Isle of Wight Heritage
Island Echo dives into the Isle of Wight's history, exploring all manner of topics from the railways to famous faces, local inventions to natural wonders and plenty more in between. You can expect a new heritage article every Sunday.
ST HELENS’ FEMME FATALE SOPHIE DAWES – WHO FOUND FAME AND FORTUNE IN FRANCE – DIED IN 1840
Sophie Dawes (Waxworks museum) Impoverished St Helens fisherman's daughter Sophie Dawes - who became the mistress of wealthy French aristocrat Duc de Bourbon and inherited a considerable fortune - passed away on this day in 1840. The life of this...
Read moreDetailsVICTORIAN ROGUE JABEZ BALFOUR WHO BUILT THE RAILWAY TO BEMBRIDGE
Jabez Balfour Island Echo examines the colourful career of Jabez Spencer Balfour, whose Liberator company enclosed Brading Haven before he fled to Argentina and was imprisoned in Parkhurst for a multi-million pound fraud. Did you know that the man who...
Read moreDetailsTHE FOUR ANCIENT INNS OF THE HISTORIC TOWN AT THE MOUTH OF THE YAR
Island Echo examines the 4 current licensed premises in Yarmouth - the settlement with the highest density of pubs per person in the whole of the Isle of Wight. The population of Yarmouth (according to the 2011 census) is just...
Read moreDetailsMEW LANGTON BREWERY – WHO SOME HAVE CLAIMED PRODUCED WORLD’S FIRST CANNED BEER
Mew Langton - probably the Isle of Wight's most famous brewery - had 144 pubs dotted around the Isle of Wight at its zenith, around 1 for every 1,000 inhabitants. It has even been claimed that Mew Langton produced the...
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