Did you know? ? ? ? Something interesting about the Isle of Wight. The correct spelling is Wight rather than White, but why this word with its unique spelling was adopted after the Romans left in the 5th Century AD is not entirely agreed on by the experts. Many of the Island’s towns and villages retain Anglo-Saxon names, for example Culver Cliff, named after culfre, the Saxon word for pigeon. Another is Boniface Down, named after Saint Boniface. During the occupation by the Roman Empire 50 to 400AD the Island was called Vectis and the word Vectis is still much in use on the Isle of Wight today. But the name was dropped when the Romans left in the 5th Century AD. The Isle of Wight has had a number of famous residents over the years. Some island-born celebrities include Oscar-winning film director, Anthony Minghella, Mark King, lead singer/bassist in pop/funk band Level 42, Jeremy Irons, an actor born in Cowes, Bear Grylls, the adventurer, writer and television presenter, Others who have made the Island their home, or stayed for extended periods of time include Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, John Keats, Karl Marx, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Dame Ellen MacArthur, and of course Queen Victoria! The Island has had over 25 different species of dinosaur found on it including the UK’s largest dinosaur the Sauropod! Some people claim that the Isle of Wight invented doughnuts, though the evidence against this claim is stronger than that which supports it. We certainly did create doughnuts, but the Dutch are responsible for the variety which became popular through the U.S., though which came first remains a mystery. The first Cowes Regatta was held in 1812 . Parkhurst Forest was recorded in the Doomsday Book as a royal hunting forest, which at that time extended as far north as Cowes, hence the village name of Northwood. Yarmouth Pier is the largest timber pier still in operation in the UK. Queen Victoria died on the Island in 1901 at Osborne House. The first ever hovercraft was manufactured on the IOW. The IOW festival in 1970 was the biggest rock festival in the world with 600,000 people. In Roman times Bembridge was an island. The Dairyman’s Daughter pub in Arreton is named after a story written about Elizabeth Wallbridge who lived and died in Arreton 1770 – 1801. There are almost 2000 listed buildings on the Island. Isle of Wight population is around 140,000 people.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:51:38 +0000