Isle of Wight Heritage

A 16.7% increase in car ferry charges caused uproar at an Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce meeting held at the Guildhall on 21st June 1950. Hoteliers had reported a tremendous number of cancellations of holiday bookings because ferry charges...

John Keats - whose poems and letters remain some of the most popular and analysed in English literature - penned some of his greatest works right here on the Isle of Wight. Although Keats' wanderings included numerous picturesque localities on...

17-year-old serial escapee Kenneth Harrison was apprehended by the destroyer HMS Finisterre at Spithead on 12th June 1950. The Lancashire youth - who was at St Swithin's Approved School near Yarmouth - had first stolen a dinghy from Yarmouth. He...

In the first of a new series on Isle of Wight hospitals, Island Echo examines Whitecroft Hospital - the Isle of Wight's institution for those with mental health problems for close to a century. At one time, there were around...

The Isle of Wight voted by a margin of of over 2 to 1 to remain in the then European Economic Community (EEC) in the referendum of 6th June 1975. There were 40,837 'Yes' votes as opposed to 17,375 'No'...

19th century philosopher Karl Marx - the 'greatest' theorist of the Communist movement - made 3 visits to the Isle of Wight. Marx's works - in particular The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital - were the main inspiration behind 20th...

An inquest into the bizarre death of Joseph Kearon - whose stomach contained a large quantity of metal - was held at Parkhurst Prison on 27th May 1925. Dr Stanley Craig, the medical officer at the prison, informed the inquest...

Bishop Lovett Middle School - now Oakfield Primary - had (and still has) the most picturesque setting of any Island school. Much of the school was built around the former stately home of St John's House - previously occupied by...

Newport's Medina Way, which was once upon a time known as the Newport Eastern Relief Road, first opened to traffic on 21st May 1975 - 50 years ago today. The new dual carriageway - which remains the Isle of Wight's...

Significant numbers of unidentified Russian vessels were located off the south of the Isle of Wight on 19th May 1950 - 75 years ago today. The first flotilla - consisting of 7 ships - anchored off St Catherine's Point for...