



Produced by sp1nd, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)






[Illustration: SHANKLIN CHINE.

The picturesque ravine carved by a small stream on the south side of the
town.]




_Beautiful Britain_


_The Isle of Wight_

_By_

_G.E.Mitton_


_A & C Black Ltd_

_45 & 6 Soho Square London W_




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                             PAGE
  I. THE ISLAND                                        5

 II. CARISBROOKE AND ITS MEMORIES                     13

III. CONCERNING LITERARY MEN AND MAKERS OF HISTORY    29

 IV. YACHTS AND MEN-OF-WAR                            41

  V. THE SCENERY AND HOW IT CAME TO BE                49

 VI. FOOTPRINTS OF THE INVADERS                       54

     INDEX                                            63




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


1. SHANKLIN CHINE              _Frontispiece_

                                  FACING PAGE
2. SANDOWN BAY                              9

3. YACHTING AT COWES                       16

4. THE UNDERCLIFF                          25

5. FRESHWATER BAY                          32

6. BONCHURCH OLD CHURCH, NEAR VENTNOR      41

7. GODSHILL                                48

8. THE NEEDLES                             51

   _Plan of Carisbrooke Castle_            62




THE ISLE OF WIGHT




CHAPTER I

THE ISLAND


Islands have always exercised a peculiar fascination over Englishmen,
perhaps because, accustomed as they are to a sense of security induced
by the surrounding sea, they never feel more comfortable than when the
sea is on all sides at a measurable distance. It has been the ambition
of many an Englishman to possess an island, however small, of his own.
But England is not particularly blessed in this matter, and we may look
with envy at the fringe of islands, large and small, precipitous and
flat, scattered along the rugged shores of the west coast of Scotland.
The only two English islands which can claim exceptional interest are
the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. Of the other well-known ones, the
Scilly Isles and Channel Isles are too inaccessible to count, Sheppey
and Thanet and Holy Island too small, and Anglesea is separated by so
very diminutive a channel from the mainland that it hardly seems like an
island at all.

Of the two that stand pre-eminent the Isle of Wight cannot claim the
peculiar customs and survivals that give the Isle of Man a special
place, yet it has much charm of its own to compensate for this, and it
otherwise fulfils all the conditions of what an island should be. It is
separated from the mainland by a channel varying from one mile to six in
breadth, a distance sufficient to give dignity but not to imperil
approach. It is large enough to be supremely interesting, yet not so
large as to be indigestible to the visitor who has only a short holiday
at his disposal. It is, in fact, a little larger than London of the
Boroughs and the County Council--that is to say, twenty-three miles by
about thirteen, as against some seventeen by twelve. It is in shape an
elongated diamond, with the extreme points lying eastward and westward,
and it contains 93,341 acres. These acres are so diversified by hills
and rivers, so broken up, that they count for twice as much as a flat
surface of the same extent. The island, in fact, presents every variety
of scenery, from richly wooded lanes, tiny inland villages bowered in
greenery, high sweeping downs, to bold coast scenery, with chalk cliffs
rising 200 feet above a sea often grand in the extreme. Ship-building at
Cowes and cement works on the Medina are the only important
manufactures, thus the fresh sea-air is untainted by smoke. Of the
stone, Sir Richard Worsley, the chief island historian, says: "There are
several quarries which produce varieties of stone applicable to
different uses. Those near Quarr Abbey were once in such esteem as to
furnish stone for building the cathedral at Winchester, as appears by a
grant made by William Rufus to Walkelyne, Bishop of that diocese.... The
stone continued in reputation till the reign of Edward III., and in the
registers of Winchester it is recorded that William of Wykeham used it
in building the body of that cathedral, whence it seems as if Portland
stone was not then known