, Music Master, &c. in the High- 
 Street, near the Town-hall. 
 
 There is also an association of gentlemen in New- 
 port, for promoting geological pursuits, and whose 
 attentions were lately engaged in opening several 
 large barrows on the western downs of the Island ; 
 but nothing of consequence was discovered, except a 
 small goblet of thin stained glass, one or two pieces 
 of iron about eight inches long, apparently the blades 
 of large knives, or some other offensive weapons, in a 
 state of great rust and decay, a few stone beads and 
 some tusks of wild boars, which are all deposited in 
 the collection of Sir Leonard Holmes, the president. 
 
 Of the buildings appropriated for divine service, 
 the Church necessarily demands our chief attention. 
 We have already mentioned that it is of great anti- 
 quity; but like all places, on which time has com- 
 mitted its ravages, is indebted to various additions 
 and repairs for its present appearance; and in it 
 more than one species of architecture are to be ob- 
 served. It stands in the centre of one of the squares 
 of the town, is very spacious, and has galleries in 
 every part. It consists of a body and two aisles, one 
 of which is separated from the rest by seven gothic 
 arches, and the other by six. The chancel is divi- 
 ded from the body of the church by small oak pillars 
 and arches, ornamented with carving. Here is a 
 good organ. The pulpit is an exquisite relic of an- 
 tiquity, of curious workmanship, being richly orna- 
 mented with fourteen carved emblematical figures, 
 
31 
 
 disposed in the different pannels round it in two rows, 
 so as to represent the liberal sciences and cardinal 
 virtues. The date is 1636. The whole merits the 
 attention of the spectator. It appears, that in the 
 last century, and indeed in the present, the inhabi- 
 tants, had the power of electing their own minister. 
 The vicar of Carisbrooke however now nominates a 
 curate to supply the church. 
 
 There are some handsome monuments id it, par- 
 ticularly that of Sir Edward Horsey. Among the 
 unnoticed, but illustrious dead, lies the Princess 
 Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles I. An arched 
 vault was discovered in 1793, and near it a stone, 
 with the initials E. S. upon it, which marked the place 
 of her interment. The leaden-coffin, in which her 
 remains were deposited, was found in a vault near 
 the altar, which was perfectly dry when it was opened, 
 and the coffin in a state almost as sound as when new, 
 with the following inscription on it : — 
 ELIZABETH, 
 
 2d daughter of the late KING CHARLES, 
 dece'd Sept. 8, MDCL. 
 
 She died a prisoner in the castle of Carisbrooke, 
 where King Charles's family was confined after his 
 execution. 
 
 Of the Meeting-houses in Newport, the Presbyte- 
 rians or Independents have two, the Baptists two, 
 the Wesley an Methodists one, and the Unitarians one, 
 and there was till very lately, a Quaker's Meeting 
 
32 
 
 which is now discontinued ; there is also a very ele- 
 gant Roman Catholic chapel, built at the expense 
 of, and patronized by the late Mrs. Heneage, who 
 left a sum of money for that express purpose. 
 
 The House of Industry, though an object connect- 
 ed with the whole of the Island, comes necessarily 
 to be noticed under the present head. Its origin was 
 this: — Some years back great abuses having been ex- 
 perienced in the management of the poor, in the dif- 
 ferent parishes of the island, the principal gentlemen 
 determined upon some mode of remedying the evil; 
 and accordingly, in 1770, a general meeting of the 
 inhabitants was held, in which it was proposed, that 
 an act of parliament should be procured to consoli- 
 date the poor's rate of the several parishes and to 
 erect a house of industry, for the general reception 
 of paupers. This proposal being agreed to, a bill 
 was accordingly obtained, and a large building erect- 
 ed on part of the forest of Parkhurst, eighty acres 
 of which were granted by Parliament for this pur- 
 pose. It stands about a mile within the forest. The 
 principal part of the building extends from east to 
 west three hundred feet, and twenty feet wide, with 
 windows on both sides for the benefit of more per- 
 fect ventilation. A wing, twenty-four feet wide, is 
 formed from the main building at the distance of two 
 hundred feet from the west end, and extends in length, 
 towards the south, one hundred and seventy feet 
 A range of workshops also for manufacturers and 
 mechanics, runs from the end of this wing in a line 
 
33 
 
 parallel with the main building. On the east side 
 of the wing is a court, one hundred and seventy feet 
 by fifty, having a dairy, wash-house, brew-house and 
 other offices on the east side, and a wall on the south. 
 The principal building consists of a store room, 
 steward's room, committee-room, a dining hall, one 
 hundred and eighteen feet long, and twenty-seven 
 feet wide; a common sitting-room for the aged and 
 impotent poor; rooms for the laundry, governor, and 
 matron, nurseries and sick-wards, with excellent 
 cellars under the east end. On the ground floor of 
 the wing, are the governor's and matron's sitting- 
 rooms, the school-rooms, apothecary's shop, kitchen, 
 scullery, &c. &c. Above, are the lying-in-rooms, 
 sick-wards, twenty separate apartments for married 
 men and their wives, and two common sitting-rooms 
 for the old and infirm. In front of the principal 
 building is a large gateway, on the east side of which 
 is a master -weaver's room, and spinning-room, with 
 stores over them: on the west side, are the shoema- 
 kers' and tailors' shops, and a large spinning-room 
 with weaving-rooms and store-rooms in the upper 
 story : on the north side of the principal building is 
 a chapel, fifty feet long by twenty-seven feet wide, 
 There is also a pest-house, a house for the small-pox, 
 and other infectious disorders, cells for delinquents, 
 and a burial-ground walled in. A large garden, 
 which supplies the house with vegetables, occupies 
 the ground on the south side of the building ; and on 
 the east, behind the offices, is a barn, a stable, &c. 
 
34 
 
 No building for similar purposes could bare been 
 constructed upon better principles, in respect to con- 
 venience, health, and cheerful accommodation. It 
 is capable of containing nearly eight hundred persons, 
 but the number usually supported in it is from five 
 hundred to five hundred and fifty. Of the great uti- 
 lity of this institution we cannot express ourselves 
 in better terms than those of the preamble of the act 
 of parliament, which represents, that "the providing 
 a place for the general reception of the poor, would 
 tend to the more effectual relief of such, as by age, 
 infirmities, or diseases, were rendered incapable of 
 supporting themselves by their labour; to the better 
 employment of the idle and industrious; to the cor- 
 rection and punishment of the profligate and idle; 
 and to the education of the children in religion and 
 industry; and thereby making the poor, instead of 
 being totally supported by the public, contribute to 
 the support, assistance, and relief of each other; and 
 to be of some advantage to the community, to which 
 they had before been only a heavy and grievous bur- 
 den." These expectations, in the present state of 
 society, are great, but they have not been disap- 
 pointed : The aged have been supported, the sick re- 
 lieved, and the poor comforted ; the industrious have 
 found employment, the profligate have been reclaim- 
 ed, and the young have been instructed in the only 
 solid basis of all duty, and of all happiness. 
 
 The manufactures now carried on in this place are 
 sacks for corn, flour, and biscuit; stockings, kersey, 
 
35 
 
 and other articles of apparel; dowlas sheeting ("linen 
 so called), mops, mop-staves, &c. In consequence of 
 such a system of industry the poor's rate of the town 
 of Newport has been reduced from five shillings and 
 sixpence to little more than half-a-crown in the pound 
 and the average of country parishes, even in the pre- 
 sent times, does not exceed two shillings. The sum 
 borrowed on the authority of the two acts (for a se- 
 cond was found necessary, and obtained in 1776) was 
 twenty thousand pounds, the annual interest of which 
 amounted to eight hundred pounds. The principal 
 is now reduced to nine thousand four hundred pounds 
 and the annual interest to three hundred and seven- 
 ty-six pounds, notwithstanding the great diminution 
 of taxes. On an average of some years, there has 
 been gained by the manufactory, after deducting 
 every expense, about two hundred pounds. In the 
 second act, obtained in 1776, the corporation of 
 guardians are stiled, "the Guardians of the Poor in 
 the Isle of Wight;" and all persons are eligible to 
 this ofiice who possess, in their own right, or in the 
 right of their wives, laud within the island rated to the 
 poor's -rate at the yearly value of fifty pounds, or are 
 heirs apparent of such lauds of the yearly value of 
 one hundred pounds, or rectors or vicars within the 
 island, or who are occupiers of lands rated at the 
 yearly value of one hundred pounds. Out of these, 
 twenty-four directors and thirty-six acting guardians 
 are annually appointed for the management of the 
 concerns of the corporation, and in them is vested 
 
36 
 
 the appoifitment of proper officers for the internal go* 
 remment .ight to be added, that 
 
 that part of the land which is not occupied by the 
 building and garden, has been cultivated at a very 
 considerable expense, and is divided into fields, of 
 from five to twelve acres, mostly fenced with quick- 
 set hedges, and in a state of improvement that pro- 
 mises to repay, very amply, the labour and cost bes- 
 towed on them*. 
 
 Nearly opposite the House of Industry, to the 
 north-west, are erected barracks for the troops which 
 used, during the late war, to be stationed in tem- 
 porary barracks in Newport. — The buildings com- 
 menced in September, 1798. They were originally 
 intended for the accommodation of 3000 men, but 
 have since been converted into the general depot for 
 recruits for the regular forces. They consist office 
 officers' houses, a commodious house lately erected 
 for the residence of the commandant, and one for the 
 chief accountant; eight large, and twelve small bar- 
 racks, containing about 1700 men, with most complete 
 out-buildings of every description. There are three 
 wells, each about 285 feet deep, with most excellent 
 engines fixed in them for the purpose of procuring 
 water, which is attained with ease, and in abundance; 
 rising within thirty feet of the top. The parade is 
 considered as the most complete of any in the king- 
 dom. The extent of ground on which the barracks 
 stand is 1211 feet by 700 feet. 
 
 * For the rise, progress, and internal regulations, see Albim's 
 History, page 373 and seq. 
 
37 
 
 At the southern extremity of the ground are the 
 officers' houses, &c. in the centre of which is a large 
 chapel for divine service. 
 
 At a small distance on the south-west of the bar- 
 racks stands the hospital, containing four large and 
 sixteen smaller wards, with iron bedsteads for the 
 sick, and every possible convenience to render them 
 comfortable : in the centre stands the surgeon's house, 
 and in the rear of it extensive store rooms, &c. the 
 whole standing on a surface of two acres of ground, 
 forming a front and two wings, with two lodges at the 
 entrance, which is on the east side, having a commu- 
 nication with the Cowes road by a gravel path, which 
 completes the uniformity of the whole. The total 
 inclosurc to the barracks and hospital contains one 
 hundred acres, including an extensive garden, and 
 having a large plantation and quickset hedge surroun- 
 ding the whole. On the left of the road to Cowes 
 stands the burial ground, walled in, one hundred 
 yards square. 
 
 There were also formerly temporary barracks at 
 Sandown for 300 men, at Niton for 50, at Colwell- 
 bay for 150, at Compton Cowlease for 50, at Grange- 
 chine for 50, at Freshwater-down for 50, all built on 
 the same plan, besides several guard-houses at dif- 
 ferent posts in the Island to contain together 150 men. 
 But since the peace these barracks have all been re- 
 moved. 
 
 We cannot leave Newport without citing a passage 
 from our old historian Camden, descriptive of the 
 E 
 
38 
 
 martial character of the Island in his time, from which 
 her sons of the present day have in no degree dege- 
 nerated. "This Island, he observes, is not so well 
 fortified by its rocks and castles as by its inhabitants, 
 who are naturally warlike and courageous, and by the 
 diligence and care of the governor, have the methods 
 of exercise so perfect, that be the service that they 
 are put upon what it will, they are masters of it; for 
 they shoot at a mark admirably, keep their ranks, 
 march orderly : as occasion requires, they can close 
 into a round, or loosen their ranks ; they can endure 
 long marches, and the fatigues of hot and dusty 
 weather; in short, they are masters of whatever is 
 requisite in a good soldier." To say that the spirit of 
 their forefathers has been transmitted unimpaired to 
 their descendants, will not be deemed an unmerited 
 compliment, when it is recorded, that during the late 
 war with France, the Isle of Wight raised upwards 
 of three thousand volunteer infantry, a squadron of 
 horse, and five hundred sea fencibles; and even now 
 in time of peace, since the recent reduction in our 
 military establishment and the wise determination of 
 government to place the internal defence of the coun- 
 try, in the hands of those most interested in its pre- 
 servation, namely, the yeomanry and landed inter- 
 ests, two troops of volunteer cavalry called the "Vec- 
 tis Light Dragoons," composed of sixty men each, 
 completely equipped and accoutred at their own ex- 
 pence, were raised by Sir Leonard Holmes in less 
 than a fortnight ! And though the personal character 
 
39 
 
 of their commander, respected as he deservedly 
 is throughout the island, operated no douht as a 
 stimulus to the exertion, still had not the martial been 
 the ruling passion, the ardour that was felt, had 
 never been excited. 
 
 Newtown. — The ancient name of this town was 
 Francheville, which it obtained either from being a 
 free town, or the very reverse, a town taken posses- 
 sion of by the French. By them however, it was 
 destroyed in the reign of Richard II. and being re- 
 built, was named Newtown. The traces of a very 
 large town are to be discovered; but in its present 
 state it scarcely deserves the name of a village, not 
 containing more than about ten cottages, with a pro- 
 portional number of inhabitants, It still, however, 
 preserves a corporation of mayor and burgesses, and 
 has a town-hall; but this body does not consist of 
 the inhabitants of the place, but of the proprietors 
 of certain burgage-tenures, which entitle them to 
 a vote in the choice of two members of parliament. 
 Newtown has sent members since the 27th year of 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 The town-hall stands on an eminence that over- 
 looks one of the creeks of the harbour. Parties car- 
 rying their provisions may be accommodated at the 
 house. In the great room are some oaken chairs, 
 curiously carved, the workmanship of the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 The baven of Newtown is a most desirable place 
 for shipping, and affords the best security of any 
 E 2 
 
40 
 
 about the island. — At high water it is capable of re- 
 ceiving vessels of five hundred tons. The mayor 
 and burge? ses claim the water and fishery, they also 
 hold a court-leet, and appoint constables; but a rent 
 payable to the lord of the manor of Swainston, is 
 collected from the holders of borough -lands. New- 
 town is in fact a manor within that of Swainston. It 
 had a chapel dependent on the church of Calbourn, 
 endowed with a glebe which is enjoyed by the rector 
 of Calbourn. Upon the various branches of the 
 Newtown river are several salterns, many of which 
 have been built a great number of years. 
 
 Yarmouth, is so called from its standing at the 
 mouth of the river Yar or Yare. It is nearly oppo- 
 site, to L v ™ing!on riVGr, on the coast of Hampshire, 
 towards the western part of the island ; and stands 
 close to the sea on the eastern side of a point of land. 
 In ancient charters it is called Eremuth, and is the 
 first town in the island which obtained a charter of 
 franchises, in the reign of Henry III. 
 
 Yarmouth first sent members to parliament in the 
 23rd of Edward I. The right of election is in the 
 corporation, consisting of a mayor and twelve capital 
 burgesses, who have power to make any number of free 
 burgesses. Yariuoutb consists of several streets, the 
 principal of which runs from east to west, and leads to 
 the market-house* which is a plain brick edifice. Here 
 are good inns, the largest of them a square brick 
 building, with detached offices, situate at the north- 
 west corner of the town adjoining the quay. This 
 
41 
 
 house was built by the first Lord Holmes, when gov- 
 ernor of the island ; and here he entertained Charles 
 II; when he visited the town. The chief support 
 of these inns is from the ships that occasionally 
 anchor in the road, and from passengers to and from 
 Lymington. 
 
 Strangers who visit the western part of the island 
 and find it inconvenient to return to Newport for the 
 night, may be here very well accommodated. Such 
 is the constant report of travellers ; and we cannot 
 pay a higher compliment to the inn-keepers than by 
 quoting the authority of their guests. The inhabi- 
 tants of Yarmouth are estimated to amount to 560. 
 
 From the quay, boats pass daily to Lymington, and 
 there is also a ferry across the river Yar to the ham- 
 let of Norton; on the shores of which is Norton 
 lodge, the beautiful marine residence of Captain 
 Hammond. Yarmouth castle is situate upon the ex- 
 treme point of land on the east side of the Yar; it was 
 built by Henry VIII upon the scite of a church 
 which, a short time before, had been demolished by 
 the French. There was a whimsical propriety in 
 building the castle upon this spot, for Henry paid 
 the expenses of it out of the religious houses which 
 he had dissolved. The lower part of the wall, on the 
 left side, once formed part of the church. The for- 
 tification consists of a platform with eight guns, which 
 command the narrow channel between this place and 
 Hurst castle. There are also store-houses and bar- 
 racks for the garrison; and to the northward of the 
 e3 
 
4t 
 
 castle is a platform with large guns. There was like- 
 wise a sloop of war stationed in the road at the month 
 of Lymington-river during the late war. 
 
 The church of Yarmouth is dedicated to St. James, 
 and consists of a body and chancel. In a small cha- 
 pel, separated from the chancel, is a vault, and some 
 fine monuments of the family of Holmes, and an ele- 
 gant statue of Sir Robert Holmes, who died in 1692. 
 The outside of the church has nothing remarkable. 
 Yarmouth is a rectory in the gift of the King, and 
 has been augmented by Queen Anne's bounty. On 
 an eminence, near the eastern entrance of the town, 
 commanding the most extensive views of the sea and 
 opposite coast, stands a large handsome house, the 
 residence of the Reverend H. Burrard, by whom it 
 was lately built. 
 
 East and West Cowes, and Ryde, may also 
 be considered as places of sufficient magnitude to be 
 included among the more populous towns of the is- 
 land; but they will come to be described with more 
 propriety in the tours, which we shall now presume 
 to recommend. 
 
43 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 TOURS, 
 
 J.T is a consideration of no small moment to stran- 
 gers, whose continuance in the Island may frequent- 
 ly be limited in point of time, to be informed in what 
 manner they may visit, in the shortest period, the 
 most striking and picturesque parts of this favourite 
 spot. This assistance we shall now endeavour to 
 render them, supposing they have already tixed on 
 Newport for their principal residence. It may be 
 somewhat amusing to those tourists, who visit the 
 Island for the purpose of exploring its numerous 
 beauties, to be informed, that long established cus- 
 tom here, has appropriated the term of felicity -hunt- 
 ers to travellers of this description; and we beg leave 
 to express our sincere wishes that those who enter 
 into the spirit of so laudable a chase may abundantly 
 experience that happiness, to which this little volume 
 is designed to be the guide and companion. 
 
 The general division of the Island into three prin- 
 cipal routes has been usually adopted : — they are 
 called the western, north-eastern, and south-eastern. 
 We shall, in each of these, first point out the distance 
 and then such particulars respecting each place as 
 may be worthy of observation. 
 
44 
 
 THE WESTERN TOUR. 
 
 
 
 MILES 
 
 From Newport to Carisbrooke 
 
 1 
 
 Shorwell 
 
 - 
 
 4 
 
 Brixton 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 Motteston 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 Brook Down 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 Freshwater-gate 
 
 - 
 
 4 
 
 Needles-point 
 
 - 
 
 3 
 
 Back to Freshwater and Yarmouth 
 
 5 
 
 Calbourn 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 Swainston 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 Newport 
 
 - 
 
 4 
 
 35 
 
 Carisbrooke. — The principal object here is the 
 Castle, whether considered as the chief and most an- 
 cient fortress of the Island, or as affording, from its 
 elevated situation, some of the most striking pros- 
 pects. The keep is of great antiquity, and was the 
 fort used by the Saxons in the sixth century ; many 
 additions were made to it after the Norman conquest, 
 and the out- works, which are evidently of more mod- 
 ern structure, were added in the reign of Elizabeth ; 
 but as the art of war and the superiority of the British 
 navy, rendered it a place of less note for defence, too 
 great a part of it has unfortunately been allowed to 
 decay by time. Its present appearance, however, is 
 
45 
 
 trnly venerable. The entrance is by a bridge on the 
 west side ; after which, passing over a second bridge, 
 we arrive at a strong machicolated gate with a port- 
 cullis, flanked by two round towers, in which there 
 are prison-rooms. The passage into the castle-yard 
 is through this old gate-way. On the right hand, as 
 we enter the area, is the chapel of St. Nicholas,* 
 which is a military appointment, with the same pay 
 to the chaplain as in other garrisons ; behind it is a 
 cemetery, now converted into a garden. The chapel 
 was erected in 1738, on the ruins of an ancient one, 
 already noticed among the ecclesiastical antiquities. 
 On the left hand, are the ruins of the buildings where 
 King Charles 1 was imprisoned. The stone work of 
 a window, with an upright iron bar, such as is seen in 
 old houses in country villages, is still remaining. 
 In this room he partook of the little repose his suf« 
 tarings permitted; and through this window it is said 
 he endeavoured to make his escape; but this is 
 thought doubtful. 
 
 Further on towards the east, are the barracks and 
 the governor's house, the latter of which has been 
 rendered very commodious, and the ancient part is 
 now in high preservation. In the north east corner 
 is the keep, or dungeon; in form an irregular polygon 
 and its greatest breadth about sixty feet; but the 
 
 * The parish of St. Nicholas is partly contained in the upper part 
 of the High-street, Newport, called Castle-hoid ; Cosham and lands; 
 part of Shide-down; part of Dodner ; Great Park; part of Shal- 
 combe and Rowborouph farms ; and the other part, with the mother 
 church, lies in Normandy, in France. 
 
40 
 
 whole is now a ruin, having scarcely any remains of 
 its former greatness. It stands on a mount consider- 
 ably higher than any of the other buildings; the 
 ascent is by seventy-two steps, somewhat injured 
 by time, with some additional ones within the build- 
 ing. From the small part of the remaining platform 
 of this keep is a most enchanting prospect, particu- 
 larly to the north-west, north, and north-east, with a 
 view of St. Catherine's tower to the south : except in 
 part of the north-west, where it is bounded by Al- 
 vington down; to the south-west part by Bowcomb 
 down, and to the south by St. Catherine's down, and 
 the high ground in Appuldurcombe park, this pros- 
 pect extends over the whole Island. 
 
 At the south-east angle of the castle are the re ■ 
 mains of an ancient building, called Mountjoy's tow- 
 er, which appears to have been once a place of great 
 strength: from hence there is also a very fine pros- 
 pect, but of less extent than that from the keep. 
 
 Among inferior objects of some curiosity, is the 
 well, 300 feet deep, within a small building in the 
 castle yard; at the side of the well is a wheel of very 
 ctinsiderable dimensions, about fifteen feet in dia- 
 meter, for the purpose of drawing water for the use 
 of the garrison. An ass is kept here to perform 
 this operation by treading the wheel, in the same 
 manner as the timber and other engines of the same 
 nature are at the crane houses in the dock yards, 
 and at some other public wharfs, or as dogs turn the 
 wheel of a spit: — it is called a windless-wheel. One 
 
47 
 
 of these animals died about the year 1771 , after hav- 
 ing performed this service forty-five years; another, 
 kept for the same purpose, twenty-six years, and 
 died in 1790, being thirty-two years old. His late 
 Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, on a visit 
 to the Island, seeing the extreme docility of this ani- 
 mal, was so well pleased, that he ordered him a pen- 
 ny-loaf per day during his life. The present animal 
 has been now twenty-five years at his labour. These 
 circumstances are mentioned as curiosities, though 
 perhaps, instead of considering these instances of lon- 
 gevity as prodigies, they ought rather to be attributed 
 to the neglect of these useful and hardy animals, 
 whereby we are precluded from knowing their natural 
 history, sufficiently to be able to ascertain the com- 
 mon duration of their lives. 
 
 A curious experiment is commonly made here by 
 letting a lighted lamp down into the well by a com- 
 pound pulley, by means of which the walling is dis- 
 tinctly seen as far as it goes; but above half the dis- 
 tance from the top to the surface of the water is hewn 
 out of the solid rock. In descending, a strong sound 
 is created from the flame, like that of a hollow wind, 
 or thunder at a moderate distance ; and as the lamp 
 burns on the surface of the water, it affords abund- 
 ant leisure to view the well in that distant situation. 
 It should not be forgotten that the building, by its 
 being covered, precludes the light of the sky, except 
 what comes in horizontally from the door, which is 
 shut when this experiment is practised. It would be 
 
48 
 
 an oversight should we omit to mention tlie parity and 
 transparency of the water, the value of which can 
 rover be appreciated but by persons who are un- 
 happily destitute of so inestimable an element. To 
 the palate it is extremely grateful, and produces sen- 
 sations of the most pleasing and agreeable nature : and 
 as a proof its purity, it has been taken to the East 
 Indies, and on its return found perfectly good. 
 
 When Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, was lord of 
 the Island, and of the castle of Carisbrooke, it is high- 
 ly probable that it received some reparations from 
 his munificence, for the arms of that family are placed 
 on a buttress at the angle of a part of the Governor's 
 lodgings. These were three lozenges, and we know 
 that the Earls of Salisbury bore three lozenges, red 
 and fessways, in a silver field ; expressed in heraldric 
 terms — argent, three lozenges, gules infess. He was 
 lord of the Island and castle from the ninth to the 
 twentieth year of Richard II. as we shall have occa- 
 sion to notice hereafter, when we come to treat of the 
 lords and governors of the Island and castle. 
 
 Among other things, we find in the second year of 
 Queen Elizabeth, that the ordinary charges of the 
 castle of Carisbrooke amounted annually to sixty- nine 
 pounds, nineteen shillings, and two pence : having two 
 armourers, one at eight-pence, and the other at six 
 pence a day ; one harquebuss-maker at eight-pence a 
 day, and one bowyer, one fletcher, one carpenter, and 
 one wheelwright, at six-pence a day each. 
 
 The castle is surrounded by a fortification of con- 
 
49 
 
 siderable extent, which is supposed to have been 
 built or repaired in the time of Queen Elizabeth; and 
 upon a stone at the north-east angle are the letters 
 E. It. and the date of 1598. The form of the outer 
 works is an irregular pentagon, and the whole is en- 
 compassed by a deep ditch. 
 
 The present military establishment of the castle is 
 as follows: — the governor of the island has an ap- 
 pointment of 1200/. per annum, and under him is a 
 lieutenant-governor at 365/.; besides whicli there 
 belong to the castle, one captain at 10s per day, one 
 master-gunner at 2s. per day, and three other gun- 
 ners at 12d. per day.* 
 
 In ;>pssing through the village, the view of the cas- 
 tle, from the road, on the left-hand, and the church 
 on the right, is highly picturesque, and affords an 
 interesting subject for the pencil in several points of 
 view. 
 
 Carisbrooke village has little to detain the travel- 
 ler. The church, however, founded in 1004, and 
 dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome stone building. 
 It has a fine gothic tower, with eight large pinnacles, 
 w -hich give it an air of grandeur, and contains a peal 
 of eight musical bells. In this church is an organ, 
 and there are some monuments worthy of notice, par- 
 ticularly a wooden tablet to the memory of a mer- 
 chant seamen, on whicli there is an allegorical allu- 
 
 * For the ancient history of this castle, see Albin's History, 
 nags 34, 43, &c. 
 
 F 
 
50 
 
 sion to his profession. At the entrance of the vil- 
 lage, issuing from a bank, is a never- failing spring of 
 most pellucid water, to which some medical proper- 
 ties have been attributed. There are several hand- 
 some cottages lately erected between this and New- 
 port. It has been long in contemplation to procure 
 an act of parliament for bringing the water from this 
 place, to supply the inhabitants of Newport, by con- 
 veying it into every house. The number of inhabi- 
 tants in the parish (as taken in the year 1821) is 4670. 
 Leaving Carisbrooke, we pass on to Bowcombe 
 vale, where the road winds through a beautiful coun- 
 try for three miles, bounded by lofty downs, and 
 enriched by cultivation. From this we reach North- 
 court House, the seat of the widow of the late Rich- 
 ard Bennett, Esq. whose grounds afford more rich- 
 ness and beauty of grove scenery than perhaps any 
 in the Island. The trees are, with the exception of 
 some new and thriving plantations, very ancient, ve- 
 nerable, and large; the variety of hill and dale gives 
 a delightful effect to the whole, which is highly wor- 
 thy of the stranger's notice. The house is a fine spe - 
 cimen of gothic architecture. The dairy fitted up 
 with coloured windows, and very elegantly appro- 
 priate furniture, is singularly beautiful. In a finely 
 shaded recess of the grounds is a happily conceived 
 and well executed mausoleum, erected about twenty- 
 five years since, to the memory of a much-lamented 
 daughter of R. Bull, Esq. the late worthy owner of 
 the mansion. On each side of the entrance is a large 
 
51 
 
 seat formed from the trunks of very large old trees ; 
 over one of them is the following inscription: — 
 ETERNjE MEMORISE SACRUM. 
 1795. 
 
 On entering the mausoleum, the door should be clos- 
 ed, by which a most interesting and solemn light is 
 thrown upon the marble monument through windows 
 of differently-coloured glass. The following lines 
 appear on the marble : — 
 
 Oft in this once belov'd retreat 
 A father and a sister meet : 
 Here they reflect on blessings past, 
 On happiness too great to last ; 
 Here, from their fond endearments torn,. 
 A daughter, sister, friend, they mourn ; 
 Soothing the mutual pangs they feel, 
 Adding to wounds they cannot heal. 
 Ah ! shade rever'd, look down and see 
 How all their thoughts ascend to thee ; 
 In scenes where grief must ever pine, 
 Where every bursting sigh is thine, 
 Prostrate they bow to God's behest, 
 Convinced whatever is — is best ; 
 In trembling hope it may be giv'n 
 With thee, blest saint, to meet in heav'n. 
 
 Oh ! reader, if thou bast a tear 
 At sorrow's asking, drop it here. 
 
 Opposite the monument 
 
 The retrospect of past felicity 
 
 Plucks not the barbed arrow from the wound, 
 
 But makes it rankle deeper. 
 
 f2 
 
52 
 
 There are some other appropriate inscriptions in 
 different languages ; the whole is beautiful, and ad- 
 mirably calculated to sooth the feelings of surviving 
 relatives, and to inspire reflection in the mind of the 
 contemplative traveller. Several well-devised rustic 
 tic seats and temples are judiciously placed amongst 
 the different groves. By a curiously constructed 
 alpine bridge over the high road we are led to the tem- 
 ple of the sun, which commands a very fine prospect 
 of the British Channel, St. Catherine's-hill, and the 
 rich groves and vale of Northcourt. We particu- 
 larly recommend these grounds to the attention of 
 the visitors of the Island in general. 
 
 Shorwell. — In the church belonging to this vil- 
 lage are the monuments of the family of Leigh, who 
 formerly possessed Northcourt House; and from 
 the north-east side of the church is a view of the 
 British Channel. "From different parts of this road, 
 St. Catherine's-hill on the left hand, assumes a noble 
 and interesting appearance. The inhabitants of this 
 parish, taken as above, amount to five hundred and 
 seventy-one. About two miles distant is 
 
 Brixton, or Brise; on, a small but pleasant vil- 
 lage, clean and populous. The parish contains six 
 hundred and eighty -six inhabitants. 
 
 Motteston commands delightful prospects of the 
 sea and at a small distance, appears to be almost sur- 
 rounded with woods : in this parish are one hundred 
 and forty-nine inhabitants. In a piece of pasture land, 
 under Motteston down, are two large stones, some- 
 
53 
 
 thing like those of Stonehenge near Salisbury, sup- 
 posed to be the relics of a place of druidical worship. 
 Upon the shore is a point of land, called Sedmore 
 Point ; and near it a small cove, called Boat-haven. 
 The manor-house, near the church, was the birth- 
 place of Sir John Oheke, tutor to King Edward VI, 
 and one of the first introducers of Greek learning into 
 this country.* The view of Freshwater-cliffs, from 
 many parts of this road, is extremely beautiful : it 
 will not indeed be easy to point out a more charming 
 assemblage of hill, vale, cliff, and sea prospects. 
 
 Brook. — This village has one hundred and twenty- 
 three inhabitants, and lies in a recess between two 
 contiguous mountains, which shelter it from the " piti- 
 less pelting of the storm." At the end of the village 
 is Brook house, formerly the seat of the Bowreman 
 family, and now the residence of Mr. Howe, the lord 
 of the manor. The situation of Brook Church, from 
 the vallev below, is very picturesque and singular : 
 there is something peculiarly rural and pleasant in 
 the appearance of this little village, and the scenery 
 near it ; particularly a very beautiful spot a little 
 below the church, on the left side of the road, and just 
 above the field and lawn which join Mr. Howe's 
 house. From the upper part of Brook-down is a de- 
 lightful display of the fertility of the villages just past, 
 namely, Shorwell, Brixton, Motteston, and Brook. 
 Nuts of the hazel kind are found in the soil on apart 
 
 There is an elaborate life of him in the Biog. Britannica vol. 3, 
 edition 1784. 
 
 f3 
 
54 
 
 of Brook shore, which the country people call Noah's 
 outs. 
 
 On the road hence to Freshwater-gate, through 
 Compton and Afton, the prospect of the British Chan- 
 nel is very extensive, and agreeably varied : but it is 
 necessary to observe, that this is the only road which 
 carriages can take, without making a circuit by Fresh- 
 water mill. There is however, a horse-road on the 
 cliffs, where the traveller will be amply repaid by the 
 extent of his prospects. The prospect from Afton 
 Down is highly magnificent : the view of Freshwater- 
 cliffs, the ocean, St. Catherine's-hill, Christchurch, 
 and the Lymingtcn shore, the intervening sea, and 
 the rich country, every where surrounding the ob- 
 server, form a noble and delightful succession of ob- 
 jects to engage the attention, and gratify the eye. 
 
 Freshwater. — The church here, which is one 
 of the richest livings on the Island, contains some 
 very ancient monuments. The present rector has 
 very considerably enlarged and improved the parson- 
 age house, situate about half a mile from the church. 
 About a mile and half from the village is a house for 
 the entertainment of travellers, called Freshwater- 
 gate. The cave at Freshwater is 34 feet wide, 21 
 feet high, and extends 120 feet into the rock : it can 
 be visited only when the tides are remarkably low; 
 for which purpose we would recommend the times 
 of new or full moon; about four hours after it is high 
 water at Newport. Within two days after these pe- 
 riods, from three to five in the afternoon, must there- 
 fore be the most eligible season; and the mean time, 
 
55 
 
 probably, the best of all. " The detached craggs, 
 (says Mr. Wyndham,) near this cavern, and the per- 
 pendicular precipice above it, which extends and rai- 
 ses itself for some miles, with a continued progress 
 of elevation to the extreme point of the island, offer 
 a noble subject for the pencil ; while, on the other 
 side of the bay, three huge and lofty rocks, isolated by 
 time and storms from the gravelly cliffs, and now 
 rearing themselves from the sea; and the extensive 
 line of the rough shores of Motteston, Brixton, and 
 Shorwell, even to St. Catherine's hill, present a suit- 
 able companion to it." 
 
 The cliffs of Freshwater abound with various sorts 
 of birds ; and among others, the species of the duck 
 that supplies the valuable article called eiderdown. 
 But the ingenious manner in which the country peo- 
 ple take their eggs, and destroy the birds, for the 
 sake of their feathers, is worthy of notice, and mani- 
 fests great dexterity; yet it is certainly most awful 
 and tremendous, requires much judgment and stea- 
 diness, and what must turn giddy the heads of all 
 persons who are not inured to similar scenes, or ac- 
 customed, from their occupation, to hang suspended 
 in the air, regardless of the dreadful consequences 
 which must attend a miscarriage. After observing 
 that the eggs of these birds, nearly the size of the 
 swan's, are considered a luxury for the table, and 
 their feathers esteemed valuable by the upholsterers, 
 we will, in this place, introduce some account of the 
 manner in which this adventurous practice is manag- 
 ed; previously remarking, that it affords an instance 
 
56 
 
 of rashness, for the utility of which, the object by no 
 means offers any adequate recompense. 
 
 The first step towards accomplishing this romantic 
 and hazardous adventure, is to drive a large stake 
 or iron bar into the ground, at the top of the cliff, so 
 as to be capable of bearing any weight which can pos- 
 sibly depend upon it; and sufficiently secure so as 
 not to give way by any motion which the person, 
 when suspended, can be capable of. To this a cart 
 rope is fastened ; and to its lower end there is put 
 cross-ways, a stick, upon which the daring adventu- 
 rer seats himself, and by which he is supported. 
 With this simple apparatus he descends down the 
 face of the horrid precipice, although the cliffs, in 
 some places, are six hundred feet high from the 
 level of the sea. These birds are now beset as they 
 approach to, or go off from their nests, till the per- 
 son attacking them has secured as many as he can; 
 he then ascends by the same means, and recovers the 
 summit from whence he had begun his bold and 
 dauntless enterprise. It was from the beautiful 
 scenes exhibited by this part of the Island that the 
 late ingenious and celebrated Moreland took the prin- 
 cipal sketches for his inimitable paintings. This pa- 
 rish has eight hundred and seventy-six inhabitants. 
 The traveller can be decently accommodated with 
 refreshments at the inn at Freshwater-gate. 
 
 Needles-point is about three miles from Fresh- 
 water, in which there are a succession of prospects 
 of the sea and the rocks, which defend this part of 
 
57 
 
 the Island. Of these rocks, called Needles, three 
 are still remaining : they were so termed originally 
 from a tapering pillar ahout an hundred feet high, 
 which was thrown down by the fury of the waves 
 about fifty-seven years ago. These rocks are huge dis- 
 jointed masses of chalk, forcibly separated from the 
 main land, and projecting to a considerable distance 
 into the atl antic ocean. The whirlpools that eddy 
 round them, the rapid tides that flow through, and 
 dense sea fogs that sometimes brood around the land- 
 scape, render the navigation dangerous, and in many 
 respects impossible. 
 
 Upon the cliff that forms the furthest point of the 
 main land, a light house is stationed. Here are 
 many caverns and deep chasms, that seem to enter 
 a great way into the rocks; and in many places the 
 issuing springs forms small cascades of rippling water 
 down the sea. It is recommended to the traveller 
 to walk from the light-house to the extremity of the 
 Point, whence he will see the rocks to great advant- 
 age : those who delight in the terrific, must be gra- 
 tified with looking down upon the rugged cliff from 
 the eminence on which they stand. There is a sin- 
 gularly beautiful cliff to the north of the light-house, 
 variegated with a curious assemblage of differently 
 coloured strata — it is situate in Alum-bay. To those 
 who have fiine and taste it will be well worth while 
 to enquire for the foot-road to the beach in Alum-bay ; 
 the view of the cliffs and the Needles from thence will 
 repay the traveller for a little scrambling and rough 
 
58 
 
 walking:— this ought to be done in dry weather and 
 when the tide is low. 
 
 Return from hence to Freshwater-village and from 
 thence to Yarmouth, through a rich and beautiful 
 country. Near this village, on an eminence, called 
 Farringford-hill, is a new and elegant house built by 
 the late Edward Rushworth, Esq. commanding ex- 
 tensive prospects. 
 
 Of Yarmouth we have already given a descrip- 
 tion in the preceding chapter. At Norton, on the 
 western bank oi the river Yar, is Norton-cottage, 
 the property of Mr. Mitchell, which commands a 
 prospect of the coast of Hampshire. The ride from 
 Freshwater through Norton to the sea-shore is very 
 pleasant, and much varied with trees and cottages. 
 From Yarmouth pass through the small parish of 
 Thorley, which contains one hundred and thirty- 
 two inhabitants; and by Thorley-house-place, the 
 late Mrs. Leigh's, through many open fields, leaving 
 on the left Ningwood, the seat of Sir John Pinhorn, 
 to 
 
 Calbourne or Caubourn — which contains (with- 
 in the parish) seven hundred and sixty-seven inhabi- 
 tants, and is chiefly noticeable for some fine seats in 
 its vicinity, particularly Westover, belonging to Sir 
 L. T. W. Holmes, Bart. ; Calbourne Lodge ; and the 
 parsonage. 
 
 Swainston, the seat of Sir William Fitz Barring- 
 ton, is a delightful residence, with grounds advan- 
 tageously disposed. The lawn before the house is 
 
69 
 
 beautiful ; the house lias been very considerably en- 
 larged and improved within these few years. From 
 this the ride is nearly the same as on setting out, un- 
 der the castle of Carisbrookc to Newport. Travel- 
 lers on horseback will be much gratified by returning 
 from Freshwater-gate to Newport over the downs, 
 along the summit of which there is an extremely 
 fine ride for an extent of eleven miles : the day ought 
 not to be too windy in any of these excursions upon 
 the downs. 
 
 Should this ride appear too much for one day, it 
 may be shortened by returning immediately to New- 
 port from Freshwater, omitting the ride over the 
 cliffs, and viewing Yarmouth only at a distance. 
 
 NORTH-EASTERN TOUR. 
 
 
 
 
 MILES. 
 
 Fix 
 
 tm Newport to Wootton-bridge 
 
 4 
 
 
 Binstead 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 
 Ryde 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 
 St. John's 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 
 The Priory 
 
 - 
 
 3 
 
 
 St. Helen's-green 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 
 Brading 
 
 - 
 
 2£ 
 
 
 Sandham-heath 
 
 - 
 
 21 
 
 
 Brading-down 
 
 - 
 
 Sh 
 
 
 Ashey Sea-mark 
 
 - 
 
 n 
 
 
 Newport 
 
 - 
 
 5 
 
 Total 28 
 
60 
 
 Wootton-bridge. — Before we descend to Woot- 
 ton- bridge, which is at the eastern side of this small 
 parish, upon the point of an eminence, called Fern- 
 hill, is the seat of S. Sanders Esq. It is built in 
 the form of a gotliic church, and commands a very 
 extensive prospect. On the left, passing on the par- 
 sonage fon the Wootton road,) is situate the farm of 
 Wootton The house, which has been formerly 
 much larger than at present, is the remains of nn 
 old mansion. 
 
 Although scarcely noticed by visitors, this, toge- 
 ther with the adjoining garden, afford perhaps one 
 of the most beautiful prospects on the isle. From a 
 well-cultivated and elevated situation is seen the Mo- 
 therbank, Portsmouth, and part of Spithead, oblique- 
 ly to the left. During hostilities with France, whilst 
 many ships, as well for war as merchandise collect 
 here, a sort of moving city, or rather forest, presents 
 a sight, which at once delights an English heart and 
 eye, — The wooden-walls of old England are present- 
 ed ready for service, yet lying in peace and safety 
 between the opposite shores. 
 
 Directly in front, stands the village of Wootton- 
 bridge, partly in a valley, and partly on the side of 
 an opposing hill: an estuary between, advances near- 
 ly three-quarters of a mile into the land, shaded on 
 the brink by the knotty oaks of Firestone-wood. 
 The most shaded part of the Island here presents 
 itself to view; and it is presumed, that the pleasure 
 arising from the picturesque scenery, will repay a 
 
(31 
 
 ten minutes delay. The beauty of ihis scene very 
 materially depends on the tide being in, a circumstance 
 which the traveller should particularly attend to ; the 
 water on each side the bridge appears very charm- 
 ing. The number of inhabitants in this parish is only 
 fifty-six. The principal part of the village lies in the 
 parish of Binstead. 
 
 i hrough a beautiful wood, the road leads to 1>I IN- 
 STEAD, a very small parish, containing two hundred 
 and twenty-five inhabitants. There is a very rude 
 but ancient piece of sculpture over the key-stone of 
 the north door of the church, concerning which there 
 have been many fruitless conjectures, and some su- 
 perstitious traditions, It was, probably, one of those 
 uncouth figures which the Saxon and Norman ar- 
 chitects used to place on key- stones and friezes. 
 The parsonage house is beautifully situate for retire- 
 ment. From the church there is a fine prospect of 
 the Motherbank and the coast of Hampshire. The 
 ruins of Quarr- abbey are within a quarter of a mile 
 of this place, and will afford some amusement to the 
 curious traveller. Mrs. Fleming, the lady of the 
 manor, has lately built an elegant marine cottage 
 near the church. 
 
 Ryde is a place of some consequence, as being 
 one of the usual communication.- with Portsmouth, 
 distant about six miles, also of importance to visitors 
 from the variety of prospects it ailbrds. Every 
 movement of the fleets from Spithead, Portsmouth, 
 8toke's bay, and the Motherbank, is distinctly per- 
 
 G 
 
62 
 
 ceived here ; and the division into Upper and Lower 
 gives a most pleasing variety of scenery. Ryde has 
 a chapel, which is lately much enlarged, but it is in 
 the parish of Newchurch, and of late has greatly 
 increased in population and extent; there having 
 been within these few years, whole streets, and others 
 are begun, to the east and west of those already 
 completed. There is a circulating library here, and 
 an assembly room. 
 
 It is to be lamented, that a piece of land command- 
 ing so enchanting a prospect as that on which these 
 houses have been erected, had not been planned so 
 as to make an uniform range of buildings. This 
 might very easily have been effected, had the lady 
 of the manor, who sold the ground on building leases 
 prescribed a plan, forming a crescent, with an hotel 
 in the centre, so that every house might have equally 
 partaken of the prospect. Upper Ryde the princi- 
 pal part of the place, is situate on the top of an 
 eminence, in a clear and pleasant air, which induces 
 many families to make it their summer residence, 
 and has occasioned a great number of good houses 
 to be built. It is become of great resort as a bathing 
 place; and the variety of excursions which its vicinity 
 affords over greatly improved roads, inclines many 
 persons to give it the preference to Cowes. There 
 are here eight bathing machine, and two hot baths. 
 Ryde has three places for public worship; a chapel 
 of ease, the parish church being in the interior of the 
 island, at a distance of six miles, a meeting house for 
 
63 
 
 the Calvinistic independents, and another for the 
 Arrninian methodists. There are also three respec- 
 table boarding schools for boys, and a free school > 
 conducted on the Bell system, for boys and girls. 
 
 When the celebrated Fielding visited this place 
 in 1754, (which iu the journal of his voyage to Lis- 
 bon he describes as one of the most pleasant spots 
 in the kingdom,) it was difficult at certain times of 
 the tide to affect a landing, there being, in his language 
 " between the sea and the shore at low water, an 
 impassable gulf of mud and sand, which could neither 
 be traversed by walking nor swimming, so that for 
 near one half of the twenty-four hours, Ryde was 
 inaccessible by friend or foe." Boats on wheels and 
 common carts were employed for the landing of 
 passengers subsequently to this period, but as the 
 population increased, the want of a permanent landing 
 place was more felt, and in 1814, an act of parliament 
 was obtained, to sanction the erection of a pier, 
 which has since been built at an expense of twelve 
 thousand pounds. This useful work was planned 
 and executed by Kent, being upwards of 1700 feet 
 long, and varying in width from 12 to 20 feet. It 
 may be justly esteemed the most delightful marine 
 promenade in England, and a perfectly safe and ex- 
 ceedingly commodious landing place. In the summer 
 months, this charming place is the rendezvous of 
 elegant company. 
 
 A theatre has also been erected here by the late 
 G 2 
 
64 
 
 Mr. Thornton, the spirited and intelligent manager; 
 of the theatre royal at Windsor. 
 
 The boarding and lodging houses in Ryde are 
 numerous, and remarkably convenient and well fur- 
 nished. 
 
 To the east of Ryde stands Appley, an excellent 
 house in the perfect villa style, scarcely to be exceeded 
 in situation or convenience, the property of the late 
 Richard Hutt, Esq. To the west, Mr. Pleyer, son 
 to the proprietor of the manor, has built a spacious 
 mansion ; as has also Dr. Lind in the grecian style of 
 architecture which is just finished. Between this 
 and Ryde, Lord Spencer has erected an elegant 
 house and offices, near which the Marquis of Buck- 
 ingham has lately built a beautiful cottage, surrounded 
 by lawns, plantations, meadows, &c. 
 
 It may be useful to know, that by an act of Par- 
 liament a vessel or wherry can be compelled to go 
 off from Lower Ryde, in any fit weather, or at any 
 time of the tide, for a fare of seven shillings; and 
 the boatmen are liable to a fine of five pounds for 
 taking more, though strangers have frequently been 
 imposed upon. The common passage-fare to Ports- 
 mouth is only eight-pence, though that usually paid 
 is one shilling each passenger. In case of imposition, 
 summary redress may be had by applying to any 
 acting magistrate of the Isle of Wight division, who 
 is empowered to inflict all penalties under the act. 
 
 St. John's presents many interesting views of 
 Spithead, Gosport, Stoke's-bay, and Portsmouth. It 
 
65 
 
 is a most delightful residence the property of Edward 
 Simeon, Esq. The house is neat and plain, and 
 desirably situate for a sportsman, being almost sur- 
 rounded with woods, which afford plenty of game. 
 The grounds have undergone much alteration, and 
 received considerable embellishments, under the 
 direction of the late Mr. Repton, celebrated for his 
 taste and execution in the science of picturesque 
 gardening. 
 
 The Priory. About a hundred yards from the 
 high road to this, but not visible from it, stands a 
 delightful residence, called Fairy-hill, belonging to 
 the late Rev. — Glynn; and near it, on the sea-shore, 
 is a marine villa and saltern, belonging to James 
 Kirkpatrick, Esq. Near this spot is rising up a 
 charming village, called Sea-view, which is already 
 affording lodging-houses to visitors of the Island, 
 and commands delightful views of the Sussex and 
 surrounding coast. Priory is the seat of the late 
 Sir Nash Grose, one of the Judges of the Court of 
 King's Bench : it was built on the site of a house of 
 cluniac monks, and has been much improved by the 
 present possessor. The views from it open to great 
 advantage, in respect to Spithead, Portsmouth, St. 
 Helens-road, or the Sussex coast, where they are 
 lost in the boundless horizon of the east. The walks 
 are laid out with singular and happy taste : it is hardly 
 possible to conceive a mere lovely succession of 
 prospects than those which invite the eye from the 
 various openings made in the hanging-woods on the 
 G 3 
 
66 
 
 sides of the cliffs below the house. Great and suc- 
 cessful pains have been taken to cultivate a variety 
 of fine trees, which contribute materially to the 
 beauty of the place. 
 
 St. Helen's-green is so called, probably, from 
 the old church of St. Helens, which stood near the 
 sea, upon the green at the eastern extremity of the 
 parish. The present church has been erected upon 
 a hill, above the seat of the late Sir Nash Grose. 
 The land-mark at the bottom of the hill at St. Helen's, 
 sometimes called the old church sea-mark, is designed 
 as a direction to mariners to avoid the shoals of the 
 coast, and enable them to sail into the roads of St. 
 Helens and Spithead. For this purpose it has lately 
 been enlarged and whitened : lodging houses are now 
 established near it. For half a mile to the south-east 
 is a peninsula, terminating at a place called Dover* 
 Point, which is the northen entrance into Brading, 
 by which the harbour is completely choaked up, 
 and the passage of ships of burden obstructed. From 
 this point the harbour has every appearance of a 
 large lake; hence you have a view up the valley of 
 Newchurch, and clearly discover the hill of St. 
 Catherine's at the distance of twelve miles. Strangers 
 should, if possible, pass this road at the time of high 
 tide, as so much of the beauty of the prospect depends 
 on the haven being filled with water. 
 
 * The word Dover or Douver is applied to pieces of land close to the 
 sea, consisting chieffy of sand and barren herbage, formerly covered 
 by the tide, but from which the waters of the sea have, in the course 
 of ages, gradually retired. 
 
07 
 
 Bra ding. — This town bas only one long street of 
 irregular buildings, and about five hundred inhabit- 
 ants. The church is supposed to be the oldest in the 
 island ; the view from the cliurch-yard, when the tide 
 is full, is very pleasingly diversified, and has been 
 justly and generally admired: it has a market for 
 corn on Mondays, and great quantities are shipped 
 off here for the various mills of the island, or sent 
 coastways on commission. From these mills vast 
 quantities of flour are carried to the western coasts, 
 or to Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. This town 
 has a corporation, consisting of two bailiffs and twelve 
 jurats. Accommodations for travellers may be met 
 with here. A few good epitaphs will be found in the 
 church-yard dispersed among those more rude and 
 unlettered monuments of affection, venial in a coun- 
 try church-yard. The following specimens will do 
 great credit to their author the late Mr. Gill, curate 
 o{ New church. 
 
 ON MR. BERRY. 
 
 It must be so : — our father Adam's fall 
 And disobedience, brought this lot on all. 
 All die in him : — but hopeless should we be 
 Blest Revelation ! were it nut for thee. 
 Hail, glorious Gospel, heavenly light, whereby 
 We live with comfort, and with comfort die; 
 And view (beyond this gloomy scene, the tomb) 
 A life of eudlesb happiness to come. 
 
68 
 ON MRS. ANN BERRY. 
 
 Forgive, blest shade, the tributary (ear, 
 
 That mourns thy exit from a world like this: 
 Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here, 
 
 And stay'd thy progress to the scats of bliss. 
 No more confined to grov'ling scenes of night, 
 
 No more a tenant pent in mortal clay ; 
 Now should we rather hail thj glorious flight, 
 
 And trace thy journey to the realmns of day. 
 
 ON AN INFANT of the NAME OF DYER. 
 
 This lovely bud, so young, so fair, 
 
 CalPd hence by early doom, 
 Just came to show how sweet a flower 
 
 In Paradise would bloom. 
 
 That on Mrs. Ann Berry has been immortalized 
 by the elegant music of Dr. Callcot. The haven 
 which lies below the town, has been the object of 
 frequent speculations to recover its land from the sea, 
 but hitherto they have not been successful. The 
 parish of Brading contains two thousand and twenty- 
 three inhabitants. Near this town is Nunwell, the 
 seat of Sir William Oglander, Baronet. 
 
 Sandown — commands the whole extent of San- 
 down-bay, from Chine-head and Dunnose on the 
 south-west, to the Culver- cliffs on the east*, the mid- 
 dle part of which cliff is of moderate height, and the 
 the termination each way consists of elevated downs. 
 The fort of Sandown is a regular quadrangular forti- 
 fication, with a bason at each angle, and is surrounded 
 
69 
 
 with a wet fosse. This is the only fort of any con- 
 sequence in the Island, and is kept in good repair 
 and properly manned. 
 
 Brading-down. Passing over this, we arrive 
 at Ashey sea-mark, on the high down of Ashey. 
 On this a conspicuous land-mark, is placed, being 
 a truncated pyramid of hewn stone, about twenty 
 feet high. It was erected by government in 1735, 
 to facilitate the entrance into St. Helens, or Spithead 
 roads; a direction on that point being particularly 
 wanted to avoid the shoals and sands with whicli 
 those roads are surrounded; and to enable mariners 
 by means of other marks, to keep in the deeper 
 water of the channel. On this elevated spot are most 
 extensive views of Portsmouth, Gosport, Chichester, 
 Southampton-water, Spithead, St Helens, and the 
 harbour of Brading; the rich woods around Nunwell 
 and towards Wootton-bridge, on the east and north 
 side ; and on the south, the fertile vale of Newchurch 
 and Arreton, extending to the hills of Shanklin, 
 Wroxall, Week, and St. Catherine's. 
 
 Nlwchurch : this is a large and populous parish, 
 containing three thousand nine hundred and forty- 
 five inhabitants. 
 
 From Ashey-down the tour continues through the 
 interior of the Island about four miles and a half to 
 Newport. This whole ride from Brading to Newport 
 over the downs, presents a continued succession of 
 magnificent and diversified scenery. 
 
70 
 SOUTHERN TOUR. 
 
 ( This is by much the grandest of all.) 
 
 MILES. 
 
 From Newport to Standen - 1| 
 
 Pidford - - 1* 
 
 Niton - 6 
 
 St. Lawrence - 3| 
 
 Steephill - 1 
 
 St. Boniface or Bonchurch 2 
 
 Shanklin - 3 
 
 Arreton - 6 
 
 St, George' s-down - 2 
 
 Newport - 2 
 
 28i 
 
 Stan DUN. — The residence of the Roberts' family. 
 The ride is here through a richly cultivated country, 
 backed by St. George's down. Pass 
 
 Pidford — a neat residence, belonging to Sir L.T. 
 W. Holmes, Bart, and now occupied by Mr. Coke. 
 About a quarter of a mile further on the road to Niton 
 is a neat little place laid out with taste, called Rook- 
 ley-cottage, the property and residence of Miss Leach. 
 And within a mile of Niton, leave Whitwell on the 
 left, and on the right a very neat residence called The 
 Hermitage, the property of M. Hoy, Esq. who has 
 also built an obelisk on the northern extremity of St. 
 Catherine's Down. 
 
71 
 
 Niton is a village at the foot of St. Catherine's, 
 to the eastward, and consists of two irregular streets 
 of thatched cottages, the walls of freestone, and of 
 very neat appearance. The church is one of the most 
 ancient in the Island. Here a good glebe-house has 
 been almost entirely built by the Rev. John Barvvis, 
 the present rector, who holds also the vicarage of 
 Godshill, and the chapel ofWhitwell annexed, under 
 the presentation of the provost and fellows of Queen's 
 college, Oxford. The population of Niton amounts 
 to four hundred and forty-three. 
 
 In the church, on the north wall of the chancel, is 
 erected a monument to the memory of the late George 
 Arnold, Esq. In the front of a pedestal, resembling 
 an antique altar, is a medallion by Flaxman ; at the 
 top is a pelican with her nest, in the act of feeding 
 her young from her breast; to the right, a female 
 figure reclines in a pensive attitude on the top of the 
 pedestal, with her arm cast round the pelican and her 
 nest. These last by Rouw. The whole monument 
 is enclosed in cluster pillars of grey marble termina- 
 ting in a pointed arch. On a tablet is an elegant in- 
 scription commemorative of a military funeral. The 
 church is a venerable structure, and perfectly accords 
 in the characteristic simplicity that pervades the vil- 
 lage which the church overlooks. In the centre of 
 the village stands the White Lien Inn. 
 
 A little farther to the south opens the grand sea 
 view, a full display of the channel. At the bottom of 
 the declivity, the commencement of the Under-cliff, 
 
72 
 
 the road separates, the right leading to the Sandroek 
 Spring Hotel, the left to St. Lawrence. The situa- 
 tion of the Hotel is inferior to none, in this by far 
 the most interesting part of the tour. At the Hotel 
 is good accommodation either for dining or sleeping, 
 and from thence there is z carriage-road to Mr. Water- 
 worth's cottage, which stands on the bank whence 
 issues from a grotto-like inclosure ; marked with an 
 inscription "Infirmo capiti fluit utilis, utilis alvo " (he 
 celebrated Aluminous Chalybeate Spring, and com- 
 municates with the cottage by a long descent of stone 
 steps, From Mr. Waterworth's cottage is the easiest 
 access to Biackgang Chine another object of curiosity ; 
 facing is Chale Bay, where at low water parties may 
 walk on a fine and smooth beach. Parties not afraid 
 of a long walk intending to stop at the Hotel, may- 
 send forward their carriages and by turning to the 
 right at a place called Gore-cliff, before descending 
 into the Under-cliff, may ascend St Catherine's, on 
 foot, or they may ride as far as the light-house. The 
 trouble occasioned by this deviation will be amply re- 
 paid, if the day be clear, by the extensive prospect 
 they will be gratified with from the summit of that 
 hill, the highest land in the Isle of Wight, and which 
 overlooks the whole, and comprehends interesting 
 views, in every direction, far beyond its limits. 
 Here is a light-house, and an ancient tower of un 
 known date which still remains entire, in defiance of 
 time and the stormy winds by which it has been for 
 ages assailed. It appears to have been the tower oi 
 a chapel or oratory. 
 
73 
 
 By a descent from the southern limit of this ever- 
 verdant hill may he seen the landslip, which, in the 
 year 1799, excited much curiosity, and which merits 
 observation, as satisfactorily explaining the pheno- 
 menon of the whole UnderclifF, which is evidently the 
 effect of similar landslips at different periods of time, 
 and from the same cause, namely, the freezing of the 
 subterraneous water, and by its consequent expansion, 
 forcing the rocks in a loose soapy soil, from their 
 position on a declivity, and leaving them to find a 
 settlement nearer the sea, which they invariably do, 
 and without any perceptible loss of lands. This 
 theory is perfectly established by partial landslips, 
 which nearly every seven winters is known to produce. 
 Over this apparently useless, and in point of ferti- 
 lity, degraded tract of land, the tourist can only find 
 his way on foot. But let him proceed a little beyond 
 the landslip to the westward into the confines of the 
 parish of Chale, and he will find, that in her seem- 
 ingly most moody humour of ravage and desolation, 
 nature acts not in vain, nor inconsistently with her 
 general purpose, and that she has goods in her gift 
 which lie below the exterior of things, and is often 
 richest in her most disguised and coarsest garb. Her 
 more smooth and polished walks and rides have, in 
 numerous instances, sent back the summer rambler 
 pleased, recruited, and prepared to face again, the* 
 relaxing persuits after wealth and pleasure; but it is 
 not to the garden ofVecta, not to her flowing and 
 softer graces that disease and durability, which have 
 II 
 
74 
 
 sunk deeper into the system of the human frame than 
 merely to irritate the temper and discompose the 
 nerves, can seek for relief. In this rudest and most 
 savage part of her shore, in a disturbed and dis- 
 coloured soil, almost a stranger to vegetation, must 
 be sought from the use of the Sand-rock Spring, a 
 remedy for sterner disease. 
 
 The waters of this spring are impregnated with 
 greater quantities of alum and iron than any other 
 as yet known. They have been attended with the 
 greatest success in many disorders, and eminently 
 among the sick in the Walcheren fever; and are 'in 
 great request in the East Indies. The world is in- 
 debted for the discovery of this spring to Mr. Water- 
 worth, who is a respectable medical practitioner, at 
 Newport. 
 
 It will not be necessary, nor indeed easy to re- 
 ascend St. Catherine's, a height of 780 feet from the 
 tide mark, as from this place the road to the Hotel 
 is easy and romantic. Where the road from the Hotel 
 and that to St. Lawrence meet, stands WestclifF house, 
 of beautiful situation and architecture, belonging to 
 Robert Holford, Esq. Proceeding to St. Lawrence, 
 on the entrance into the parish of Whitwell to the 
 right, stands Mirables, a place of considerable extent, 
 and in the judgment of many, in the purest taste of 
 any of the rival cottages. This place was converted 
 from a small farm-house into its present state, by the 
 late George Arnold, Esq. of Ashby Lodge, in the 
 county of Northampton, and is now the property of 
 
75 
 
 Mrs. Arnold, his widow. Besides its fine situation, 
 this cottage is recommended by the care that has been 
 taken to avoid all false and misplaced ornament. 
 
 St. Lawrence is a small parish, containing only 
 ninety-six inhabitants, with the smallest church in 
 the island, and probably in England, being not more 
 than twenty feet in length, and twelve in breadth. 
 At some distance below the church, near a farm cal- 
 led Woolverton, may be seen the ruins of an ancient 
 church or chapel, of which there is now to be iuimd 
 no record. St. Lawrence is a rectory to which the 
 Rev. H. Worsley was presented by the honourable 
 C. A. Pelliam, of Appuldurcombe, the patron. 
 
 The village of St. Lawrence composes part of the 
 Appuldurcombe estate here. The late Sir Richard 
 Worsley, fto whom by marriage with his INiece 
 succeeded Hon. Charles Anderson Pelliam, the pre- 
 sent proprietor) erected a tasteful marine villa in a 
 most enchanting situation, and planted a vineyard of 
 some extent, but which, except in very fine summers, 
 has not succeeded. The entrance is by a gateway, 
 designed by lnigo Jones, and which formerly stood 
 at Hampton-court. 
 
 In a pavilion, on the model of the temple of Mi- 
 nerva at Athens, Sir Richard has preserved the cele- 
 brated Athenian frieze, and also erected a green-house, 
 a copy on a diminutive scale, of the temple of Nep- 
 tune at Corinth. Here among some other whimsi- 
 calities, is a fort, on which are mounted guns cast 
 out of the church bells at Nantes during the French 
 H2 
 
76 
 
 revolution, which guns were taken from a French 
 privateer, captured a little away off, opposite the spot 
 where they are now placed. On the cliff, in a small 
 temple, called the seat of Virgil, is an antique head 
 of that poet. This marine villa take it all in all, is 
 inferior to nothing that the Undercliff, however wor- 
 thy of admiration, has to boast of. 
 
 Steephill. Of the fine situation of the village 
 of Steephill, and particularly of the beautiful cottage 
 of the late Earl of Dysart, almost every thing which 
 language can express, or pencil describe, has been tried. 
 Since the death of the Earl, this house lias come into 
 the possession of the Lord of the manor, the heir of 
 the late Col. Hill. It is erected upon the summit of 
 one of the dismembered rocks, and commands a long 
 display o1 the Undercliff, even to the church of St. 
 Lawrence. A very curious fish, is sometimes taken 
 here, called the sun fish, from its ovicular form, the 
 head only being a little pointed. Crabs and lobsters 
 are also taken here in great plenty. j\iany ravens 
 build in the cliffs, and likewise the falco peregrhuts 
 a valuable species for the diversion of hawking. It 
 is hoped few will pass by this lovely spot without 
 visiting the seat placed on the summit of a little hill 
 opposite Steephill cottage; the prospect from it is 
 unrivalled, and near it, is a cave commanding a sea 
 view of uncommon interest. It is impossible to do 
 justice to the grounds and scenery around this house, 
 without dedicating some hours to their examination. 
 
 Steephill is seated on a terrace near the foot of 
 
77 
 
 the great cliff. Some wood and much rich shrubbery 
 grows round the house, and adorns the masses of 
 rock, which every where start from the uneven sur- 
 face. One of these called the Devil's bridge, is in 
 form, colour, and position as romantic as can be 
 conceived. It lies projecting nearly horizontally 
 from a bank, is of very great size, and the strata being 
 of different hardness, the lower parts are so worn 
 away, that the upper part overhangs like a vast cor- 
 nice, and in this, there is an excavation deep enough 
 to afford room for a bench quite covered over head, 
 and accessible by a rude stair-case built against its 
 flank. Ivy winds over its surface, and shrubs clothe its 
 sides. From the bench, the view of the ground des- 
 cending to the sea, and the great ocean beyond it, is 
 extremely fine. 
 
 At Ventnoris the New Inn, substantially built, and 
 commodiously fitted up. 
 
 St. Boniface is the property of the Hill family. 
 The grounds are well laid out, and the house unites 
 in an uncommon degree the comfort of sheltered re- 
 tirement, and the magnificence of a sea prospect. Im- 
 mediately behind the house rises an immense hill, of 
 a character totally different from the rugged cliffs just 
 passed, it is a smooth and extremely steep chalk down; 
 beautiful indeed only by its contrast with the surround- 
 ing scenery, but not extensive enough to be, like most 
 of the chalk hills, displeasing from its unvaried sur- 
 face. The house is more accessible by its well chosen 
 situation, than any of those before described, where 
 
78 
 
 more has been sacrificed to prospect than to conveni- 
 ence of approach. 
 
 Bonchurch is situated in a very narrow valley 
 formed by an immense mass of the fallen cliff, and 
 watered by copious springs. In this little hollow, 
 many elms flourish with great luxuriance; and the 
 whole spot has so singularly a secluded air, that it 
 is difficult to suppose that a narrow ridge of rock alone 
 separates it from the boundless sea- view. 
 
 At Bonchurch, the traveller will find a most wild, 
 romantic, and engaging spot, designed by and belong- 
 ing to, Mr. Hadfield; also a fanciful small cottage of 
 Mrs. Crosby. The church, which is dedicated to 
 St. Boniface, is of Saxon antiquity, and was, no 
 doubt, one of the first where the Christian religion 
 was taught in this Island. The contiguity of its 
 shores to those of France, naturally induced the first 
 preachers of the Gospel to attempt the conversion of 
 the fishermen upon this coast. The tomb-stones 
 bear a resemblance to those that are met with in the 
 sepulchral remains of the earliest periods of Christ- 
 ianity. The entrance of the church is through a 
 perfect Saxon arch; the portico is clearly of Norm-n 
 architecture. There is nothing remarkable in this 
 church but its antiquity and site, having a delightful 
 prospect of the ocean. The meadow below the church 
 is a beautiful object, and affords a very uncommon 
 instance of fertility so near the open sea. At the 
 bottom of the field, is an excellent little cove for 
 bathing; and close to the church is the most inter- 
 esting Under-mount cottage and farm of Mr. Hadfield. 
 
79 
 
 In this obscure village was born the celebrated 
 Admiral Hobson, who flourished in Queen Anne's 
 reign; he was brought up a taylor, but his predict- 
 ion for the sea-service, and his great bravery and 
 conduct, raised him from the lowest station to the 
 highest rank in the navy. 
 
 Mr. iladfield has placed a flag-staff on the summit 
 of a most picturesque rock, and fixed a small bat- 
 tery adjoining to it; from hence strangers may see 
 many local beauties of Bonchurch to great advantage, 
 far more so than from any other point of view : to 
 this rock, by the owner's permission, travellers may 
 have free excess, a circumstance worthy of attention. 
 
 Bonchurch house erected by the late Col. I J ill, 
 lias received great additions and improvements from 
 Henry Grimes, Esq. of Warwickshire, who makes it 
 his chief residence. This house commands a softened 
 sea-view, owing to the intervening meadow and scat- 
 tered elm trees through which the sight must p#ss to 
 the water. 
 
 Whoever passes through Bonchurch should be 
 advised by all means to follow the carriage-road 
 along the steep hill above the church, in the road to 
 Shanklin, as, if they turn into the foot path, which 
 the chaise-drivers frequently point out to them, they 
 will lose one of the most magnificent views in their 
 whole route. To those who travel in the contrary 
 direction to that which we are describing, viz. from 
 Shanklin towards Bonchurch, this advice will be 
 particularly acceptable, as the finest and first view 
 
80 
 
 of the Undercliff is entirely lost bj turning out of the 
 carriage-road on foot, at the top of the hill, merely 
 to save a few yards in distance. As the steepness of 
 the hill usually induces the traveller to quit his car- 
 riage here, the caution will be found useful. 
 
 To those who have time and inclination, we would 
 recommend the examination of an highly interesting 
 scene in the neighbourhood of Bonchurch, hitherto 
 almost unknown to strangers ; and indeed, from the 
 remoteness and privacy of its situation, nearly so to 
 the greater part of the inhabitants of the Island. It 
 can only be seen on foot or on horseback. The stran- 
 ger, when arrived at the foot of Bonchurch hill, near 
 the church, is to enquire for the foot-road to Luc- 
 combe through East-end : he will pass through the 
 yard of Bonchurch farm, and two or three fields 
 beyond, before he arrives at the scene we allude to, 
 which commences with a very striking view of a 
 landslip, in many respects more curious and romantic 
 than that at Knowles, and which took place about 
 the same period. Pursuing the foot-path about half 
 a mile through this wild scene, the eye is gratified 
 by a quick succession of most majestic rocks : many 
 fragments of which interspersed with trees and 
 bushes, lie scattered about in the most striking man- 
 ner, that can be conceived. Every interesting feature 
 of the Undercliff is concentrated into this spot, which 
 to examine, will require a walk of about two miles 
 back and forward from the bottom of Bonchurch hill. 
 
 The cliffs rise to a most noble height, and are in 
 
SI 
 
 many parts beautifully mantled with ivy. The cop- 
 pice woods are very rich in foliage, and not in the 
 least injured by the sea air, to which they are so 
 much exposed ; and the masses of fallen rock among 
 which the footpath winds, are of vast size, and some 
 of them of very beautiful forms. The springs which 
 break out in many places at the bottom of the rocky 
 stratum, though not copious, yet have formed some 
 small pools overhung with wood; and very rugged 
 paths, probably formed by cattle, lead through the 
 thickets in various directions, and open unexpectedly 
 on several scenes of the wildest character. 
 
 The real admirers of the beautiful and sublime ought 
 not to pass this scene unnoticed. Those who travel 
 from Shanklin to UnderclifF, and wish to see this 
 interesting scene, should walk from Luccombe chine, 
 through East-end to Bonchurch farm. 
 
 In the winter of 1817, there was a Landslip at 
 East-end, which very much resembles in appearance 
 the fall of land, whieh took place at the west end of 
 (lie UnderclifF before noticed. In both cases the 
 cause of the movement was manifestly the same: 
 there is an aluminous chalybeate of the same mineral 
 properties, and almost exactly of the same quality at 
 East-end as the Sandrock spring: in both cases, the 
 landslip took place directly upon these springs. The 
 late landslip at east-end is upon a much larger scale 
 than that which happened westward ; and the lofty 
 cliffs and some large trees that have sunk down upon 
 the land below, gi ve a \erx magnificent and grand 
 
82 
 
 effect to the ruin. The land above, gave timely 
 warning of its inclination to move, by large cracks 
 and fissures appearing on the surface, for two or 
 three weeks prior to its fall: and there are still some 
 of these indications of a future movement : so that in 
 a short period of time, the road will probably be 
 carried away, and the ruin extend to the base of St. 
 Boniface down. Strangers can very easily view the 
 whole landslip, by leaving their carriages for a few 
 minutes, and walking about twenty yards across a 
 field to the edge of the cliff. 
 
 Luccombe Chine is a chasm, to which the des- 
 cent is by a winding path, shaded with trees. In the 
 centre of this, runs a stream of fine water, which 
 forms a waterfall at the bottom, and afterwards runs 
 into the sea. A peasant, who lives hard by, waits 
 to conduct visitors to this place. The traveller will 
 not fail to be much pleased with a noble view which 
 breaks in upon him from .the hill above Shanklin : — 
 Sandown bay, the Culver-cliff, Brading-haven, St. 
 Helen's-road, Spithead, Portsmouth, with the hills 
 and vales of the Isle of Wight, as far as Cowes, form 
 a very magnificent assemblage of objects. The form 
 and shape of Sandown-bay is peculiarly beautiful. 
 
 Shankltn. The most remarkable object in this 
 place is the Chine, being a vast rent in the rock which 
 here forms the sea-cliffs, about half a mile from the 
 village. A spring, which rises above this village on 
 the south-west, and runs in an opposite direction to 
 the chine, is shaded by a continued plantation of ashes 
 
83 
 
 and elms ; when it has passed through a small arti- 
 ficial arch made of stone, it forms a cascade, The 
 whole of the scenery here is grand and striking. The 
 walk or rather scramble, through Shanklin-chine 
 will repay those who, in search of the beauties of 
 nature, do not object to a little fatigue. There is a 
 beautiful waterfall at the top of the Chine, only to be 
 seen by walking up the chine from the month of it. 
 It appears evidently, by attentive examination of the 
 nature of the soil, and circumstances of the situation, 
 that the chine has been principally formed by this 
 little stream of water gradually carrying away the 
 banks, and occasioning large masses of earth to fall 
 from the sides, which the water carries with it down 
 to the ocean. The village itself is placed in a very 
 retired and lovely situation : here are lodging-houses 
 for the reception of strangers who frequent this place 
 in the summer season. This parish, including Bon- 
 church, contains two hundred and sixty-seven 
 inhabitants. The church is a donative, and, with 
 Bonchurch, in the alternate presentation of the heirs 
 of the late Colonel Hill and Mrs. Walton White, 
 heiress of the late Major Popham. The present in- 
 cumbent, is the Rev. Justly Hill. The situation of 
 the parsonage-house cannot be too much praised. In 
 itself it possesses the charm of simplicity, which is 
 greatly augmented by the luxuriant myrtles that 
 clothe its walls. It has received great improvement 
 from the present incumbent. 
 Arreton is a village composed of straggling 
 
84 
 
 cottages ; but the country around is well cultiv ated, 
 and contains one thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
 seven inhabitants ; near this place is Stickworth, the 
 seat of James Bell, Esq. 
 
 From this we ascend to the summit of St. George's 
 down, the most central elevation in the island. It 
 is unconnected with any other hills, and the plain 
 upon its top is about a mile in length. At the foot of 
 this down we rejoin the road at Standen, and passing 
 Shide-bridge, arrive at Newport. 
 
 OTHER TOURS. 
 
 Although the above Tours comprehend the prin- 
 cipal objects of attention in the island, yet to those 
 visitors who have more leisure, or whose residence 
 may not be confined to Newport, it may be necessary 
 to point out a few other agreeable routes. 
 The first, still commencing with Newport, is as follows. 
 
 MILES. 
 
 From Newport to Witcomb li 
 
 Gatcombe - 1 £ 
 
 Chillerton-farm II 
 
 Billingham - 1 
 
 Chale church - 4 
 
 Blackgang-chine and return 1 
 
 St. Catherine's and return li 
 
 Kingston - - 3 
 
 Shorwell - -2 
 
 Newport - 5 
 
 Total 22 
 
85 
 
 In this tour we have to remark, that in the north 
 wall of the chancel of Gatcombe church, is an ancient 
 monument, supposed to be that of the founder, but 
 called by the country people St. Radigund. Adjoin- 
 ing the church-yard is Gatcombe-house, the seat of 
 A. Campbell, Esq. There are two hundred and forty - 
 nine inhabitants in this parish. 
 
 Billingham is the seat of the Rev. James Worsley. 
 
 Chale Church. At a quarter of a mile from this 
 js Blackgang-chine, the principal object on this route. 
 The sides of this tremendous chasm are little short of 
 five hundred feet high, but shelving; ami a spring, 
 which has its rise on the summit, winds slowly down 
 to the sea. It appears to contain particles of iron of a 
 sulphureous smell, and if drank, operates as a gentle 
 aperient. Many copperas stones lie about in a native 
 state; and there are some pieces of rock alum, but 
 not in such plenty as at Alum-bay. It is said to have 
 received its name from a gang of pirates who former- 
 ly made it a place of residence. W r e rather think it 
 more probable, that the word gang means an opening 
 for ascending and descending: thus the gangway in a 
 ship: to gang, in the S »xon, and to this day in the 
 dialect of the north, is the same as to go. It has a 
 more savage and barbarous appearance than Shanklin 
 chine, and not a bush is to be seen on any part of the 
 mouldering precipices to soften its terrific aspect; 
 but it is most awful from the shore below, where also 
 the whole line of coast, to the extremity of Fresh- 
 water-el: lis, is clearly discernible. Those who wish 
 I 
 
86 
 
 to see the whole of this very sublime scene should, in 
 the first place, follow the winding path which leads 
 from the style at the entrance in a horizontal direction, 
 crosses the stream in the middle of the chine, and 
 conducts to a boat house on the shore: having advanc- 
 ed about two hundred yards beyond the stream they 
 should return again ; and about half way between the 
 chine and the above-mentioned style is a path, which 
 leads by a quick descent to the great cave at the bot- 
 tom, and so to the shore, from whence it has a very 
 striking appearance. The peculiar feature of Black- 
 gang-chine ought to be an object of investigation to 
 every traveller, who wishes to do justice to the va- 
 ried character of scenery which distinguishes the 
 Isle of Wight. This parish contains four hundred 
 and seventy-three inhabitants. 
 
 From the bowling-green, on the north side of 
 Kingston church are many extensive prospects. The 
 number of inhabitants in the parish of Kingston is 
 only sixty- eight. 
 
 SHORT RIDE FROM NEWPORT. 
 
 The following ride from Newport is a favourite 
 with many visitors. 
 
 MILES. 
 
 From Newport to Pann over 
 
 Pann-bridge 1 
 
 Standen-farm li 
 
 Shide-bridge - 2 
 
87 
 
 Carisbrooke-castle * 1 
 Round it to Newport 2 
 
 n 
 
 Another southern tour may be thus performed. 
 Diverging from the former southern tour, to the 
 southward of Pidford, is the road to Godshill on the 
 left, near three miles, or 
 
 MILES. 
 
 From Newport to Godshill 6 
 
 Whitwell 3 
 
 St. Lawrence-shoot Ij 
 
 10£ 
 
 and return by St. Lawrence church, to Steephill, 
 Bonchurch, Shanklin, Arreton, Newport. The par- 
 ish of Godshill contains one thousand two hundred 
 and fourteen inhabitants. The parish of Whitwell, 
 also in this tour, has four hundred and eighty-eight. 
 The church at Godshill is a very picturesque object, 
 being situated on a hill in the centre of the village : 
 it contains some very handsome monuments of the 
 Worsley Family, particularly one in the north limb 
 of the cross, to the memory of Sir Robert Worsley ; 
 and another in the south limb, recently erected by 
 the Hon. C. A. Pelham, to the memory of the late 
 Sir Richard Worsley. The latter bears an inscrip- 
 tion, the former is without any. 
 
 On this route the principal object is Appuldur- 
 I 2 
 
88 
 
 combe-house and park, the residence of the late Sir 
 Richard Worsley, but now of the Hon. C. A. Pelham, 
 eldest son of Lord Yarborough, who married Miss 
 Simpson, niece and heiress of Sir Richard. From 
 Godshill, the entrance into the park is by a gate-way 
 of the Ionic order well executed. 
 
 This mansion, which is large and beautiful, is built 
 of freestone, having four regular fronts to it of the 
 Corinthian order, but the principal of them is adorn- 
 ed with two wings, and has a lawn before it. The 
 man of taste, the antiquary, and the classical scholar 
 will be amply gratified here, if he obtain leave to view 
 the paintings, busts, scarce and valuable Grecian and 
 other antiques, collected in the course of his travels 
 at an amazing expense by the late owner. Mr. Pei- 
 liam politely permits his steward, Mr. Sewell, of 
 Newport, to give tickets of admission to any gentle- 
 man or lady sending his or her name for that purpose. 
 Days for seeing the house are Tuesdays and Fridays, 
 and a printed catalogue is there produced to strang- 
 ers, describing the particulars of those valuable 
 curiosities. The park is well stocked with deer. 
 There is in it an obelisk of Cornish granite, near 70 
 feet in height, erected to the memory of Sir Robert 
 Worsley, but our limits are infinitely too scanty for 
 a detail of the various productions of nature and art, 
 which embellish this noble residence. From Appul- 
 durcombe the route may be continued through 
 Wroxall, immediately to Steephill, or return to 
 Godshill, in order to proceed through Whitwell, as 
 before expressed. 
 
Jd 
 
 
 EXCURSION FROM RYDE TO 
 
 BEMBRIDGE. 
 
 From Ryde to Brading 
 Sandown-fort 
 
 MILES. 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 Yaverland 
 
 1 
 
 Bembridge-down and 
 Culver-cliffs 
 
 2 
 
 Lon gland-farm 
 Bembridge-farm 
 To the Windmill 
 
 1 
 
 2' 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 Bemb ridge Point 
 Fore-land farm 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Yarbridge 
 
 Brading 
 
 Nunwell 
 
 3 
 1 
 1 
 
 Ashey-farm 
 Ryde 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 21 t 
 
 Yaverland is a small parish containing ninety- 
 two inhabitants; only a few cottage?, and the manor- 
 house, which was formerly the residence of the Rus- 
 sels. Mr. N. Smith, now occupies the manor farm. 
 The little parish church has a well preserved semicir- 
 cular arch of Norman architecture, which is ornament- 
 ed with various mouldings, and particularly one 
 deeply indented with a long, broad, and beautiful 
 fluting. 
 
 Bembridge-down. Having ascended this down, 
 the ride is through some corn fields, leading to Culver- 
 
90 
 
 cliffs : the approach to these is of so tremendous 
 a nature, that few people will dare venture to look 
 down on their perpendicular sides ; but the attention 
 is particularly directed to the hermit's hole, at the west 
 end of Culver-cliffs. It penetrates into the rock about 
 twenty feet, at the distance of about thirty feet from the 
 summit of the cliffs; the path which leads to it from the 
 top is steep, narrow and rugged; but it is impossible 
 to return after you have once descended from the 
 brink of the precipice, till you come to the cave below, 
 as the path is too narrow, contracted, and irregular, 
 to permit a change of position for the feet. Most 
 persons satisfy themselves with the terrific aspect it 
 presents from the sea-shore below, on the east side of 
 Sandown-fort; and the idea of such an adventure is 
 enough to disturb the strongest nerves. The views 
 from this down are fully equal, and in some points su- 
 perior, to any in the Island. The beautiful curve of 
 Sundown bay appears to peculiar advantage from 
 hence. This ride should be taken at the time of high 
 tide, as Brading-haven then forms one of the most in- 
 teresting objects, resembling an inland lake, surround- 
 ed with gentle declivities and woods. Indeed this 
 ride should only be taken when the tide is in, as the 
 want of it very considerably alters and injures the 
 beauty of this part of the Island. Spithead and St. 
 Helen's-road are from hence fully commanded. We 
 should recommend the traveller, on foot or horseback, 
 to the little cottage at the extremity of the down, 
 from whence he has a fine view of the White-cliff, 
 Bembridge-ledge, and a romantic wild shore of a mile 
 
91 
 
 and a half in length eastward. Having descended 
 the down, pass by Bembridge-farm, and proceed by 
 the Windmill quite down to the Point, as it is called ; 
 here, when the tide is in, there is an extremely beau- 
 tiful view of Brading-harbour with a fine chain of hills 
 in the back ground, and St. Helen's on the opposite 
 side of the water. The parish of St. Helen's contains 
 eight-hundred and four inhabitants. 
 
 !N unwell, the family mansion of the Oglanders, 
 has been much improved by the late Sir William: it is 
 situate on an ascent, with its front towards Brading- 
 haven and the sea, sheltered by a profusion of wood 
 behind on the north side of Brading-down, and the 
 oast side of Nunwell-down with the pleasing advant- 
 age of a fine open lawn before it, commanding the 
 most beautiful and engaging prospects. 
 
 EXCURSION FROM COWES. 
 
 The excursion from West Cowes, supposing the 
 stranger to be at that place, are chiefly to be perform- 
 ed on horseback. — The first is to the westward 
 
 
 
 MILES 
 
 From Cowes to Gurnard's-bay, 
 
 2 
 
 Rue Street 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 Thorness 
 
 _ 
 
 2h 
 
 Newtown 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 Shalfleet 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 Swainston 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 And back to C 
 
 uwes - 
 
 7 
 
 20£ 
 
92 
 
 West Cowes, which is in the parish of North- 
 wood, is seated on the declivity of the hill, on the 
 west side of the river Medina, near its influx into the 
 sea, which renders the approach to it from South- 
 ampton or Portsmouth extremely pleasing. It has 
 an excellent harbour, and ships can turn out of it either 
 to the east or west. Large fleets of merchantmen fre- 
 quently ride off here for several weeks in time of war, 
 waiting for convoy ; and the town enjoys a good trade 
 for the sale of provisions, and other things necessary 
 for the sea-service. Though the lower parts of the 
 town are crowded, yet its more elevated parts are so 
 delightfully situate, both for purity of air and beauty 
 of prospects, that many gentlemen of the navy, to whom 
 this place is peculiarly convenient, have shown a predi- 
 lection for it. Nor is it to the gentlemen of the navy 
 alone that West Cowes has recommended itself as a 
 favourite residence, others also have been charmed 
 with the many beautiful situations on the hill, and near 
 the castle, where several handsome houses are continu- 
 ally building. There are a number of excellent lodging- 
 houses , particularly a very large one, lately built for 
 that purpose by Mr. Coombes, who keeps the circu- 
 lating library, but is now the property of Mrs. Aik- 
 man. There are four excellent seminaries here, 
 which have an advantage exceeded by few in the 
 kingdom of sea-bathing and mild climate. The ladies' 
 schools are conducted by Miss Wilson and Miss 
 Liddiard, and the gentlemen'sby the Rev. W. Nick- 
 son, A. M. and Mr. Helmore. There are a number 
 of hot and cold baths here. 
 
93 
 
 The town of west Cowes has of late been consider- 
 ably improved, by virtue- of an Act of Parliament, 
 passed in 1816: a convenient market-house and 
 shambles built, which afford a good supply of meat, 
 fish, and vegetables of all kinds, daily; a great con- 
 venience to inhabitants and strangers. Lord Gran- 
 tham, Sir John Cox Hippisley, and Mr. Bennett, 
 have also erected beautiful marine-villas along the 
 beach, particularly Sir J. C. Hippisley on the parade. 
 The town of West Cowes contains upward 3000 inha- 
 bitants. It has recently become the scene of attract- 
 ion by the establishment of a yacht club, of which 
 His Majesty is a member, with several Noblemen 
 and Gentlemen, in number about 60; this annual 
 Regatta generally takes place about August or Sep- 
 tember. Visitors from the neighbouring counties, 
 and distant sea ports may be recognized on our 
 shores, viewing the novelty of the scenery. It is 
 supposed that upwards 200 vessels of different des- 
 criptions are usually present. 
 
 There is a mail for London every day made up at 
 four in the evening, and arrives about eleven or twelve 
 in the morning. Packets to and from Southampton 
 and Portsmouth regularly every day. Also a very 
 elegant Steam Packet which goes to and from Cowes 
 to Southampton twice every day during the summer 
 season. Coaches also to and from Newport and 
 Ryde, daily. 
 
 On the right of the road leading from "West Cowes 
 to Newport, stands a picturesque cottage, in the Swiss 
 
94 
 
 taste, constructed by General Whitelocke, and lately 
 purchaser by George Ward, Esq. It is thatched 
 with straw, has a lawn and shrubbery in front, and 
 exhibits a very romantic and pleasing effect. 
 
 On the summit of the hill, stands Bellevue-house, 
 very elegant and recently built, and highly ornament- 
 ed by G. Ward, Esq. commanding the richest pros- 
 pects of wood and water. Other handsome buildings 
 have likewise been erected here lately : on the hill is 
 a large chapel of ease to the mother-church of North- 
 wood ; there is also a presbyterian meeting-house, 
 and a methodist chapel, likewise a beautiful chapel 
 for the use of the Roman catholics, which makes a 
 conspicuous appearance from the hill above East 
 Cowes. The number of strangers, who, of late years, 
 have resided at West Cowes, during the bathing sea- 
 son, has been very considerable, and of course advan- 
 tageous to the inhabitants of the place. The shore, 
 for every purpose of bathing, is very good. 
 
 The bathing-machines, which serve for an at- 
 traction to the fashionable, as well as for a 
 remedy to the valetudinarian, are in possession of 
 Mr. Hamlet and Mr. Hewitt ; the accomodation of 
 both are commodious and good, and are on a fine 
 beach, where there is also a good lodging-house, and 
 a neat reading-room, a little to the westward of the 
 castle. The castle commands the road as you ap- 
 proach the town on the west side ; the building is but 
 small, and the battery is of semi-circular form, provi- 
 ded with eleven guns, nine-poundeis, mounted. I* 
 was built in the time of Henry VIII. 
 
95 
 
 The chapel was erected in 1653, consecrated 1662, 
 t I ed in 1657. by Mr. Richard Stephens, who 
 ga the ground with £5 per annum. The TJishop 
 of Winchester about eight years afterwards added 
 £20 on condition, that the inhabitants made up a 
 salary of £40, for the minister. It has since been 
 augmented with Queen Anne's bounty. The pre- 
 sentation is vested in the inhabitants, although a 
 chapel of ease to the parish church of Northwood. 
 The chapel was enlarged at the east-end 1811. George 
 Ward, Esq. lord of the manor, has considerably im- 
 proved the chapel, by erecting a mausoleum tower at 
 the west-end, which forms a majestic object at sea, 
 and is seen many miles off: and he has also added 
 usefulness as well as ornament, by giving a clock and 
 cells, which the inhabitants find a great accommoda- 
 tion to them. The interior of the chapel is neat, and 
 fitted up in a manner calculated to inspire devotion. 
 At the west-end is a beautifully sculptured monument, 
 to the memory of the late Mrs. Ward, which viewed 
 through the arch of the tower, from the altar, gives it 
 an effect superior to any thing seen in a country 
 church. The last improvements were conducted by 
 Mr. Nash, at an expense of not less than £2800. 
 Divine service is performed three times on Sundays, 
 at half-past ten, at three, and at half-past six. — The 
 Rev. J. H. Gill, A. M. minister, and the Rev. W. 
 Nickson, A. M. curate, are both surrogates. 
 
 Gurnard's-bay is remarkable for being the place 
 where Charles II. landed when he visited Sir Robert 
 
96 
 
 Holmes, the Governor, at Yarmouth. The farm of 
 Whippenee, not far from the coast, to the west of 
 Rue-street, and that of Thorness still more westward, 
 are only rem ark ahle from their being shaded by trees, 
 of which, for the most part, the houses on this part of 
 the coast are destitute. A very fine and romantic 
 view is presented to the eye on the hills above Gur- 
 nard's Bay ; the water is seen to break boldly inio 
 the laud in various bays and creeks. In front, the 
 New Forest, with the distant high ground behind, 
 form the boundary on the other side of the water; the 
 Dorsetshire hills also rise in fine varieties: to the 
 left, the island projects in four promontories, which 
 are distinctly seen beyond each other. 
 
 Egypt is the most northerly point of the island 
 between Cowes and Gurnard's-bay. Sir Thomas 
 Tancred is the possessor of this pleasant situation. 
 
 From Newtown, (already described in chap. B), 
 we proceed to Shalfleet, which has eight hundred 
 and seventy-eight inhabitants: James Wilkinson, Esq. 
 is lord of the manor. The church here merits some 
 attention. It has suffered greatly by time and plun- 
 der, but the arms of William Montacute, Earl of 
 Salisbury, in the time of Edward III. are still to be 
 seen in the painted glass of its windows. It consisted 
 of a broad and low square tower, with a dome upon 
 it, which was taken down in 1808, and a steeple 
 erected in its stead. It has many marks of gothic 
 antiquity about it, but it has been robbed of its 
 antique windows, which always add to the grandeur 
 
97 
 
 and solemnity of aucient fabrics, and afford so much 
 pleasure and satisfaction to the amateurs of that style 
 of architecture. 
 
 The porch is coeval with the church, and is of 
 Norman architecture. Here is the figure of a Bishop 
 in relievo, with his arms extended in length, while 
 each of his hands rests upon the body of a griffin. 
 
 At Swainston, Sir Wm. Fitz. Barrington has a 
 handsome seat, which has lately been considerably 
 enlarged and ornamented, and though in a great degree 
 modernized, has yet remaining, in the offices, some 
 curious fragments of antiquity. A very neat Norman 
 double headed window is visible in the court, and 
 the outside of a very pretty chapel is nearly entire. 
 It has an east window much resembling those in 
 Arreton church, and probably nearly of the same date 
 situate in the midst of an extended and rural domain. 
 
 The next excursion is across the water to the east- 
 ward. 
 
 MILES. 
 
 To East Cowes 
 
 I 
 
 Osborne and Barton 
 
 1* 
 
 Brockwood 
 
 1 
 
 Wootton 
 
 1 
 
 Wootton bridge 
 
 1 
 
 Quarr-abbey 
 
 2 
 
 Whippingham back by 
 
 
 Alverston 
 
 4 
 
 West Cowes 
 
 3 
 
 14* 
 
98 
 
 East Cowes, to which we arrive by the ferry, is 
 inferior in many respects, to its opposite neighbour. 
 The woodland tract extends from East Cowes to 
 St. Helens. The woods are principally oak, the 
 country on which they grow is in general beautifully 
 varied by gentle rise and fall, and from almost every 
 eminence, the most interesting views of the Solent 
 sea, with the magnificent addition of the harbour of 
 Portsmouth and the road of Spithead, present them- 
 selves. On quitting Newport on the road towards 
 Ryde, a very beautiful view is soon obtained of the 
 Medina river from Newport quite to its mouth at 
 Cowes. At high water this river is of considerable 
 breadth and winds with ample sweeps between banks, 
 which though of no great elevation, are of good shape 
 and varied with arable and coppice; the towns of East 
 and West Cowes, form a very interesting termination 
 to its course, and there are generally a sufficient num- 
 ber of vessels at anchor in the river and road opposite 
 to its mouth, to give animation to the scene. The 
 Solent sea, like a noble lake, bounded by the luxuri- 
 ant woods of the New Forest, with the very distant 
 blue hills of the northern part of Hampshire, form a 
 most beautiful termination to the view. 
 
 East Cowes is in the parish of Whippingham, and 
 its inhabitants may be estimated at four hundred ; but 
 there are many respectable houses, though not disposed 
 in any regular form. The principal are the custom- 
 house, and the houses which front the harbour ; and 
 there are some considerable merchants in this place, 
 
99 
 
 as well as at West Cowes. Several houses have also 
 been built on the rising ground above it, which over- 
 look the harbour and command admirable views both 
 by sea and land. The several villas belonging to Mr. 
 Auldjo, Mr. Sneddon, Sir George Thomas, Mrs. 
 Goodrich, and East Cowes Castle, the elegant resi- 
 dence of Mr. Nash, who is making very considerable 
 additions, are well deserving of notice. At no great 
 distance from Mr. Nash's house, Lord Henry Sey- 
 mour has built a magniGcent structure, from the de- 
 signs of Mr. Wyatt and professing to be in imitation 
 of an ancient castle of no small dimensions. Seated 
 on the steep descent of the coast to the Solent sea, it 
 perhaps commands a view of that strait, superior in 
 beauty to any other point in the Island. To the east 
 Portsmouth, crowded with shipping, is in full view; 
 and the richest line of the woody coast of the Island 
 from Barton to Nettleston, appears in long and varied 
 perspective. To the north, the Southampton river 
 is seen in its whole extent, and the town of South- 
 ampton, with its spires and towers, though at ten 
 miles distance, is no inconsiderable object. The 
 woods of the New Forest clothe the view to the west, 
 while Calshot castle on the point of its long bank of 
 shingle, stands boldly out amidst the waves, and 
 marks the separation between the solent sea and 
 Southampton River. The house is of a very noble 
 general form, and its clustering towers in every point 
 of view, particularly when seen from the sea, are a 
 striking and commanding object, and a most splendid 
 K2 
 
100 
 
 addition to the general scenery of the coast. The 
 choice of both the form and scite of the mansion, re- 
 flects the highest honour on the taste of the noble 
 owner. 
 
 The entrance of the little inlet called King's Key, 
 has some pretty scenery about it. The inlet itself 
 runs in a winding course through thick overhanging 
 groves for more than a mile. 
 
 There are other houses also built by the late Mr. 
 Mackenzie, and a beautiful cottage belonging to Mr. 
 Ritchee. 
 
 Osborne-house stands on the summit of a hill 
 ascending from Cowes, and commands very extensive 
 views. This is one of the largest and best houses in 
 the Island, the property of the Blashford family. 
 
 Barton is also finelv situate^ and occunied by 
 
 a farmer, 
 
 Quabr-abbey presents us with some venerable 
 remains of antiquity. Its early history may be found 
 in Albin's History of the Isle of Wight, the perusal 
 of which, to those who wish to be informed of all the 
 particulars, antiquities, and curiosities of the island, 
 will be highly gratifying. The only building which 
 is preserved, apparently in an entire state, is the 
 refectory or common-hall, now converted into a barn. 
 Vestiges also of some stone-vaulted cellars are still 
 remaining. The old walls inclosed about sixty acres 
 round the abbey, most of which are now remaining, 
 and two or three of the ancient gateways are still visible. 
 
 Returning from this spot we come to the great road 
 
101 
 
 between Newport and Ryde, and re-passing Woottonr- 
 brittgo proceed to Whippingham, which brings us 
 again to the road leading to Covves. On the right of 
 the road a little beyond the turnpike between East 
 Cowes and Newport, is Whippingham parsonage a 
 very beautiful and distinguished feature in the scene- 
 ry of the island ; it affords the only decidedly pictures- 
 que view of the river Medina, which spreads before it, 
 especially at high water like a lake, whilst at the 
 same time it presents all the variety of a navigable 
 river with its little bays and sinuosities up to Newport. 
 
 The land is beautifully thrown, and the grounds 
 from their elevation, command a distant view of the 
 latter town lying in a valley formed by some well 
 shaped hills, and flanked by that on which stands *he 
 noble ruin of Carisbrooke Castle ; St. Catherine rises 
 magnificently as a back ground to the chequered 
 scene of water, hill and woodland, which present al- 
 together a combination of objects rarely equalled 
 even in this land of scenic beauty. 
 
 The present possessor Archdeacon Hook, has re- 
 cently re-built the house which is in perfect accord- 
 ance with the character of the place, and to his well- 
 known taste and love of the fine arts, are to be attri- 
 buted the new disposition of these grounds, and the 
 skilful arrangement of his materials, so as to bring 
 all the leading features of the scene in the most 
 advantageous manner under the eye. 
 
 The Church has lately undergone very great alter- 
 ations, and received additions, particularly of a new 
 K 3 
 
102 
 
 steeple, which is a very pleasing object, especially 
 viewing it from the road between Newport and West 
 Cowes. The church yard stands on a little nook of 
 ground shaded on one side by a beautiful screen of 
 elms and the blue swelling hills of the Island. The 
 Medina flows below ; whilst in the direction of the 
 north, the eye catches an indistinct view of the sea; 
 and when the wind is abroad, you may hear at intervals 
 the mighty rushing of the waters,, like the awful sound 
 that echoes over the dark ocean of eternity, when the 
 dying sufferer listens to its faint reverberation and 
 catches a glimpse of its deep rolling billows in the 
 last closing hour of existence. Every thing wears 
 the appearance of the divinest tranquillity ; and even 
 the sun, as if in his fondness for the situation, lingers 
 around it and shines on the mouldering sepulchres as 
 one anxious to guard the repose of the tenants. 
 
 At Padmore, near Whippingham, is the seat of the 
 late James Jolliffe, Esq. Whippingham parish con- 
 tains two thousand and sixty-eight inhabitants. 
 
 Another excursion we shall particularize, is a ride 
 from Cowes up the west side of the river to Newport,. 
 and down the east side of it to East Cowes. 
 
 From Cowes to North wood, 
 
 MILES. 
 
 2i 
 
 Newport 1 
 
 25 
 
 Cross the water to Fairlee 
 
 1 
 
 Whippingham 
 
 - a 
 
 East Cowes 
 
 - 2 
 
 Cowes 
 
 l 
 
 12 
 
103 
 
 The roads are excellent on each side of the New- 
 port River. At Northwood is the Parish church, 
 that on the hill of Cowes being only a chapel of ease? 
 though much larger than the mother church. The 
 parish of Northwood contains three-thousand five 
 hundred and seventy -nine inhabitants. There are 
 two immense mills erected on the two different sides 
 of the river, Approaching Newport on this road is 
 the House of Industry already noticed. 
 
 Fairlee is the pleasant seat of John White, Esq. 
 Its views down the water to Cowes are very fine. A 
 wood, on the left of the house, serves as a shelter to 
 the banks of the river, and the right wing is open and 
 descends to the same point. Near this is Fairlee 
 Cottage, the property of Mr. Albin, laid out with con- 
 siderable taste. 
 
 Another small ride of five miles might with pro- 
 priety, be added, since East Cowes has lately become 
 so populous, and such a favourite with strangers : 
 this little ride is 
 
 FROM NEWPORT TO EAST COWES. 
 
 
 MILKS, 
 
 From Newport to Fairlee 
 
 1 
 
 Whipping ham 
 
 2 
 
 Osborne 
 
 1 
 
 East Cowes 
 
 1 
 
104 
 
 [n this ride you have one of the best roads in the 
 Island, At East Cowes is a large family hotel with 
 an excellent assembly room, and good stabling, where 
 sociables, post chaises, gigs, &c. are kept; there is a 
 boat constantly to attend the packets from Southamp- 
 ton and Portsmouth : and strangers, going to the 
 east part of the island, save four miles by landing at 
 East Cowes ; there are also a number of good lodg- 
 ing houses. 
 
 Other excursions and digressions from the princi- 
 pal routes might be pointed out; but we presume that 
 we have given the curious traveller sufficient scope 
 of information to enable him to vary these at his 
 option or convenience. 
 
105 
 
 TOYAGE ROUND THE ISLAND. 
 
 It may probably be expected, that we should lay 
 down the plan of a voyage round the Island, in the 
 same manner as the above tours and excursions. The 
 pleasure, however, which this voyage may afford, de- 
 pends so much on wind and wealher, as to render it 
 impossible to prescribe what the navigator shall see, 
 and what he shall not see. In sailing round the 
 Island however, we shall just mention the several 
 points of observation which present themselves when 
 the weather is favourable. Supposing then that the 
 yova^e commences from Rvde &SSS objects .°.rs in 
 succession: — Binstead, Wootton, Whipprngham,. 
 Cowes, Yarmouth, Norton > Worsley's tower, Alum- 
 bay, Needles'-point, Freshwater-gate, Motteston, 
 Brixton, Shorwell, Chale, Black-gang-Chine, Point 
 of St. Catherine's, Undercliff, Dunnose, Shanklin- 
 chine, Sandown, Culver-cliffs, Brading-harbour, St. 
 Helens, Ryde. Under very favourable circumstances 
 this voyage may be performed in fourteen hours, but 
 generally takes a longer time.. 
 
106 
 RATES OF PASSAGE. 
 
 As it may be very serviceable for company coming 
 into the Island to know what are the several rates for 
 passengers, carriages, and horses, into and out of the 
 Island, that they may avoid being imposed upon, we 
 have here inserted a list of the allowances according 
 to the act of parliament, and as regulated by the jus- 
 tices at the sessions, held at Winchester on the loth of 
 July, 1822. 
 
 Prices to be taken for passengers, carriages, with hor- 
 ses, and horses only, to and from Cowes and South- 
 ampton ; to and from Cowes and Portsmouth ; to 
 and from Cowes and Gosport; and to and from 
 Newport to Southampton, Portsmouth and Gosport. 
 
 HIRE OF VESSELS. 
 
 For a Vessel to carry a four-wheel carriage, two horses, 
 and luggage, (horse-boat and other buatage included,) 
 with or without a family, (horses above two to be paid 
 for extra, at 3s. 6d. each. - - - - 1 9 (* 
 
 A vessel, with or without a family, with baggage and 
 
 three horses - - - - 1 ' '2 ' 6 
 
 A vessel to carry a four-wheel carriage and luggage, 
 
 without horses, and either with or without a family 1 4 
 A vessel to carry a two-wheel ditto, with or without a 
 
 family and luggage, (horses to be paid for extra, at 3s. 
 
 3d. each. - - - - - 19 
 
 A vessel to carry a family and luggage without carriage 
 
 or horses - - - - - 
 
 A wherry or row-boat with two men - - 
 
 Ditto with four men - - - - 1 
 
 A vessel for the day with passengers, but without car- 
 riage or horses, to and from either of the above places 1 
 
 Tasscngers, each - - - - 
 
 Passengers by steam vessels, on the quarter deck, and 
 
 in the main cabin, not exceeding - - 
 
 Passengers by ditto in the forecastle, not exceeding 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
107 
 
 Prices to be taken for passengers, carriages, and horses to and /V< 
 Yarmouth and Lymington. 
 
 For hire of a vessel to carry passengers and one horse, 
 or without a horse - 
 
 Ditto, wilh two horses - - 
 
 Ditto, with three horses - 
 
 Ditto, if more than three, additional for each horse 
 
 A vessel to carry a four-wheel carriage, with or without 
 the family, without horses, (assistance and horse-boat 
 
 included - 
 
 Ditto, two-wheel carriage ditto 
 
 Ditto, fou i or two-wheel carriape, with horses, at per 
 horse additional 
 
 Passage for a single person, without horse 
 
 Ditto, returning the same day, out and home 
 
 Wherry with one man 
 
 Ditto, with two . . . 
 
 Horse-boat for shipping and landing at Yarmouth and 
 Lymington .... 
 
 Prices to be taken for passengers, carriages, and horses, to and fr 
 Ryde and Portsmouth. 
 
 For a vessel to carry passengers without horses . . 
 
 Ditto with horses, not exceeding three . . o 
 
 Ditto if more than three, additional for each horse . 
 
 Ditto to carry a four-wheel carriage with or without the 
 
 family, (without horses) . , .0 
 
 Ditto two-wheel carriage . . 
 
 Passage for each person without a horse . . 
 
 Ditto with a horse . . . 
 
 Horse boat for shipping and landing each horse at Ryde 
 
 Portsmouth, and Gosport . , .008 
 
 Boat for shipping and landing each four-wheel carriage 
 
 at Ryde, Portsmouth, and Gosport . , 2 
 
 Boat for shipping and landing each two-wheel carriage 
 at ditto 
 
 Wherry with one man 
 
 Ditto with two or more 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 t> 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 (i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
108 
 
 Prices to be taken for passengers to and from Southampton mnd Ryde. 
 For hire of a vessel to carry passengers . 15 
 
 Wherry or row boat, with one or two hands . 8 
 
 DitU, with four hands . . . . 15 o 
 
 Prices to be taken for passengers to and from Yarmouth Portsmouth, 
 and Southampton. 
 
 For liire of a vessel to carry passengers . .15 
 
 All kinds of boatage and wharfage included in every article. 
 
 Fee on entry or booking all goods or parcels lodged in any ware- 
 house, to be established under the said act, if exceeding one cwt. 
 two pence, if less than one cwt. one penny, at each warehouse, 
 
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