Robert Hooke, a 17th Century contemporary of Sir Isaac Newton, Samual Pepys, and Sir Christopher Wren, was one of the world’s greatest scientists, as well as one of the architects rebuilding London after the Great Fire.
He was born on the Island in Freshwater and, although he left as a boy of 13, it still strongly influenced his later scientific work.
In 2010 a local paper reported the establishment of the Robert Hooke Trail by the Freshwater Parish Council together with the Robert Hooke Society in Freshwater. It is a picturesque 8-mile circular walk in the West Wight via Fort Victoria, Yarmouth, Freshwater Bay, and Golden Hill Fort.
After 10 years, the posts supporting these plaques had begun to rot. On the 19th & 20th August 2021 the Freshwater Parish Council and the Robert Hooke Society removed all the original plaques and replaced them with 12 colourful vitreous enamel information plaques around the route. These were manufactured by an Island company AJ Wells, and designed with the help of another Island company Pepper Creative.
Each plaque describes some aspect of Hooke’s career and shows the relationship to his boyhood on the Island. The new designs are very modern, incorporating information and pictures on different facets of Hooke’s discoveries and inventions.
They also have a map of the Trail, plus QR and what 3words codes, both providing route maps to indicate directions and plaque locations. Free applications for these Code readers are available to download on the WWW. The new Trail signs will be an interesting and colourful contribution to the tourism of the Island.
