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Isle of Wight

Counties of England established in 1974Islands of EnglandIslands of the English ChannelIsle of WightLocal government districts of South East England
NUTS 2 statistical regions of the United KingdomNatural regions of EnglandPages with missing ISBNsSouth East EnglandUnitary authority districts of EnglandUse British English from August 2011Vague or ambiguous time from July 2018Vague or ambiguous time from May 2022
IsleOfWightFromTheISS
IsleOfWightFromTheISS

The Isle of Wight (/waɪt/ WYTE) is an island, English county and unitary authority in the English Channel, 2 to 5 miles (3.2 to 8.0 kilometres) off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as "The Island" by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire. The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The island has been home to the poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Queen Victoria built her summer residence and final home, Osborne House at East Cowes on the Isle. It has a maritime and industrial tradition of boat-building, sail-making, the manufacture of flying boats, hovercraft, and Britain's space rockets. The island hosts annual music festivals, including the Isle of Wight Festival, which in 1970 was the largest rock music event ever held. It has well-conserved wildlife and some of Europe's richest cliffs and quarries of dinosaur fossils. The island has played an essential part in the defence of the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth and has been near the front line of conflicts through the ages, having faced the Spanish Armada and weathered the Battle of Britain. Being rural for most of its history, its Victorian fashionability and the growing affordability of holidays led to significant urban development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The island became a separate administrative county in 1890, independent of Hampshire. It continued to share the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire until 1974, when it was made a ceremonial county in its own right. The island no longer has administrative links to Hampshire. However, the two counties share their police force and fire and rescue service, and the island's Anglican churches belong to the Diocese of Portsmouth (originally Winchester). A combined local authority with Portsmouth and Southampton was considered as part of a regional devolution package but was subsequently rejected by the UK government in 2018.The quickest public transport link to the mainland is the hovercraft (Hovertravel) from Ryde to Southsea. Three vehicle ferries and two catamaran services cross the Solent to Southampton, Lymington, and Portsmouth via the island's largest ferry operator, Wightlink, and the island's second-largest ferry company, Red Funnel. Tourism is the largest industry on the island.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Isle of Wight (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight Central Railway/Southern,

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.666666666667 ° E -1.2666666666667 °
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Isle of Wight Central Railway/Southern

Isle of Wight Central Railway/Southern
PO30 3BP , Arreton
England, United Kingdom
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Merstone
Merstone

Merstone is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight. It is home to Merston Manor, built in 1605 in the Jacobean style by Edward Cheeke, and rebuilt in the Victorian era. Merston Manor was first mentioned in the Domesday Book, and the present structure is arguably the oldest brick house on the Island. Prior to the Norman Conquest, Merston Manor was owned by the Brictuin family. The manor now belongs to the Crofts family. According to the Post Office the population of the hamlet was at the 2011 Census included in the civil parish of Arreton. Although the manor was considered the most important residence, from 1928 onwards, the Latheys (distant relatives of Anne Boleyn - Henry VIII's second wife) were considered to be the most important family to reside in the hamlet, bringing about change and somewhat encouraging the residents to modernise more hastily. One prominent member of the Lathey family, Michael Lathey Jnr became infamous among the occupants of the hamlet due to a string of practical jokes paid on the townsfolk of Newport and its people. One of which was risking his safety to venture into Newport alone and steal the town crest during the great feud (see below) - which was only recently recovered in 1998. While Merstone has always been considered to be in the Newport district, conflicts have broken out between rival clans; the Merstone Goldwings and the Newport Broadleaves, the quarrels began after a farmer hailing from Merstone accused a man who lived in Newport of stealing three sheep. No-one was killed in the clashes but homes were torched and property vandalized. However, since the early 1900s the disagreements were settled as Newport residents thought it would be better for the town and hamlet to get along since the citizens of Newport needed to use the newly built railway to Ventnor. Merstone is near the centre of the Island, roughly equidistant from Blackwater to the northwest, Horringford to the east, and Godshill to the south. In 1875 Merstone station was opened on the Newport to Sandown railway line. In 1897 the station became the starting point of a branch opened by the Isle of Wight Central Railway to St. Lawrence, and completed to Ventnor West in 1900. In 1952 the branch closed, and in 1956, the station and original railway line skirting the hamlet were also closed. The island platform of the former station is still visible adjacent to National Cycle Route 23. Well-known island architect Percy Goddard Stone, born 15 March 1856, died in The Cottage at Merstone on 21 March 1934. Stone was responsible for many stone monuments on the Island, such as the County War memorial at Carisbrooke Castle, and war memorials in Arreton, Bembridge and Yarmouth, as well as the Queen Victoria memorial in Newport and churches in Wootton and Cowes. Public transport is now provided by Southern Vectis on Route 2, which operates between Newport and Sandown via Shanklin including intermediate villages.