It may mean "place of the division", because the island divides the two arms of the Solent. Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of Carisbrooke Castle were then founded. With its proximity to German-occupied France, the island hosted observation stations and transmitters, as well as the RAF radar station at Ventnor. The island has been home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and to Queen Victoriawho built her much-loved summer residence and final home Osborne House at East Cowes.
In Arwald was defeated and the island became the last part of English lands to be converted to Christianity ,[29][30][31] added to Wessex and then becoming part of England under King Alfred the Greatincluded within the shire of Hampshire. In both of the manors Holloway then known as Ventnor Manor were sold to John Hamborough and other building speculators.
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The French invasion on 21 July famous for the sinking of the Mary Rose on the 19th was repulsed by local militia. It was the starting-point for one of the earlier Operation Pluto pipelines to feed fuel to Europe after the Normandy landings. Lignitic coal is present in small quantities within seams, and can be seen on the cliffs and shore at Whitecliff Bay.
Trade however continued as evidenced by the remarkable local abundance of European Iron Age coins. In it was invaded by Caedwallawho tried to replace the inhabitants with his own followers. The southwestern quarter is commonly referred to as the Back of the Wightand has a unique character. Nevertheless by the early s the number of tourists warranted 46 trains scheduled to run between Ventnor and Ryde every summer Saturday.
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These are all variant forms of the same name, possibly Celtic in origin. The island probably became separated from the mainland aboutyears ago, during the Ipswichian interglacial. The island is one of the most important areas in Europe for dinosaur fossils. Thus the single constituency remained for the and general elections. However, two separate East and West constituencies are proposed for the island under the review now under way.
The Isle of Wight is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county. Since the abolition of its two borough councils and restructuring of the county council as Isle of Wight Council in , it has been a unitary authority. Elections in the constituency have traditionally been a battle between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Since , Turner was embroiled in controversy over his expenses, health, and relationships with colleagues, with local Conservatives having tried but failed to remove him in the runup to the general election. At the Isle of Wight Council election of , the Conservatives lost the majority which they had held since to the Island Independents , with Island Independent councillors holding 16 of the 40 seats, and a further five councillors sitting as independents outside the group.
There have been small regionalist movements: The local accent is similar to the traditional dialect of Hampshire, featuring the dropping of some consonants and an emphasis on longer vowels. The island has its own local and regional words. A few are unique to the island, for example overner and caulkhead see below.
Others are more obscure and now used mainly for comic emphasis, such as mallishag meaning " caterpillar " , gurt meaning "large", nammit a mid-morning snack and gallybagger "scarecrow", and now the name of a local cheese. There remains occasional confusion between the Isle of Wight as a county and its former position within Hampshire. However, it remained a part of Hampshire until the local government reforms of when it became a full ceremonial county with its own Lord Lieutenant.
In January , the first general flag for the county was accepted by the Flag Institute. Island residents are sometimes referred to as "Vectensians", "Vectians" or, if born on the island, "caulkheads". The term "overner" is used for island residents originating from the mainland an abbreviated form of "overlander", which is an archaic term for "outsider" still found in parts of Australia. The island is said to be the most haunted in the world, sometimes referred to as "Ghost Island". The island is well known for its cycling , and it was included within Lonely Planet 's Best in Travel Guide top ten cycling locations.
A popular cycling track is the Sunshine Trail which starts in Newport and ends in Sandown. There are rowing clubs at Newport, Ryde and Shanklin, all members of the Hants and Dorset rowing association. In May a group of local women made history by becoming the first ladies' crew to row around the island, in ten hours and twenty minutes.
Rowers from Ryde Rowing Club have rowed around the island several times since The fours record was set 16 August at 7 hours 54 minutes. Even in good conditions, it includes a number of significant obstacles such as the Needles and the overfalls at St Catherine's Point. The traditional start and finish were at Ryde Rowing Club; however, other starts have been chosen in recent years to give a tidal advantage.
Cowes is a centre for sailing, hosting several racing regattas. Cowes Week is the longest-running regular regatta in the world, with over 1, yachts and 8, competitors taking part in over 50 classes of racing. There are two main trampoline clubs on the island, in Freshwater and Newport, competing at regional, national and international grades.
The Isle of Wight Marathon is the United Kingdom's oldest continuously held marathon , having been run every year since The island is home to the Wightlink Warriors speedway team, who compete in the sport's third division, the National League. Following an amalgamation of local hockey clubs in , the Isle of Wight Hockey Club now runs two men's senior and two ladies' senior teams. These compete at a range of levels in the Hampshire open leagues. The now-disbanded Ryde Sports F.
There are several non-league clubs such as Newport IW F. There is an Isle of Wight Saturday Football League with two divisions and two reserve team leagues , and a rugby union club. The Isle of Wight is the 39th official county in English cricket , and the Isle of Wight Cricket Board organises a league of local clubs. Newclose County Cricket Ground near Newport [96] [97] opened officially in but with its first match held on 6 September The Isle of Wight competes in the biennial Island Games , which it hosted in and again in This is now one of the biggest scooter rallies in the world, attracting between four and seven thousand participants.
In , the festival was headlined by Jimi Hendrix attracting an audience of ,, some six times the local population at the time. The table below shows the regional gross value in millions of pounds added by the Isle of Wight economy, at current prices, compiled by the Office for National Statistics. According to the census, [] the island's population of , lives in 61, households, giving an average household size of 2. The largest industry is tourism, but the island also has a strong agricultural heritage, including sheep and dairy farming and arable crops.
Traditional agricultural commodities are more difficult to market off the island because of transport costs, but local farmers have succeeded in exploiting some specialist markets, with the higher price of such products absorbing the transport costs. One of the most successful agricultural sectors is now the growing of crops under cover, particularly salad crops including tomatoes and cucumbers. The island has a warmer climate and a longer growing season than much of the United Kingdom.
Garlic has been successfully grown in Newchurch for many years, and is even exported to France. This has led to the establishment of an annual Garlic Festival at Newchurch, which is one of the largest events of the local calendar. A favourable climate supports two vineyards , including one of the oldest in the British Isles at Adgestone. Maritime industries, especially the making of sailcloth and boat building , have long been associated with the island, although this has diminished somewhat in recent years. GKN operates what began as the British Hovercraft Corporation , a subsidiary of and known latterly as Westland Aircraft , although they have reduced the extent of plant and workforce and sold the main site.
Previously it had been the independent company Saunders-Roe , one of the island's most notable historic firms that produced many flying boats and the world's first hovercraft. Another manufacturing activity is in composite materials , used by boat-builders and the wind turbine manufacturer Vestas , which has a wind turbine blade factory and testing facilities in West Medina Mills and East Cowes.
Bembridge Airfield is the home of Britten-Norman , manufacturers of the Islander and Trislander aircraft. This is shortly [ when? The Norman Aeroplane Company is a smaller aircraft manufacturing company operating in Sandown. There have been three other firms that built planes on the island.
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In , Northern Petroleum began exploratory drilling for oil at its Sandhills-2 borehole at Porchfield , but ceased operations in October that year after failing to find significant reserves. There are three breweries on the island. Goddards Brewery in Ryde opened in Ventnor Brewery, which closed in , was the last incarnation of Burt's Brewery , brewing since the s in Ventnor.
By some accounts Mews beer was apt to be rather cloudy and dark. In the 19th century they pioneered the use of screw top cans for export to British India. The island's heritage is a major asset that has for many years supported its tourist economy. Holidays focused on natural heritage, including wildlife and geology, are becoming an alternative to the traditional British seaside holiday, which went into decline in the second half of the 20th century due to the increased affordability of foreign holidays.
Tourism is still the largest industry, and most island towns and villages offer hotels, hostels and camping sites. In , it hosted 2. At the turn of the 19th century the island had ten pleasure piers , including two at Ryde and a "chain pier" at Seaview. The piers at Ryde, Seaview, Sandown , Shanklin and Ventnor originally served a coastal steamer service that operated from Southsea on the mainland. The piers at Seaview, Shanklin, Ventnor and Alum Bay were all destroyed by various storms during the 20th century; only the railway pier at Ryde and the piers at Sandown, Totland Bay currently closed to the public and Yarmouth survive.
Blackgang Chine is the oldest theme park in Britain, opened in As well as its more traditional attractions, the island is often host to walking [] or cycling holidays through the attractive scenery.
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An annual walking festival [] has attracted considerable interest. A major contributor to the local economy is sailing and marine-related tourism. It does not have a motorway, although there is a short stretch of dual carriageway towards the north of Newport near the hospital and prison. A comprehensive bus network operated by Southern Vectis links most settlements, with Newport as its central hub. Journeys away from the island involve a ferry journey. Car ferry and passenger catamaran services are run by Wightlink and Red Funnel , and a hovercraft passenger service the only such remaining in the world [] by Hovertravel.
The line was opened by the Isle of Wight Railway in , and from to was run by the smallest train operating company on the network, Island Line Trains. It is notable for utilising old ex- London Underground rolling stock , due to the small size of its tunnels and unmodernised signalling.
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The principal trails are: The island a news website, Island Echo , [] which was launched in May The island has two local commercial radio stations: Isle of Wight Radio has broadcast in the medium-wave band since and on The station operates from the Riverside Centre in Newport. The island's not-for-profit community radio station Angel Radio opened in Angel Radio began broadcasting on Other online news sources for the Isle of Wight include On the Wight [].
The island has had community television stations in the past, first TV12 and then Solent TV from until its closure on 24 May Important broadcasting infrastructure includes Chillerton Down transmitting station with a mast that is the tallest structure on the island, and Rowridge transmitting station , which broadcasts the main television signal both locally and for most of Hampshire and parts of Dorset and West Sussex.