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| one of many thatched cottages I photographed from the bus |
Early the next morning in an unseasonably icy cold wind whistling across the island we huddled in the nearby bus shelter to await the no.3 bus to Newport. When we got into town we walked to the County Record Office where we had access to parish registers, census returns, maps and publications on the island's past history in order to see if we could find any new information on my great uncle William Henry Steward. There is also an Isle of Wight Family History Society that could be useful in researching our family history in future. During our two hours there we did come across an old photograph of what looked like to be the post office and small store he may have run in the 1930s near the tiny village of Porchfield, now just an 'off the main road' place of a few homes and an old church. As we didn't have a car we were not able to follow up and confirm this was the actual building so we left our email address with the very friendly and helpful staff who would further investigate for us, and headed out by bus to Alum Bay on the west side of the island.
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| ferry dock at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight |
The Needles Battery at Alum Bay, the most westerly point of the Isle of Wight, guards the approaches to the Solent and the English mainland. From here you can see one of the most photographed places in the whole county, the Needles rocks, a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise about 30m out of the sea. The formation takes it's name from a fourth needle shaped pillar that was called Lot's wife that collapsed in 1764 during a great storm. The multi-coloured sand cliffs of Alum Bay and the stunning turquoise waters were amazing and where we stood on the narrow chalky path the cliff edge and the long fall to the beach were just metres away. It was here that Queen Victoria used to fill ornamental glass containers with the 21 shades of layered sand from the cliffs, a tradition that is still carried on here. It was here too that Marconi undertook his pioneering work at the end of the 19th century which led to radio and all telecommunications we know today.
The fort above on the cliff was built in the early 1860s to protect the Solent and the naval dockyards at Portsmouth from the threat of a French invasion, which never came. From 1885 to 1920 the Battery saw almost continual activity although the only time Gunners at the battery actually engaged with the enemy was during WW2. The Needles New Battery situated higher up the headland was built in the 1890s for larger guns that were introduced during that time period and between 1954 and 1972 this site was a secret rocket test site known as Highdown, testing Britain's Black Knight and Black Arrow rockets in huge concrete gantries. The first British satellite, Prospero, put into space by the Black Knight in 1971, is still orbiting the earth, passing overhead twice a day.
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| view of the Needles, the lighthouse and Scratchells Bay from the rocket test gantries |
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| another thatched cottage |
When we returned to our B&B we picked up the ubiquitous fish and chips served on every corner for supper, thanked our hosts for an exceptional stay and packed for the next day's trip by ferry back to Southampton and then a National Express bus west to Weymouth. You need at least a week to fully appreciate this quaint place. Don't expect excitement and 5 star restaurants but do expect peace and quiet and the opportunity to try out those new walking shoes. gws
