Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is an island off the south coast of England, opposite Southampton. Popularized from Victorian times as a holiday resort, it is known for its areas of natural beauty and as home to the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes, a town that hosts a world famous annual regatta. Colloquially, it is known as "The Island" by its residents and it possesses a rich history including its own brief status as a vassal kingdom in the fifteenth century, home to poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and Queen Victoria's much loved summer residence and final home Osborne House. Its maritime history encompasses boat building and sail making through to the manufacture of flying boats and the world's first hovercraft. It is home to the Isle of Wight Festival which in 1970 was one of the largest Rock music events ever held with estimates reaching 600,000 attendees, overtaking the record set at Woodstock a year earlier. The island is also one of the richest fossil locations for dinosaurs in Europe. In 686AD, it became the last part of the United Kingdom to convert to Christianity - almost a century after the rest of the mainland.

History of the Isle of Wight

Main article: History of the Isle of Wight.

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Much of the land now making up the Isle of Wight was deposited during the late Cretaceous, at times part of a large river valley complex which consisted of much of the current southern coast of England. The swamps and ponds of the region at that time made the island excellent for the preservation of fossils, and means that it is now one of the richest locations for finding dinosaurs in Europe (for more information see the dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight article.

Related Topics:
Cretaceous - Valley - England - Dinosaur - Europe - Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight

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The Isle of Wight became an island sometime after the end of the last Ice Age when post-glacial rebound caused the land level to sink, the Solent flooding and separating the island from the mainland. The island was part of Celtic Britain and known to the Romans as Vectis, captured by Vespasian in the Roman invasion. After the Roman era the Isle of Wight was settled by the Jutes, a Germanic tribe, in the early stages of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The latter's corruption of Vectis into Wiht (the Latin v was pronounced ) is the root of the island's name.

Related Topics:
Ice Age - Post-glacial rebound - Solent - Celt - Vespasian - Roman invasion - Jutes - Germanic tribe - Anglo-Saxon - Latin

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The Norman Conquest created the position of Lord of the Isle of Wight. Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of Carisbrooke Castle were founded. The island did not come under full control of the crown until it was sold to Edward I in 1293. The Lordship thereafter became a Royal appointment with a brief interruption when Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, was crowned King of the Isle of Wight, King Henry VI assisting in person at the ceremony, placing the crown on his head. He died in 1445, aged 22. With had no male heir, his regal title expired with him.

Related Topics:
Norman Conquest - Lord of the Isle of Wight - Carisbrooke Priory - Carisbrooke Castle - Edward I - 1293 - King Henry VI - 1445

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Henry VIII, who developed the Royal Navy and its permanent base at Portsmouth, fortified the island at Yarmouth, East & West Cowes and Sandown, sometimes re-using stone from dissolved monasteries as building material. Sir Richard Worsley, Captain of the Island at this time, successfully commanded the resistance to the last of the French attacks in 1545. Much later on after the Spanish Armada in 1588 the threat of Spanish attacks remained, and the outer fortifications of Carisbrooke Castle were built between 1597 and 1602. During the English Civil War King Charles fled to the Isle of Wight believing he would receive sympathy from the governor Robert Hammond. Hammond was appalled, and incarcerated the king in Carisbrooke Castle.

Related Topics:
Henry VIII - Royal Navy - Portsmouth - 1545 - Spanish Armada - 1588 - 1597 - 1602 - English Civil War - King Charles

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Queen Victoria made Osborne House on the Isle of Wight her summer home for many years, and as a result it become a major holiday resort for members of European royalty, whose many houses could later claim descent from her through the widely flung marriages of her offspring. During her reign in 1897 the World's first radio station was set up by Marconi at the Needles battery at the western tip of the Island.

Related Topics:
Queen Victoria - Osborne House - 1897 - Radio - Marconi

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In 1904 a mysterious illness began to kill honeybee colonies on the island, and had nearly wiped out all hives by 1907 when the disease jumped to the mainland, and decimated beekeeping in the British Isles. Called the Isle of Wight Disease, the cause of the mystery ailment was not identified until 1921 when it was traced to the mite Acarapis woodi. The disease (now called Acarine Disease) frightened many other nations because of the importance of bees in pollination of many food plants. Laws against importation of honeybees were passed, but this merely delayed the eventual spread of the parasite to the rest of the world.

Related Topics:
1904 - Honeybee - 1907 - Disease - Beekeeping - British Isles - 1921 - Mite - Acarapis woodi - Acarine Disease - Pollination

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The Isle of Wight Festival could describe several events, but usually the term refers to one very large rock festival that took place near Afton Down, West Wight in 1970, following two smaller concerts in 1968 and 1969. The 1970 show was notable for being the last public performance by Jimi Hendrix before his death and the number of attendees reaching, by many estimates 600,000 despite only 50,000 tickets being sold and overtaking the attendance at Woodstock in the previous year. The festival was revived in 2002 and is now an annual event - with other, smaller musical events of many different genres across the Island becoming associated with it.

Related Topics:
Isle of Wight Festival - Afton Down - 1970 - 1968 - 1969 - Jimi Hendrix - Woodstock - 2002

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