Yaverland Battery

Yaverland is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sandown, on the Isle of Wight, England. It is just north of Sandown on Sandown Bay. It has about 200 houses. About 1⁄3 of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of Yaverlandia and a pterosaur, Caulkicephalus. The White Air extreme sports festival was held annually at Yaverland pay and display car park between 1997 and 2008, but moved to Brighton for 2009.The older part of the village is spread along the road to Bembridge by the Norman Church. The newer part is along the seafront, consisting entirely of a bungalow estate. The name appears to come from a local rendition of "over land" - being the land over the once-tidal causeway. An alternative derivation is from "Yar Island". In the fields below Yaverland the archaeological television programme Time Team discovered a Roman smithy. In 1545 a battle took place in Yaverland between French forces and local levies. The French were crossing Culver Down from their landing at Whitecliff Bay in order to attack Sandown Castle and link up with a force from Bonchurch. The French fought their way into Sandown but were defeated at Sandown Castle, then under construction in the sea. The Isle of Wight Zoo is in Yaverland. The zoo is noted for its collection of rescued tigers and increasingly realistic and spacious enclosures for them. The zoo inhabits much of the converted buildings of the Granite Fort built by Lord Palmerston as a defense against the French in 1860. The grounds were used by the military during World War II as part of the Pluto pipeline to send oil under the English Channel to France to fuel the Allied war efforts. By the sea is the Yaverland Sailing and Boat Club and along the seashore are fossil-bearing beds, which may be explored by guided walks from Dinosaur Isle. A holiday camp is located further north in the village, and was once the site of Yaverland Battery. In November 2008, the Isle of Wight Council opened a new public toilet block which runs completely from renewable energy generated on-site. It is thought to be one of the "greenest" facilities in the UK.Southern Vectis bus route 8 links the village with the towns of Newport, Ryde, Bembridge and Sandown, including intermediate towns. Bus route 24 also links Yaverland around Culver Way to Sandown. The latter was formerly operated by Wightbus.

Yaverland Manor is a medieval manor house in Yaverland, near Sandown, on the Isle of Wight. It was reconstructed in c. 1620 with alterations c. 1709. It became a Grade I listed building in 1949.The house was erected with many stellas in the reign of James I., after the manor had passed by purchase from the Russells, the progenitors of the noble family of Bedford, who were Lords of Yaverland from the days of Edward I. to those of Mary. Sir Theobald Russell, one of the chief heroes of the island, commanded the inhabitants in 1340, when they successfully resisted a French invading force that landed at Bembridge, but unfortunately he was slain in the moment of victory. The house contains some wood carvings, including two figures known as Nero and Cleopatra, others in the shape of Moors' heads with wings, some playing on musical instruments, some as brackets to support the ceiling of the staircase. It has a great hall where a carriage or two might drive about comfortably. Its grey walls and great mullioned windows harmonize soberly and well with its grove of fine sheltering elms. In the green close before the house two great stone shields, with coat armour boldly carved, are laid against the trunk of a tree, evidently taken from the old gateway. Close by is the chapel, referred by most historians to the time of Edward L, but evidently of much more ancient date.

St John the Baptist Church, Yaverland is a parish church in the Church of England located in Yaverland, Isle of Wight.

Sandown Fort (map reference SZ597839) is a fort built in Sandown on the Isle of Wight in the middle of Sandown Bay. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. It was a replacement of the earlier Sandown Diamond Fort as, in 1859, the Royal Commission felt it did not offer suitable protection. Construction of the fort began in April 1861 and was completed by September 1864 at a cost of £73,876. In later documents it is often referred to as Granite Fort. The fort originally had 18 9-inch R.M.L guns facing the sea behind iron shields, these guns were later upgraded and an extra 5 inches of armor was added.The fort was sold in 1930 but during World War II the fort played a significant role in the D-Day landings as it housed sixteen pumps for the PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) operation to keep the Allied forces supplied with fuel. Each of the 16 pumps supplied 36,000 imperial gallons (1,000 barrels; 160,000 litres) of fuel per day at a pressure of 1,500 lb per square inch. In the 1950s the site was used to house the Isle of Wight Zoo, which was renamed as the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary in 2021.

The Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, previously known as the Isle of Wight Zoo and Sandown Zoo, is a wildlife sanctuary on the coastline of Sandown, Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight Zoo was privately owned, but it became a charitable trust in 2017 and was renamed as the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary in 2021. The Sanctuary is "dedicated to rescuing exotic animals from harm and rehabilitating them in their forever home". As part of the European Endangered Species Programme, the Isle of Wight Zoo previously had success breeding several species of Madagascan animals including the critically endangered black-and-white ruffed lemur. It is now a non-breeding Sanctuary for rescued animals.

Dinosaur Isle is a purpose-built dinosaur museum located in Sandown on the Isle of Wight in southern England.The museum was designed by Isle of Wight architect Rainey Petrie Johns in the shape of a giant pterosaur. It claims to be the first custom-built dinosaur museum in Europe.

Bembridge Fort (map reference SZ624861) is a fort built on the highest point of Bembridge Down close to the village of Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, England. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built around Portsmouth during the period of the Second French Empire, as a safeguard against a perceived threat of French invasion by Napoleon III.

Yarbridge is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight, England. It is at the southern tip of the parish of Brading (where the 2011 census population was listed). It has a popular pub restaurant called the Yarbridge Inn (formerly the Anglers Inn). There is also a small hotel with a swimming pool, Oaklands House. The bridge over the River Yar, defended by a Second World War pillbox, was constructed in the Middle Ages by Sir Theobald Russell who was killed fighting a French invasion, dying of his wounds at Knighton Gorges. Until the bridge's construction, Bembridge had been an island accessible only at low tide. The bridge also crosses the railway and is bordered by an RSPB reserve on Brading Marshes. Brading Roman Villa and Morton Manor are close by.

Brading railway station is a Grade II listed railway station serving Brading on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located on the Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin. Owing to its secluded countryside location, it is one of the quietest stations on the island.

The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the town itself and Adgestone, Morton, Nunwell and other outlying areas between Ryde, St Helens, Bembridge, Sandown and Arreton. Alverstone was transferred to the Newchurch parish some thirty years ago. Brading has a population of 1,906 according to the 2021 Census.

Sandown Castle was a Device Fort built at Sandown on the Isle of Wight by Henry VIII in 1545 to protect against the threat of French attack. Constructed from stone with angular bastions, its design was a hybrid of Italian military architectural thinking with traditional English military design. The site was raided by a French force that summer while the fortification was still being constructed. The site suffered from coastal erosion and the castle was demolished in 1631.

Bembridge Down is a 56.3-hectare (139-acre) Site of special scientific interest which is north-east of Sandown, Isle of Wight, England. The site was notified in 1951 for both its biological and geological features.