Chale

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Chale
Chale Church.jpg
St. Andrew's Church, Chale
Isle of Wight UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Chale
Location within the Isle of Wight
Area8.9046 km2 (3.4381 sq mi)  [1]
Population639 (2011) [2]
•  Density 72/km2 (190/sq mi)
Civil parish
  • Chale
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Ventnor
Postcode district PO38
Dialling code 01983
Police Hampshire
Fire Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Ambulance Isle of Wight
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Isle of Wight
50°35′47″N1°18′59″W / 50.59652°N 1.31625°W / 50.59652; -1.31625 Coordinates: 50°35′47″N1°18′59″W / 50.59652°N 1.31625°W / 50.59652; -1.31625

Chale is a village and civil parish [3] on the Isle of Wight of England, in the United Kingdom. It is located three kilometres from Niton in the south of the Island in the area known as the Back of the Wight. [4] The village of Chale lies at the foot of St. Catherine's Down.

Contents

History

The village of Chale Chale, IW, UK.jpg
The village of Chale

Chale is recorded in the Domesday book as "Cela", which probably derives from the Old English word "ceole", meaning "throat". This is thought to refer to the nearby ravine or chine at Blackgang. The name was also recorded as "Chele" or "Chielle", but it has been "Chale" since the 12th century.

There were 3 manors in Chale at the time of the Domesday Book: Chale, Gotten and Walpen.

The Parish Church of St Andrew was founded by Hugh Gendon in Chale in 1114. However, the present church dates from the 14th century. It has 6 bells in its tower. One might have been made about 1360. It has some fine stained glass windows.

The Chale Abbey farm has a window that dates from the 14th century. The name Abbey refers to the style of the building, not its religious use. Chale Abbey Farm and Walpen Manor are two of the oldest buildings on the Isle of Wight.

In 1456, John Goodyear, parson of Chale, donated an alabaster altarpiece depicting the main episodes in the life of the Apostle Saint James the Greater, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where it is preserved today. [5] [6]

The south coast of the Isle of Wight has seen many shipwrecks because it has some famous rocky outcroppings. Lord William de Godeton removed some casks of wine from a French shipwreck in 1312. However, this wine was the property of the Church, which forced Godeton to build a tower and an octagonal oratory at the top of the cliffs above Chale on St. Catherine's Down. A fire was maintained in the oratory to prevent further shipwrecks. A monk remained resident in the oratory.

The Clarendon sank in Chale Bay in 1836, claiming 25 lives. The public was outraged, and demanded that a new lighthouse be built. Government officials who were in England and not familiar with local geography decreed that the new lighthouse should be on top of St. Catherine's Down. However, it is common for fogs to roll in and obscure the top of St. Catherine's Down, and there were more wrecks even after the new lighthouse was built. A second lighthouse, still in use, was built at the foot of the cliffs.

Chale is close to Blackgang Chine amusement park, which was opened in 1843 and was Britain's first theme park.

Chale had a school by 1784. The current school building dates from 1883, although it has been augmented by a newer hall, kitchens and a computer complex. It sits near the church and Wight Mouse Inn at the southern end of the parish. The school was the smallest on the Island, and one of the smallest in the United Kingdom with only 20 pupils on roll. [7] This led to the threat of the school's closure, and it did close just before the summer vacation of 2010. [8] [9]

The Wight Mouse Inn and Clarendon Hotel is named after a shipwreck in 1835. Some of the timbers from the wreck are part of the building. It was a popular destination of the upper classes in an earlier era.[ citation needed ]

Today

Public transport is provided by Southern Vectis bus route 6, which runs between Newport and Ventnor. [10] The summer-only Island Coaster service also stops in Chale. [11]

Governance

Chale is part of the electoral ward called Chale, Niton and Whitwell. At the 2011 Census the population of this ward was 2,721. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Chine

A chine is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight—to describe such topographical features. The term 'bunny' is sometimes used to describe a chine in Hampshire. The term chine is also used in some Vancouver suburbs in Canada to describe similar features.

Ventnor Human settlement in England

Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, eleven miles (18 km) from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. The higher part is referred to as Upper Ventnor ; the lower part, where most amenities are located, is known as Ventnor. Ventnor is sometimes taken to include the nearby and older settlements of St Lawrence and Bonchurch, which are covered by its town council. The population of the parish in 2016 was about 5,800.

Blackgang Chine

Blackgang Chine is the oldest amusement park in the United Kingdom, having opened in the 1840s. Named after a now-destroyed chine in the soft Cretaceous cliffs, it is about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight just below St Catherine's Down. Blackgang Chine and its sister park Robin Hill are owned by the Dabell family. Blackgang Chine is home to a series of imaginatively themed lands, including a Pirate Cove, a realm of Dinosaurs, an Underwater Kingdom, a Fairy Village and a Cowboy Town. Owing to the unstable land on which the park is situated, landslides occur frequently, meaning that attractions have been moved further inland to safer ground on several occasions.

Niton Human settlement in England

Niton is a village on the Isle of Wight, west of Ventnor, with a population of 2,082. It has two pubs, several churches, a pottery workshop/shop, a pharmacy, a busy volunteer-run library, a medical centre and two local shops including a post office. The post office includes a pub and café that serves as a local meeting place. The village also offers a primary school with a co-located pre-school and nursery.

Arreton Human settlement in England

Arreton is a village and civil parish in the central eastern part of the Isle of Wight, England. It is about 3 miles south east of Newport.

Whitwell, Isle of Wight Human settlement in England

Whitwell is a small village located on the south of the Isle of Wight, approximately 5 kilometres north-west of Ventnor, the village's nearest town. At the 2011 Census the appropriate civil parish was Niton and Whitwell. In addition to this, it is about five minutes away from its neighbouring small villages of Godshill and Niton, the latter of which, Whitwell forms a civil parish. According to 2001 census data, the total population of the village was 578. There is a variety of stone and thatched housing, as well as some more modern housing, the most recent of which was completed in 2006.

Binstead Human settlement in England

Binstead is a village on the Isle of Wight. It is located in the northeast of the Island, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Ryde on the main road A3054 between Ryde and Newport. In the 2011 Census Binstead had been incorporated within Ryde whilst still retaining its electoral ward, Binsted and Fishbourne.

Totland Human settlement in England

Totland is a village, civil parish and electoral ward on the Isle of Wight. Besides the village of Totland, the civil parish comprises the western tip of the Isle of Wight, and includes The Needles, Tennyson Down and the hamlet of Middleton.

Brook, Isle of Wight Human settlement in England

Brook is a village on the Isle of Wight, England. According to the Post Office the 2011 census population was included in the civil parish of Brighstone.

Shorwell Human settlement in England

Shorwell is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) from Newport in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of Queen Victoria's favourite places to visit on the Isle of Wight.

St Catherines Point

St Catherine's Point is the southernmost point on the Isle of Wight. It is close to the village of Niton and the point where the Back of the Wight changes to the Undercliff of Ventnor.

St. Catherines Down

St. Catherine's Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight, located near St Catherine's Point, the southernmost point on the island. The Down rises to 240 metres at its highest point, between the towns of Niton and Chale.

St Catherines Oratory

St. Catherine's Oratory is a medieval lighthouse on St. Catherine's Down, above the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. It was built by Lord of Chale Walter de Godeton as an act of penance for plundering wine from the wreck of St. Marie of Bayonne in Chale Bay on 20 April 1313. The tower is known locally as the "Pepperpot" because of its likeness.

Luccombe, Isle of Wight

Luccombe is a hamlet on the south coast of the Isle of Wight near Shanklin. There is some indication of Bronze Age settlements on the top of the nearby hill of Luccombe Down.

Blackgang Human settlement in England

Blackgang is a village on the south-western coast of the Isle of Wight. It is best known as the location of the Blackgang Chine amusement park which sits to the south of St Catherine's Down.

Puckaster is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight, England. Puckaster is on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight, south of Niton, between St. Catherine's Point and Binnel.

Ladder Chine

Ladder Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of the village of Chale. It is a sandy coastal ravine, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream erosion of soft Cretaceous rocks. It leads from the 190 foot high clifftop to a knickpoint approximately halfway down the cliff face above Chale Bay beach.

Chale Bay Human settlement in England

Chale Bay is a bay on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Chale from which it takes its name. It faces south-west towards the English Channel, its shoreline is 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2 km) in length and is gently curving. It stretches from Artherfield Point in the north-west to Rocken End in the south-east.

Back of the Wight

Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. Primarily agricultural, the Back of the Wight is made up of small villages spread out along the coast, including Brighstone, Shorwell and Mottistone.

Undercliff (Isle of Wight)

The Undercliff, Isle of Wight, England is a tract of semi-rural land, around 5 miles (8.0 km) long by 0.25–0.5 miles (0.40–0.80 km) wide, skirting the southern coast of the island from Niton to Bonchurch. Named after its position below the escarpment that backs this coastal section, its undulating terrain comprises a mix of rough pasture, secondary woodland, parkland, grounds of large isolated houses, and suburban development. Its sheltered south-facing location gives rise to a microclimate considerably warmer than elsewhere on the island. Although inhabited, the Undercliff is an area prone to landslips and subsidence, with accompanying loss of property over time. Settlements along the Undercliff, from west to east, are: lower Niton, Puckaster, St Lawrence, Steephill, the town of Ventnor, and Bonchurch.

References

  1. ↑ Office of National Statistics: QS102EW - Population density retrieved 30 May 2017
  2. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011" . Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "English Parishes and Welsh communities N&C 2004". www.statistics.gov.uk. 2004. Archived from the original on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
  4. ↑ http://www.backofthewight.net%5B%5D
  5. ↑ Lanigan Wood, Helen. "Fermanagh: a story in one hundred objects" (PDF). Enniskillen Castle Museums. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  6. ↑ López, Ferreiro, A. (1904). Historia de la S.A.M. Iglesia de Santiago. vol. VII. Imprenta del Seminario. Santiago. p. 111.
  7. ↑ "EduWight - Chale Primary School". www.eduwight.iow.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 25 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "School reform plans revealed". Isle of Wight County Press . Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  9. ↑ "Save Chale". www.savechale.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  10. ↑ "Southern Vectis bus route 6". www.islandbuses.info. 2008. Archived from the original on 22 March 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  11. ↑ "Southern Vectis Island Coaster". www.islandbuses.info. 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  12. ↑ "Chale,Nitton and Whitwell ward population 2011" . Retrieved 19 October 2015.
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