Isle of Wight Heritage

Chale girl Frances (Fanny) Stallard was sentenced to death at Winchester Assizes for the murder of her daughter Agnes on 4th July 1887. Frances had fallen pregnant at the age of 19 to a local seaman George Gattrell. Her child...

Did you know 4 cinemas once graced the streets of the Isle of Wight's largest town: Ryde? Altogether, there have been 20 cinemas on the Isle of Wight. Sadly, only 2 are still standing. In the 1st edition of Isle...

King Charles II Niton hosted a royal visitor on 1st July 1675 when Charles II - on his way to the mainland from France - was forced by the weather to anchor off the Island. Everyone knows that Charles II's...

An undersea telephone cable between Stone Point in Hampshire and Gurnard Bay - connecting the Island with the mainland - was laid on 30th June 1897. The Isle of Wight has its place in telephone history as the 1st long...

The Managing Director of Shanklin Pier, Mr Terry Wood, was fined £10 for putting on unseemly entertainment not suitable for Sunday viewing on this day some 86 years ago. Mr Wood appeared before the magistrates for 4 alleged breaches of...

In the 5th edition of Isle of Wight pubs, Island Echo examines the history behind 4 of Sandown’s current watering holes. Unlike, for example, Brading, Yarmouth and Newport (and Newtown), Sandown does not have a long history as a town....

Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes - 1 of the best-known English poets of the 20th century – passed away on the Island on 25th June 1958. The popular poet had made his home on the Island at Lisle Combe in St...

Brigadier-General The Rt Hon J E B Seely Jack Seely - great-great uncle of current MP Bob - was made Lord Mottistone on 21st June 1933. Bob's great-great uncle was a remarkable man. He was a military general who saw...

The inbred slur made against Isle of Wight residents is nothing new: 153 years ago, a magistrate aired the 'general opinion' that the cause of the increase of lunacy on the Island was the number of families intermarrying. The magistrate...

In the 4th and final edition of Isle of Wight place names, Island Echo seeks out some of the Island's more unusual sites. Have you ever wondered whether America Wood comes from the other side of the Atlantic, if there...