[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, since it is certainly preferable to this both
in colour and durability." Farms and fishing, chiefly for shell-fish and
supplying the wants of numerous visitors, provide work for the
inhabitants.
The island is also noted for its sheep, the mildness of its climate
being suitable for early lambs, while the high chalk downs supply just
the herbage most necessary for grazing. Naturally it follows that the
trade in wool is good, and it has been so noted for many centuries.
Drayton in his _Polyolbion_, speaking of the wool, says: "Not Leemster's
self can show a finer fleece."
In Sir John Oglander's Memoirs (seventeenth century) he says: "It is,
and hathe bene a tax layd on this island, that it never produced any
extraordinary fayr handsome woman, nor a man of any super-eminent
gwyftes in witt or wisdome, or a horse excellent for goodness. I can
answer that no part of England in generall, the quantitie considered,
hath produced more exquisite in either species than this island."
As for visitors, honeymoon couples and invalids have a special
predilection for the island, and are to be found there at all times of
the year enjoying the glorious sweep and firm sands of Sandown Bay, with
its record for sunshine, the sheltered warmth of Ventnor, with its mild
winter and equable climate, or the many beauties of Shanklin, which
claims a better summer season than its rival--apt to be, perhaps, a
trifle too warm at times. The island has been called "The Garden of
England," a title by which it is referred to so long ago as 1781.
[Illustration: SANDOWN BAY.
The white cliffs of Culver Down are the eastward end of the rib of chalk
which has its other extremity at the Needles.]
The narrow lanes crowded in by high, many-flowering hedges, the sharp
descents and sudden turns, are not conducive to ease in motoring or
cycling, and cyclists who ride as an end in itself, and not as a means
to enjoyment, will find they had better go elsewhere. A capable cyclist
could run all round the island in a day, but much would he miss thereby!
For the attractions of the island are varied, appealing to historian,
antiquarian, geologist, and botanist, man of letters, and lover of
scenery, no less than the sportsman, and he who loves a game. From the
historic castle of Carisbrooke, with its pathetic memories, to the
yachting week at Cowes, almost every kind of man can find something to
interest him.
The facilities for getting about are good, for though in the northern
part of the island the roads are sometimes a little rough, with stones
not deeply enough set, they are always dry, being sandy; and west of
Newport, and south, and also in the south-eastern corner, over quite
three-quarters of the island in fact, they are excellent, dry, smooth,
and firm. In spite of the hills and sudden turns, therefore, there is
much to be commended to cyclists.
The two railways, the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Wight Central,
divide the ground between them, the former running from Ventnor to Ryde,
with a branch to Bembridge, and the other, which is much the larger,
covering the rest of the ground. By their peculiar position they are
enabled to give certain kinds of tickets which could not be offered
except on a small island. Of such are the "go-where-you-please" weekly
tickets, limited only by time, and not by distance. These enable one,
for the sum of about a pound, to travel first-class in any direction,
and over the same lines, as often as one likes for a week; while each
railway also offers cheaper tickets for its own lines exclusively, and
the lower classes are correspondingly cheaper.
In this general survey we have not so far touched upon one aspect of the
island which in the minds of some people looms so large as altogether to
eclipse all others, and that is its attractions as a health resort.
The fortune of Ventnor was made by the celebrated physician, Dr. James
Clark (1780-1870), who pronounced it to be the English Madeira. From a
little fishing hamlet it grew prodigiously fast into a fashionable
watering-place, with good shops and fine buildings. Numerous sanatoria
for consumptives, ranging downwards from the Royal National Hospital,
show the opinion of its climate held by medical men in our own day.
The town, which stands on the side of a steep incline, is extremely
picturesque, and some of the streets seem absolutely to tumble
downwards. The different levels, however much they may add to its beauty
from an artist's point of view, are, however, a little trying to the
large number of invalids who come to Ventnor. Bathing, golf, tennis, and
all the usual recreations are found in abundance, and the number of
coaches starting for different excursions on a summer's day are legion.
Shanklin differs from Ventnor in having houses above and below the
cliff, instead of being planted on its side--a feat here rendered
impossible by the precipitous nature of the cliffs. The two parts are
connected with a lift, which does not in itself add to the beauties of
the landscape, and there are also, of course, zigzag paths and graded
roads, and the famous chine already referred to, by which one can reach
the higher level from the lower. Shanklin faces eastward, and is "round
the corner" from Ventnor, which makes it not quite so warm in summer.
Sandown, again, which is northward, faces, like Shanklin, over a wide
bay, and it boasts a high record in sunshine, having been, in fact,
first for the whole of the United Kingdom in 1908. The sands are also
exceptionally good.
These three are the best known health resorts, but visitors throng
equally to the rapidly rising Totland Bay on the west, and Freshwater,
Cowes, Ryde, and other places are seldom altogether deserted to their
own inhabitants.