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Isle of Wight History and Heritage

Monuments & Castles

Hilltop monuments such as the Yarborough Monument on Culver Down and the Tennyson Monument on Tennyson Down await discovery by the walker. Upon St Catherine's Down, you will find the imposing Russian-style Hoy Monument and St Catherines Oratory, the original 14th century lighthouse known locally as the "Pepperpot".

The fortifications of the Isle of Wight provide an historic insight into the Island's strategic role throughout history. Carisbrooke Castle dates from Norman times and brings history alive to many thousands of visitors each year. Yarmouth Castle, the Needles Old Battery and Fort Victoria, will be of interest to the military historian as well as the casual visitor.

Manor Houses & Royal Residence

A number of manor houses with fine furniture and beautiful artefacts are open to the public. Some manor grounds are historic landscapes in their own right, many containing walled gardens, fine plant collections and buildings of local and national significance.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert established a favourite residence at Osborne House. This royal stamp of approval brought many famous Victorians to visit and settle on the Isle of Wight. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll and John Keats are just a few of the historical greats who were inspired by this "Enchanted Isle".

Ancient Burial Grounds

Overlooking Freshwater Bay lies an earthen long barrow (an ancient tomb), left to us by the Stone Age community which lived there. 

Above the pretty village of Mottistone lies the most ambitious of the prehistoric tombs. At the eastern end of the long mound, facing a rising sun, is the Longstone. This great stone pillar is a lasting testimony of Stone Age engineering skills and as a statement of faith in the rising of new life.

Bronze Age Islanders crowned their hilltops with bold round burial mounds, now named tumuli. Each tumulus honoured a dead leader and proclaimed, from its position in the landscape, the family territory. Strung out along the tops of the downs, barrows like those on Brook Down and Headon Warren are there for you to find.

Dinosaurs

Renowned now as one of Europe's finest sites for dinosaur remains, there was no Isle of Wight 120 million years ago, it was landlocked, part of a large continent. In the muds and silts of ancient marshy environments, animals and plants were trapped and preserved as fossils. These can now be found in the cliffs and on the beaches around the Island's coast. 

The oldest rocks are the wealdon clays formed when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The yellow, brown and grey rocks exposed in the bays of Compton, Brook and Brighstone contain fossilised tress and dinosaur bones! Giant casts of dinosaur footprints in stone are a famous feature at Hanover Point. 

Today, geologists continue to examine the rocks to understand the complex processes which formed the present Isle of Wight. To help you enjoy and interpret this scenery, take part in one of the organised fossil hunting trips.