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.

Prisons

The island geography close to the densely populated south of England led to it gaining three prisons: Albany, Camphill and Parkhurst located outside Newport on the main road to Cowes. Albany and Parkhurst were once among the few Category A prisons in the UK until they were downgraded in the 1990s. The downgrading of Parkhurst was precipitated by a major escape: three prisoners (known to be some of the most dangerous murderers in the prison system) made their way out of the prison on 3 January 1995 to enjoy four days of freedom before being recaptured. Parkhurst especially enjoyed notoriety as one of toughest jails in the British Isles and "hosted" many notable inmates, including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and the Kray twins.

Related Topics:
Albany - Camphill - Parkhurst - UK - Peter Sutcliffe - Kray twins

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Camphill is located 1 mile (1.6Km) to the west of Albany and Parkhurst, on the very edge of Parkhurst Forest. Originally an army barracks with a small estate of tree-lined roads with well-proportioned officer's houses (with varying grandeur according to rank) to the South and East. Having been converted to a borstal and later a low category prison, it maintains its ties to the housing around it as although now most privately owned, clean water is still provided from the prison itself and residents pay only sewerage fees to the water authority (Southern Water). The estate is accessed by two, gated, private roads. These are closed for one day each year so as not to become a public right of way.

Related Topics:
Parkhurst Forest - Borstal

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