Top historic sites in Isle of Wight
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. The may have been occupied in pre-Roman times. A ruined wall suggests that there was a building there in late Roman times. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions that Wihtgar, cousin of King Cynric of Wessex, died in AD 544, and was buried there. The Jutes may have taken over the fort ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo. The builder was Thomas Cubitt, the London architect and builder whose company built the main facade of Buckingham Palace for the royal couple in 1847. An e ...
Founded: 1845-1851 |
Location:
East Cowes, United Kingdom
Yarmouth Castle
Yarmouth Castle is an artillery fort built by Henry VIII in 1547 to protect Yarmouth Harbour on the Isle of Wight from the threat of French attack. Just under 30 m across, the square castle was initially equipped with 15 artillery guns and a garrison of 20 men. It featured an Italianate 'arrow-head' bastion on its landward side; this was very different in style from the earlier circular bastions used in the Devi ...
Founded: 1547 |
Location:
Yarmouth, United Kingdom
Newport Minster
Saints Thomas Minster or Newport Minster is civically recognised as the main Anglican church on the Isle of Wight. Unusually, it is dedicated to both Thomas Becket and Thomas the Apostle. The original late 12th-century church was dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas Becket) (1118–1170). Later, under the rule of King Henry VIII of England (1509–1547), when Becket was declared to have been a traitor, the Ca ...
Founded: 1854-1855 |
Location:
Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
The Needles Batteries
The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enemy ships. The Old Battery was constructed between 1861 and 1863. It was equipped with six 7-inch Armstrong rifled breechloading guns. These were replaced by four 7-inch and two ...
Founded: 1861 |
Location:
England, United Kingdom
Brading Roman Villa
Brading Roman Villa was a Roman courtyard villa which has been excavated and put on public display in Brading on the Isle of Wight. In 1879, a farmer called Mr Munns struck a buried mosaic floor while making holes on his land for a sheep pen. Captain Thorp of Yarbridge, who was in the area looking for Roman antiquities, helped Mr Munns uncover the Gallus panel the next day. By spring 1880, all of the site on Mr Mun ...
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Brading, United Kingdom
Bembridge Windmill
Knowle Mill, better known today as Bembridge Windmill, is a Grade I listed preserved tower mill at Bembridge, Isle of Wight. It was built c. 1700. It was painted by Turner in 1795. The mill was working by wind until 1913, having only been used for grinding animal feed after 1897. The mill was restored in 1935 and again in 1959, the latter restoration being funded by public subscription. In 1962 the mill was taken over by ...
Founded: 1700 |
Location:
Bembridge, United Kingdom
Quarr Abbey
Quarr Abbey is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The Grade I listed monastic buildings and church, completed in 1912, are considered some of the most important twentieth-century religious structures in the United Kingdom. They were constructed from Belgian brick in a style combining French, Byzantine and Moorish architectural elements. In the vi ...
Founded: 1132/1912 |
Location:
Ryde, United Kingdom
St George's Church
St George's Church is a parish church located in Arreton, Isle of Wight. The church is medieval and the earliest traces are from the Norman period. Arreton's Church of St George is renowned. Part of this church dates from the 12th century. The church features a Saxon wall and a Burma Star window. The short tower with its unique buttresses contains a ring of 6 bells the oldest of which was cast in 1589. The church has an ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Arreton, United Kingdom
St Mary's Church
St Mary"s Church dates from the twelfth century. At this church the Rev. Legh Richmond is thought to have originated the now globally popular idea of using boards with movable numbers to indicate hymn numbers during church services. The 13th-century tower is of a very unusual style in that it is built on four piers at the entrance to the church. This is one of only four in examples in Britain. The tower contains a ri ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Brading, United Kingdom
St Catherine's Oratory
St. Catherine"s Oratory is a medieval lighthouse on St. Catherine"s Down, above the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. It was built by Lord of Chale Walter de Godeton (sometimes spelled 'Goditon') as an act of penance for plundering wine from the wreck of St. Marie of Bayonne in Chale Bay on 20 April 1313. The tower is known locally as the 'Pepperpot' because of its likeness. It is Britain ...
Founded: 1314 |
Location:
Niton, United Kingdom
The Longstone
The Longstone is a megalithic monument near the village of Mottistone, close to the south west coast of the Isle of Wight. It is the only megalithic monument on the Island. The Longstone consists of two pieces of local greensand sandstone probably from a vein 100 metres away. The larger stands at 3.9 metres and the smaller lies at its foot. They are on the edge of a wood in small fenced enclosure just off Strawberry ...
Founded: 4000 BCE |
Location:
Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom