Mersley

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Mersley is a farming hamlet on the Isle of Wight. Mersley is in Newchurch Parish, and is adjacent to the village of Newchurch itself. Mersley is home to a large garlic farm which is part of the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival in nearby Newchurch, held annually since 1983 and now drawing 25,000 visitors a year. [1] This garlic farm has also been investigated for inappropriate pesticide use in the past. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Isle of Wight County and island of England

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England. It is in the English Channel, between 2 and 5 miles off the coast of Hampshire, separated by the Solent. The island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times, and is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines. The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Newchurch, Isle of Wight village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight

Newchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It is located between Sandown and Newport in the southeast of the island. Anthony Dillington, owner of the Knighton Gorges Manor in Newchurch wrote to his son Robert in 1574 that, "This is the very Garden of England, and we be privileged to work in it as Husbandmen......." Newchurch obtained its name from the new church built in 1087 by the Norman monks of Lyra. The Newchurch Parish for many centuries stretched from the north to south coasts of the Island; by the early Nineteenth Century the growing resort towns of Ventnor and Ryde were included within its boundaries. The present day parish includes Newchurch Village, Apse Heath, Winford, Whiteley Bank, Alverstone, Alverstone Garden Village, Queen's Bower, Princelett and Mersley.

The Garlic Festival is a fundraising event that is held annually on the Isle of Wight, and raises money for the booming Garlic industry on the island, as well as fundraising for other agricultural farms on the island.

Potter Molly Attrill worked out of a converted barn in Mersley from 1982 to 2014. [7]

Mersley is the subject of archaeological interest because of findings of Roman pottery in the area. Earthenware and crockery were discovered at the Garlic Farm in the 1970s and 80s. [8] [9] Ridges on nearby Mersley Down [10] might be terraces, suggesting the previous presence of a Roman vineyard. [11] There is evidence of a possible earthwork enclosure on a farm in Mersley. [12]

There is a chalk pit on Mersley Down. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ The Isle of Wight Garlic Festival
  2. ↑ Pesticide Incident Report 1999/2000 Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine , Health and Safety Executive.
  3. ↑ Pesticide Incidents Report 2000/2001 Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine , Health and Safety Executive.
  4. ↑ Garlic baron bounces back, James Arnold, BBC News, 24 July 2002.
  5. ↑ Mersley Farm, Isle of Wight, Lords Hansard text for 20 Dec 2000.
  6. ↑ Mersley Farm, Isle of Wight, Lords Hansard text for 15 Dec 1999.
  7. ↑ "About Molly Attrill" . Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Trott, K., 2002, The evaluation excavation at Mersley Farm, Newchurch, Proc Isle of Wight Nat Hist Archaeol Soc 16, 95-112.
  9. ↑ ROMAN WIGHT [ permanent dead link ], Malcolm Lyne
  10. ↑ Mersley Down pictures,Megalithic Portal [ permanent dead link ].
  11. ↑ IRON AGE VINEYARDS ON MERSLEY DOWN ? Archived 2007-08-19 at the Wayback Machine , Archive of Monthly News Items As previously featured in the History Centre, Isle of Wight History Centre Archived 2007-08-04 at the Wayback Machine , January 2000.
  12. ↑ An assessment of LIDAR for archaeological use Archived 2007-07-17 at the Wayback Machine , David Motkin, formerly with the Isle of Wight Council Archaeology Service, AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP Annual Meeting, Aberdeen University, 5–7 September 2000.
  13. ↑ DUXMORE CHALK PIT, MERSLEY DOWN, NEWPORT [ permanent dead link ], Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan, Appendix E.

Coordinates: 50°40′45″N1°12′56″W / 50.67917°N 1.21556°W / 50.67917; -1.21556

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

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