The Sun at Calbourne has had a remarkable and varied history, having been immortalised in a best seller, then burnt down and rebuilt.
It is thought an earlier pub existed in Calbourne on Barrington Row (Winkle Street), complete with its own skittle alley – possibly at Number 3 as the title deeds to this property were found by a former owner of The Sun.
The Sun – which was originally thatched – had a lively existence as a village inn catering to local shepherds, farm labourers and occasionally the gentry. The pub was a staging post for the ‘coach-and-four’ from Ryde to Alum Bay as well as being a popular refreshment stop for tourists.
The local rustics were frequently taken before the courts for various misdemeanours in or around the Sun Inn. For example, in 1841, a William Ringer was charged with “inflicting sundry knocks in divers places” on John Milday at the door of the village pub dealing him a blow “that he measured the full length on the gravelly shopboard”.
According to the Hampshire Independent:
“Ringer said the accuser called his wife by a name which must not be told to ears polite, and asked the gentlemen of the bench how they should like to sit and hear their ladies saluted by the same title.”
On Christmas Eve 1870, a William Cassell of Mottistone was fined 10s (50p) and ordered to pay 4s (20p) compensation after damaging a table at the Sun Inn and attacking the landlord with a sword.
In 1871, a James Russell of Newbridge was fined 15s (75p) for assaulting Sun Inn landlord Benjamin Woodford, leaving him with a black eye, after being refused service.
The Sun Inn became immortalised in fiction in 1886 when it appeared as a fictional inn in the best-selling novel The Silence of Dean Maitland by Isle of Wight novelist Maxwell Gray (Mary Gleed Tuttiett). The story is a melodrama in which a clergyman kills the father of a woman he has made pregnant, then allows his best friend to be convicted for the crime. The novel was adapted for the cinema 3 times, in 1914, 1915 and 1934.
In The Silence of Dean Maitland, Calbourne becomes the fictionalised Malbourne, Newport is given the moniker Oldport and Swainstone Manor is known as Swaynestone. The Sun Inn remains unchanged in its fictional guise. Even some of the characters’ names were based on real life villagers and local gentry, with the Moulton-Barretts of Westover Park becoming the Garretts and the real world Heals transformed to the fictionalised Hales.
The Sun Inn was described in the novel as follows:
“Descending the hill, he became aware of the rich crimson which marked the lower windows of the Sun Inn, and found himself at the end of the wheelwright’s yard, at the meeting of the four roads. Opposite the Sun, and coloured by its light, a sign-post reared itself at the corner, oblique, and appearing to gesticulate madly with its outspread arms.”
Disaster struck the Sun on 26th April 1894 when a lamp overturned, setting light to an upstairs room. The landlord believed the fire had been extinguished but woke the following morning to find the blaze had spread to the thatched roof and the building burned to the ground.
The loss of the old Sun Inn allowed Calbourne crossroads to be realigned. The Middle Road was straightened and the Sun Inn rebuilt in a grander scale to the north of its original location and rotated 90 degrees to face the village. The line of the former road can still be seen behind the pub.
The Sun Inn next hit the headlines in March 1953 when an explosion in the pub’s fireplace led to a broken window and a customer taken to the Royal Isle of Wight Hospital in Ryde with an injured thigh. It was believed that the coal in the fireplace contained a detonator. Fortunately, only 2 customers were present at the time of the explosion.
Calbourne’s pub has experienced numerous changes of ownership in the 21st century. In May 2023, Peter Greenhalgh and Jake Rigby became landlords. However, The Sun suddenly closed in November 2024 and remained shut throughout the winter.
The Sun Inn reopened on 31st March 2025 under the management of Porchfield farmer Tom Collinson and Teagan Killingback, with food provided by chef Jimmy Goldstone. The meat for the meals now comes from Tom’s own farm.
The refurbished pub intends to grow its own herbs on site and even provide eggs from its own chicken coop at the bar – in what can be justly described a genuine farm to fork experience.
Excellent story. I have always loved the Sun Inn.