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St Lawrence, Isle of Wight

Former civil parishes in the Isle of WightPages with disabled graphsVentnorVillages on the Isle of Wight
Iow undercliff sep08
Iow undercliff sep08

St Lawrence is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ventnor, on the south (English Channel) coast of the Isle of Wight, in southern England. It is located to the west of the town of Ventnor, in the Undercliff, which is subject to landslips. The Undercliff lies between the original high cliff and the sea, formed over thousands of years, since the last Ice Age, from accumulated landslips. Several rocky coves can be accessed from the coastal path, which affords fine views of some prominent Victorian villas, set in a wooded landscape below the great rock wall of the original sea cliff: Woody Bay, Mount Bay and Orchard Bay. The area of the parish was around 329 acres (133 ha) in size. In 1931 the parish had a population of 329. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Ventnor.

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St Lawrence, Isle of Wight
Undercliff Drive,

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.588611111111 ° E -1.2397222222222 °
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Address

Undercliff Drive
PO38 1UJ , Lowtherville
England, United Kingdom
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Nearby Places

Steephill
Steephill

Steephill is a hamlet near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England, previously the location of a Victorian country estate with a castle-style mansion, Steephill Castle, which was demolished to build bungalows in the 1960s. Steephill itself now forms part of the suburban development westward from Ventnor. Steephill Cove, on the coast some 400 yards to the south, has several kiosks and self-catering cottages. Fish can be bought beneath a sign which states "Wheeler and Sons; Fishermen since the 1500s". The cove is accessible only on foot; it is about 200 yards from Undercliff Drive, and is on the Isle of Wight Coastal Path directly adjacent to Ventnor Botanic Garden. Steephill was the location of a country estate since the time of Hans Stanley, governor of the Isle of Wight, who built there in landscaped surroundings a rustic-style house called The Cottage during his first term of office 1764–1768. After his death the estate was purchased by Wilbraham Tollemache. It was his favourite residence until his death in 1821, after which the estate was sold in 1828 to John Hambrough, who built Steephill Castle in 1835 on the site of The Cottage. In 1836 Hambrough paid for the construction of St Catherine's Church, Ventnor's parish church.His descendant Windsor Dudley Cecil Hambrough was the victim in the Ardlamont House Murder of 1893 and is buried in the churchyard of St Catherine's Church.Its next owner was John Morgan Richards, an American businessman who bought it in 1903. His daughter, the novelist Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie (pseudonym "John Oliver Hobbes") lived near the Castle from 1900 to 1906, writing a number of her works there.The Castle was auctioned after Richards' death after World War I. It then saw service as a hotel with the Holiday Friendship Association (with a period as a school during World War II) until 1959, when upkeep and fire safety issues made this use increasingly unviable. Ethel Garton my grandmother was the manager of Steep Hill Castle in that last year of 1959. Aged 5 I distinctly remember the austere and baronial grand architecture in that warm sunny summer of 59, it had a very church like character. Adder snakes were common in the undergrowth and the path through the woods to the cove was overgrown and wild in that year. Unused, its condition deteriorated thereafter, until a demolition order was obtained in 1963.