BONCHURCH OLD CHURCH, NEAR VENTNOR
BONCHURCH OLD CHURCH, NEAR VENTNOR.Page 57.This is one of the smallest churches in England and belongs to Norman times.
Cowes is without rival in the world as a yachting place and the most celebrated of all yacht clubs, the Royal Yacht Squadron, has its headquarters here. During Cowes Week, in the beginning of August, distinguished visitors flow in such numbers to the place that the accommodation is strained to the utmost. Cowes follows Ascot and Goodwood, and is patronized not only by titled persons of every kind, but by millionaires of the newest type, to say nothing of crowned heads from Europe. Yachting is indeed the sport of Kings, and money flows like water. Though many of the wealthy owners find quarters aboard, there are enough to take up all the rooms that Cowes can supply, and princely are the prices paid for what is, in some cases, most old-fashioned and inconvenient accommodation. Perhaps the very contrast of the narrowwinding street and the curious old houses may have an attraction of its own for those who usually live in mansions or castles. The club-house is on the sea-front, and has a jetty at which only members or officers of the navy have the privilege of landing. Sir William Davenant passed some of his imprisonment in what is now the club-house, and wrote there his poemGondibert. Beyond the club is the part of Cowes quaintly called Egypt, though why no one seems to know; perhaps it was merely due to the idiosyncrasy of the former owner of the large house standing here.
A few practical hints on yachting at Cowes and on the anchorage there may be added:
The Solent is one of the best cruising grounds in England—some say in the world—for small yachts such as can be handled by amateurs. It combines the safety of an inland lake with the excitement of occasional rough seas: and in case of bad weather coming on there is always a safe port within a few miles. Moreover, its many creeks and inlets afford opportunities for dinghy explorations in the midst of pleasant scenery, while the yacht is left safely anchored in harbour. But this cruising ground has certain difficultiesalso to be reckoned with; the shore lines are so broken, the tides so peculiar, and the beacons so confusingly numerous, that a few hints may be acceptable.
First, as to the yacht. Any amateur yachtsman should be capable of managing, with the assistance of a companion, a yacht of from 5 to 8 tons. Such a yacht should have accommodation for two in the cabin and one in the forecastle, who may either be a friend, or a paid hand, man or boy.
It is of course much the pleasantest if one possesses one's own yacht, or can at any rate do without professional assistance; failing this, it is possible to hire a yacht by engaging one early in the season; later on it is difficult to find a suitable craft. As a rule, the owners of small yachts do not care to let them to strangers without a man; and rightly so, for although the Solent is a safe cruising ground, yet accidents are quite possible, especially in the crowded harbours, owing to the strength of the tides. The cost of hiring a 5 or 6 ton yacht, with one hand, used to be from £4 to £6 a week. The price varies according to the place she is hired from, the length of time, the arrangements about food forthe "hand," the time of year, etc. For early or late in the season, the terms will be less than at its height. The best plan is to advertise in the yachting or local papers, stating the kind of craft required. And if a suitable yacht cannot be found at Cowes or Southampton, it may be as well to try Lymington or Poole, at which places, especially the latter, the price will probably be considerably less. Excellent centre-board boats of 3 to 4 tons, with large open cockpits, easily handled by one amateur, can be had at about 10s. a day from the boat-owners on the West Quay at Southampton. Such craft seldom have sleeping accommodation, but they are very handy for cruising among mud-banks, as the drop keel "acts as a pilot," and can be lifted if one gets caught. When hiring one of these boats, see that there is an anchor and a warp on board.
The yachts anchor in Cowes Roads, the small ones inside the harbour, on the east side of the red and white chequered buoys which mark the fairway. It is forbidden to anchor in the fairway. Be careful not to anchor too near the "Shrape Mud," a large spit running out from the eastern shore, or you will ground at low tide. If this part of the harbour be too crowded, youcan run up above the floating bridge between East and West Cowes, into the Medina River, remembering, however, that the tide runs very strongly in and out of the harbour, causing danger in light winds. If you decide to take up a berth in the Medina, drop your anchor in the channel, and then warp in near the bank, making fast to some of the yachts lying on the mud. This will get you out of the way of the barge traffic, which is considerable.
There is nothing much to say about Cowes, except in its connection with yachting. The two parts of the town are joined by a floating bridge, which takes every sort of vehicle over as well as crowds of foot-passengers.
In an island so small as Wight every man must know the sea and be at heart a sailor, and even were he not born so the proximity of Portsmouth and Southampton with their men-of-war, affording constant opportunity for seeing the latest constructions in battleships, would arouse the feeling in him.
The island, lying across the harbour, forms a splendid natural breakwater to our strongest port; and it is by a special providence that in the ages long ago this part was so broken off fromHampshire and separated by the sea, or great part of the value of this coast would have been lost. The Solent has, however, dangers of its own, and the constant shifting of sandbanks makes its navigation a precarious job.
"And to the northe, betwixt the foreland and the firme,She hath that narrow sea which we the Solent terme,Where those rough ireful tides, as in their straits they meetWith boystrous shocks and rores each other rudely greet,Which fiercely when they charge and sadlie make retreat,Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calsheet beat."Drayton.
"And to the northe, betwixt the foreland and the firme,She hath that narrow sea which we the Solent terme,Where those rough ireful tides, as in their straits they meetWith boystrous shocks and rores each other rudely greet,Which fiercely when they charge and sadlie make retreat,Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calsheet beat."Drayton.
"And to the northe, betwixt the foreland and the firme,She hath that narrow sea which we the Solent terme,Where those rough ireful tides, as in their straits they meetWith boystrous shocks and rores each other rudely greet,Which fiercely when they charge and sadlie make retreat,Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calsheet beat."Drayton.
"And to the northe, betwixt the foreland and the firme,
She hath that narrow sea which we the Solent terme,
Where those rough ireful tides, as in their straits they meet
With boystrous shocks and rores each other rudely greet,
Which fiercely when they charge and sadlie make retreat,
Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calsheet beat."
Drayton.
There are several shipwrecks which have occurred here and at the other side of the island which may be said to have become classic. The best known of all was the terrible loss of theRoyal Georgeoff Ryde in 1782. This was one of the most extraordinary accidents that ever befell our navy. It was just before the Peace of Versailles, while England needed every ship she had. It had been feared that Gibraltar was in danger, and theRoyal Georgeof 100 guns, one of the finest ships then in the navy, was ordered out to relieve the place. While still in the Solent it was found she needed a slight operation of careening, and she was inclined over a little toenable the workmen to get at their job without putting her back into dock. There were over nine hundred men in the crew, and besides them at least three hundred women and children who had come to see them off and take a last farewell. The ship was in command of Admiral Kempenfeldt, who was writing in his cabin at the time. A sudden squall struck the vessel and sent her far over first to one side and then to the other, and before anyone had time to realize the danger she swung upright and went down like a stone. Only about four hundred souls out of all on board were saved, the Admiral himself perishing with the majority. Afterwards bodies came ashore at Ryde in great numbers. This dreadful catastrophe would certainly have lived for ever in the annals of English naval history, but it was made still better known by the poem which the poet Cowper wrote on it, familiar to every school child, beginning:
"Toll for the brave, the brave that are no more."
"Toll for the brave, the brave that are no more."
"Toll for the brave, the brave that are no more."
"Toll for the brave, the brave that are no more."
A somewhat similar catastrophe happened just about a hundred years later on the other side of the island. In 1878 theEurydicewas passing along by the Undercliff under full sail. Shewas a training-ship, full of young lads, and the strong wind which could be felt in all its fury on the Downs above hardly touched her in the shelter below. Owing to some dreadful carelessness, however, she turned the corner still under canvas, was caught suddenly by a frightful squall, and thrown on her beam-ends. She never recovered, but went down straight in an awful tempest of sleet and snow which added to the horror and confusion. Of all the promising boys on board only three were picked up by a passing boat, and two alone survived.
St. Catherine's lighthouse stands not far from here, on the most southerly point of the island; its flashlight, said to be the most powerful in the world, throws a beam equal to 15,000,000 candles, and warns ships afar off of the dangerous coast. It is peculiarly appropriate that there should be a lighthouse here, for, so long ago as 1323, Walter de Goelyton built a chapel on Chale Down dedicated to St. Catherine, assigning certain rents to a chantry priest to say mass, and also to provide lights for "the safety of such vessels as chanced to come on that dangerous coast during the night." At the Dissolution the whole income was seized by the Crown.
GODSHILL
GODSHILL.Page 58.Is one of the prettiest villages in the island.
So curious and diversified is the geology of the island that it has been described as a microcosm of geology, for it contains in itself every kind of stratified rock. This geological variety shows itself markedly in the scenery; in fact, there are few places where the influence of geology on scenery can be so well studied. For instance, at Alum Bay, near the Needles, the whole of the strata from the chalk to the fluvio-marine formation are displayed in unbroken succession. The colours in these cliffs are wonderfully striking, ranging from gamboge and terra-cotta through ochres and red-browns, so that the whole is like shot silk seen in certain states of sunlight. As many people come to see the Alum Bay cliffs as the better-known Needles. The effect of the two together is most wonderful, because the coloured cliffs contrasting with thechalky white sharp-toothed crags and the brilliant blue of a summer sea are gorgeous in the extreme.
The razor-edged Needles can really be seen best from a boat, because, looked at from above, they naturally lose in foreshortening, and do not seem to tower out of the water so much as they really do. The only way in which their height can be measured from the shore is to note the apparent smallness of the lighthouse at the seaward end, which is quite a respectable-sized building, standing eighty feet above high-water mark. All home-coming captains look out for the Needles' light, which shows white for fourteen miles westward and red for nine miles south. The ships which have weathered long voyages feel they are home again once they sight that light, but alas! many times, owing to the dangerous fogs in the Channel, the light is hard to pick up, and the captain has to creep along cautiously, aware that he may easily be out of his reckoning, and much too near a singularly dangerous coast. The tallest pinnacle of the Needles at the landward end, known as "Lot's Wife," was broken off many years ago by the waves.
THE NEEDLES
THE NEEDLES
Quite as striking a feature of the island as theNeedles are the wonderful chalk downs which run from Freshwater Bay to Culver. The range is broken by a fault at right angles to its main axis, and in this fault is the valley of the Medina. The little River Yar, oddly enough, rises within a few yards of the beach on the south side of the island at Freshwater, and running north through a gap in the chalk falls into the sea at Yarmouth on the north side. Freshwater Bay in itself is a curious formation, a break in the sweeping cliffs which culminate in two horns on the two sides, while the actual beach is of the tiniest proportions, so that the sea, gradually narrowed as it rolls in, breaks with terrific force in a south-west gale. On the highest point of the cliff, near the west end, there used to be a beacon, now replaced by a cross to the memory of Lord Tennyson. The cliff at this place is 490 feet high.
The range of downs is called by various names, such as High Down, Afton Down, Shalcomb Down, Mottistone Down, Brixton Down, Apes Down, Bowcombe Down, Gallibury Down, Rowborough Down, Lemerston Down, Gansons Down, Gatcombe Down, Chillerton Down, Mount Joy, St. George's Down, Arreton Down, Messly Down, Ashey Down, Brading Down, and BembridgeDown. All or any of these afford fine walks with sweeping views on a clear still day, but on a windy day they are best avoided, as the short slippery grass surface slopes steeply down to tremendous cliffs, and there is more than one record of an unfortunate individual taken unawares. As might be supposed, the island is celebrated among golfers, and there are excellent links, some of them upon the Downs, and the game claims the attendance of its devotees from Bembridge to the Needles.
The chines, or ravines, are another feature of the scenery found in great variety; the best known of these chines is that at Shanklin. This is full of luxuriant verdure and overgrown with a tangle of trees and shrubs, and has been formed by the action of water hollowing for itself a way into the cliff, and eating back and back. It seems almost incredible to believe the streams now seen can have been the agency for these deep cuttings, and yet there are proofs beyond dispute. As is often seen in cases where the ground has been laid bare by one cause or another, the soil thus uncovered is far more productive than the surface soil exhausted by continued growth, and thus the variety and richness of the trees and creepers inthese chines are wonderful. On a hot summer's day the sunlight falls gently in patches between the black shadows thrown by the towering walls of the chine or by the thick foliage, and the warm closeness is full of the murmur of bees and insects. On a dank day, however, when dripping trees and green slime send out exhalations, these chines are melancholy to the last degree, even in summer.
Blackgang Chine, which is almost equally popular, differs from that at Shanklin in being a great cleft between towering bare cliffs which look as if they had been built up in giant blocks.
The Undercliff is a special and very striking feature of the island. It is a strip of land lying under a great cliff along the south side; it is from a quarter to half a mile broad, and the cliff overlooking it is as perpendicular as those usually found only above sea-beaches. Bit by bit the cliff has broken away in great masses, and the pieces lie as they have fallen, embedded in a tangle of greenery which has rapidly veiled them. As the Undercliff faces south, and is sheltered by this continuous wall of chalk and sandstone, it may be imagined that in summer it is intensely hot.
Among the antiquities of the island the Roman villa at Brading must certainly rank first. This was discovered by the late Mr. Hilton Price, F.S.A. The villa consisted of a central block with a wing on each side. The central part was doubtless occupied by the owner, and the two wings by his slaves and soldiers. There are traces of two distinct periods of occupation, and indications that the villa was ultimately destroyed by fire. In the course of the excavations tiles, broken pottery, coins, bronze implements and other things were unearthed in quantities.
The writer on the Isle of Wight in the Victoria County Histories says:
"Not quite the whole of the villa probably has been explored; the baths, for instance, are not yet found. But we have ample details, and can forma general judgment. The villa at Brading was neither of the best period nor of special size and splendour, but neither was it a farmhouse. It must have been the residence of men of the upper classes, owners (we may suppose) of broad acres all around. They may not have possessed great wealth or many articles of luxury; they may have carried such things away with them when they abandoned the house. Some time in the dim period of which we know so little, early in the fifth century, the place was burnt by enemy or accident, and the Romano-British life which it had sheltered came utterly to an end."
If there are no baths there is at all events an excellent specimen of a hypocaust, or Roman heating arrangement, to be seen. The chief interest for visitors, however, lies in the well-preserved specimens of mosaic flooring which have been said by some authorities to be among the finest of their kind in England; this view, however, is not held by the writer quoted above, who says: "The Brading mosaics are elaborate and ambitious; let us add that their execution does not wholly lack spirit. But as artistic achievements they are not successful. They must unquestionably beranked beneath the best specimens of mosaics found both in England and abroad."
However this may be to the specialist, the designs are exceedingly interesting to the ordinary observer, who will gaze with great delight at the quaint representation of Orpheus playing on the lyre and surrounded by animals, as well as at the pastoral designs in the other rooms. A small charge is made for entrance, and the lesser objects are preserved in cases for more convenient inspection.
Other Roman remains, including coins, have been found at many places in the island, and the traces of a villa at Carisbrooke. Of remains other than Roman there are not many, the principal find being that at Arreton, where, at the opening of some barrows on the downs, knife-blades, spearheads, and coarse pottery of the Anglo-Saxon times were unearthed beside the skeletons with which they had been buried. At Rowborough there are some very curious remains of "pit-dwellings." In the first of the valleys where these are to be found there are ten pits, each twenty to thirty feet wide and more or less circular. Some are now filled up with a growth of brushwood. Above the last pit a long excavationruns up the valley for some twenty or thirty yards, and this may be an old road. A good deal higher up there is a large basin-like excavation. In the second valley there are seven pits, and in the third about eighteen. It is possible that these may not be dwellings, but remains of very early attempts at chalk-getting.
The churches of the island, looked at as antiquities, are disappointing, for though there is a good deal of Norman work in some of them they have often been very fully "restored." Brading holds itself to be the oldest church in the island, and there is in it much Norman work, and even fragments of something older. There are also some interesting tombs, including that to Sir John Cherowin, who died in 1441.
The best known of all the churches is perhaps that at Bonchurch, always attractive to visitors. The surroundings are perhaps responsible for this as much as the little old building, now disused, and said to be in danger of slipping into the sea, even though this is the "sole wholly Norman structure on the island." It was built in 1070, restored very fully in the seventeenth century, and finally disused in 1850. The beauties of the neighbourhood are well described by Mr. HopeMoncrieff: "The mildness of the climate is attested by huge arbutus growths, recalling those of Killarney, by fuchsias like trees, with trunks as thick as a strong man's wrist, and by scarlet geraniums of such exuberance that a single plant will cover several square yards of wall in front of a house.... The road is much shut in between walls of private grounds, within which are enclosed some of the finest spots, such as the 'Pulpit Rock,' a projecting mass of sandstone marked by a cross, and another known as the 'Flagstaff Rock.'"
The new church, with "its sadly beautiful graveyard," is on the hill above. The church at Shalfleet should certainly not be omitted, for its Norman tower with the carved tympanum ranks high among its kind. The rude sculpture represents a figure resting his hands on two animals, and the subject has been interpreted as David contending with the lion and the bear.
At Whitwell Church, oddly enough, the present chancel was originally a chapel dedicated to St. Rhadegund, and the south chapel was the chancel.
A quaint memory is enshrined in the name of Godshill, one of the prettiest of the islandvillages, of which the story is told, as it has often been told of other places, that at the building of the church the stones laid in place by masons at the foot of the hill on the selected site were miraculously transported to its summit night by night, as a sign that the church was to stand there, and there it was accordingly built. It is in a very striking situation, hardly sufficiently indicated by the picture, and it contains a painting of "Daniel in the Lions' Den," attributed to Rubens.
The inhabitants of the charming little cottages chiefly live in summer-time on the profits of making tea for visitors, and are strenuous rivals.
From Godshill came forth the sole native of the island whose name has come down to posterity in connection with the Reformation, and his, alas! with infamy. This was Dr. Cole, a turncoat of the worst kind. He was born at Godshill about 1520, and was an ardent Protestant under Edward VI., holding the position of Warden of New College, Oxford; he used the power of his position in the narrowest spirit. With the accession of Mary his views completely altered, and he reaped the reward in being made Provost of Eton and Dean of St. Paul's. He was also selected topreach the funeral sermon at the burning of Cranmer, a congenial task indeed for one who had been Cranmer's friend! However, there is no convert so enthusiastic as he who has his zeal to prove, and he gave the oration at St. Mary's, Oxford, "when on a stage set up over against the pulpit of a mean height from the ground the archbishop was placed in a bare and ragged gown and ill-favouredly clothed with an old square cap, exposed to the contempt of all men."
Dr. Cole was also sent over to Ireland to suppress the new converts to the reformed faith there. He stayed the night at Chester on the way, and could not forbear boasting about his commission. The landlady overheard, and having a brother a Protestant in Dublin, she managed to steal the commission from the little case in which the doctor carried it, and to substitute for it a pack of cards. Dr. Cole did not discover his loss until he arrived in Dublin, and with great seriousness presented the commission, as he supposed, to the Privy Council. On the opening of the box there fell thereout the pack of cards, to the no small confusion of the envoy!
He returned to England to secure its renewal, but while on the return journey he was awaitinga favourable wind to make the passage across the Irish Channel once more, he heard of the death of Queen Mary, and thus the Irish reformers were saved! It is said that Queen Elizabeth, on learning the story, allowed the landlady, Mrs. Edmunds, a pension of £40 a year for the rest of her life. As for Dr. Cole, he was put in prison, where he died in misery and ignominy.
GROUND-PLAN OF CARISBROOKE CASTLE
GROUND-PLAN OF CARISBROOKE CASTLE.
Abbeys,23Albert, Prince,34Alum Bay,49Appuldurcombe,23Arnold, Dr.,32Battenberg, Prince Henry of,16,39Blackgang Chine,53Bonchurch,57Brading,54Brett, Colonel,18Carisbrooke,13-22Charles I.,19,26,27Chines,52Cole, Dr.,59Cowes,41-45Cowes Week,41Cromwell, Thomas,16,24Davenant, Sir W.,22,42De Redvers family,14,23Downs, The,51Elizabeth, Princess,21Eurydice,47Farringford,29Fitz-Osborne, William,14French invasion,27Freshwater Bay,51General description,6Geology,49Giambelli,17Gloucester, Duke of, Henry,21Godshill,58Golf,52Governors of the Island,16Health resorts,8Henry VIII.,24Howard of Effingham,18Hunsdon, Lord,17Industries,7Isabella de Fortibus,15Keats,30Ken, Bishop,30Lugley Stream,26Medina River,25,28Needles, The,49Newport,25Newport, Treaty of,26Norman churches,57Oglander, Sir John,8Osborne,33-39Parkhurst Forest,19,28Portland, Countess of,19Quarr Abbey,7,23Railways,10Richmond, Legh,30Roads,9Roman remains,14,54,56Royal George,46Royal Naval College,40Royal Yacht Squadron,41Sandown,8,12Scenery,7Sewell, Elizabeth,31Shalfleet,58Shanklin,8,12Shanklin Chine,52Sheep,7Size of the Island,6Solent, The,42,44Spanish Armada,17Tennyson, Lord,29,51Totland Bay,12Undercliff, The,53Vane, Sir Harry,22Ventnor,8,10Victoria, Queen,33-39Whitwell Church,58Wilberforce, Bishop,30Whippingham Church,39Worsley family,24Worsley, James,24,25Yachting,41-45Yar, River,51
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND