A lifetime of Islands: Isle of Wight - A look beyond the obvious

I had previously visited the Isle of Wight (see Island No 6) on 3 occasions - twice as a tourist and once as a volunteer working for the National Trust for a week. In August 2013 I was invited to join the Bedford Outdoor Group for a 5 day walking holiday. My first impressions as I landed at Yarmouth were that the roads were very congested, particularly around Newport. This was to be expected on an August Bank Holiday weekend on an island where tourism is a major part of the economy. However we found that away from the tourist honeypots it was possible to find peace and tranquillity even in the height of summer.

During our visit I tried to find some of the less obvious places of interest on the island.

2022 update: I visited the Isle of Wight again for a week of almost unbroken sunshine in March 2022 and found a few more less obvious places of interest:

Hoy Monument, St Catherine's Down

Michael Hoy, who was a British entrepreneur with shops in St Petersburg and a thriving import/export trade with Russia, had the monument erected to commemorate the visit to Britain, in 1814, of Tsar Alexander the 1st, Emperor of all the Russias’. Tsar Alexander didn't actually visit the Isle of Wight however - the nearest he got to it was Portsmouth. The monument is 72 feet high and is built of local stone. Michael Hoy owned a large amount of land on the Isle of Wight and lived nearby for several years.

St Mildred's Church, Whippingham

Prince Albert is supposed to have had a say in the design of this church but the architect was Albert Jenkins Humbert. It was built in a Rhenish Gothic style with Norman and Italian Romanesque influences between 1854 and 1862. More importantly it has a small café adjacent to the car park. It is close to Osborne House and contains memorials to various members of the royal family.

Thatched Church at Freshwater
St Agnes's Church was built in 1908 by the architect Isaac Jones.

Italian style Catholic Church at Totland

Well dressing at Whitwell
I have come across the custom of creating decorations around holy wells by pressing flower petals into clay in Derbyshire but was not aware that it also went on in the Isle of Wight.

This wooden lady sculpture is located in Kelly's Copse near Brading

It is in memory of Camilla Petersen, a Danish student who was murdered while sketching on Brading Down in July 2002 by Richard Kemp from Gosport.

Gribble Seat at Yarmouth
A gribble is a tiny marine isopod that eats wood. It is here in Yarmouth because Yarmouth Pier suffered damage from these little creatures and has recently been restored.

Gribble seat in 2022 - minus an antenna

Bembridge
I don't know where these tree stumps have come from but they are quite photogenic

Tree Trunks on Bembridge Beach 2022

Bembridge Lifeboat Station

The walkway and offshore lifeboat station were completed in October 2010. It is open to the public and is well worth a visit.

St Helens Old Church

A Benedictine priory was founded at St Helens by French monks after 1066. It was dedicated to St Helena, who was the wife of the Roman emperor Constantine. The village was subsequently named after her. A tower was added in the 13th century but the monastery was disbanded due to financial problems in 1414. It was given to Eton College, who owned it until 1799 but they didn't maintain it and it gradually fell into ruin, with many of the stones being taken away and used for various purposes. Eventually only the tower remained. This was bricked up in 1719 and the seaward side was painted white to act as a seamark for sailors. It still has this purpose in association with the seamark on Ashey Down. In the 18th century a new church was built further inland.