St Lawrence, Isle of Wight

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St Lawrence
Iow undercliff sep08.jpg
The Undercliff area of St Lawrence
Isle of Wight UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
St Lawrence
Location within the Isle of Wight
Area0.51 sq mi (1.3 km2)
OS grid reference SZ562775
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town VENTNOR
Postcode district PO38
Dialling code 01983
Police Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Fire Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Ambulance Isle of Wight
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Isle of Wight
50°35′19″N1°14′23″W / 50.58861°N 1.23972°W / 50.58861; -1.23972

St Lawrence is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ventnor, on the south (English Channel) coast of the Isle of Wight, in southern England. It is located to the west of the town of Ventnor, in the Undercliff, which is subject to landslips. The Undercliff lies between the original high cliff and the sea, formed over thousands of years, since the last Ice Age, from accumulated landslips. Several rocky coves can be accessed from the coastal path, which affords fine views of some prominent Victorian villas, set in a wooded landscape below the great rock wall of the original sea cliff: Woody Bay, Mount Bay and Orchard Bay. [1] The area of the parish was around 329 acres (133 ha) in size. [2] In 1931 the parish had a population of 329. [3] On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Ventnor. [4]

Contents

History

St. Lawrence is much older than Ventnor dating back to at least the Middle Ages. The Old Church of St. Lawrence dates from the 12th century. When first built it was only 20 feet long and 12 feet wide, [5] considered at the time to be the smallest church in England. In 1842 it was lengthened by the addition of a ten-foot chancel. [6] Although there are undoubtedly smaller chapels including the tiny church at Les Vauxbelets on Guernsey,[ citation needed ] this arguably remains the smallest to be built as a parish church — although this role has long since been supplanted by a larger, Victorian church in the village.

St Lawrence Old Church. St Lawrence Old Church, Isle of Wight, England (2).jpg
St Lawrence Old Church.

The old church has a 15th-century baptismal font - a stoup that is about 500 years old and a series of 18th-century hat pegs. The piscina niche is almost the same age as the church. The church was refurbished in 1926–7. [7] A larger church, St Lawrence's Church, St Lawrence, is situated 200 yards (180 m) away from the Old Church dates from the 19th century. [7] It also has a 17th-century altar and a chest that dates from 1612.

RAF St. Lawrence. Remains of a buried reserve CH radar site RAF St.Lawrence - geograph.org.uk - 89021.jpg
RAF St. Lawrence. Remains of a buried reserve CH radar site
Historical Population of St. Lawrence [8]

In the 1870s the village was described in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as consisting of "ivy mantled thatched cottages, with orchards" with many Juniper trees nearby. [5]

During World War II the village was home to RAF St Lawrence. Originally a temporary base for RAF Ventnor and RAF Thorney Island, by 1942 it was a fully active radar base in its own right. The base had two 120-foot-tall (37 m) masts approximately 200 yards apart. [9] The base ceased operations in 1947 and in 1994 a memorial plaque was placed at the site. [10]

William Spindler

St Lawrence village St Lawrence, Isle of Wight, UK.jpg
St Lawrence village

St Lawrence was in the nineteenth century the subject of an ambitious plan by a German developer and philanthropist, named William Spindler (who had made his fortune as a chemist in Berlin), to develop St Lawrence as a resort to rival Ventnor. He lived at Old Park, a mansion near Binnel Bay, from 1881 to his death in 1889 and is buried in Whitwell churchyard. During his time in St. Lawrence, he had an enormous influence there and on the surrounding areas. He possibly alienated local opinion with a series of "improving pamphlets" criticising local perceived laziness. He decried the lack of woodland in the area and employed local men to plant a million trees. He paid a large part of the money needed to supply St Lawrence and Whitwell with drinking water. You can see red-painted hydrants bearing lions' heads dotted about Whitwell's streets, and the occasional black-painted St Lawrence hydrants, one of which stands beside Seven Sisters Road, in the heart of the old village. Several huge pieces of masonry in Binnel Bay, all that is left of a harbour, are known locally as "Spindler's Follies". [11]

Amenities

The village has a post office, two churches and a village hall. A building at Old Park, where William Spindler lived, houses artists' studios, open to the public once a year over the August bank holiday weekend, together with The Bunker art gallery, housed in a Second World War radar station nearby.

Pelham Wood Nature Reserve is situated beside the Undercliff Drive and is open to the public. On the other side of the main road is a turning leading to St Lawrence Well, with its ornate Victorian well housing.

Close to the newer church is the entrance to the Rare Breeds Park, which closed down due to loss of revenue from legally enforced closure during the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001.

Transport

The Undercliff Drive, the main road between Ventnor and Niton, was closed beyond St Lawrence in February 2014 by a landslip. Access was later restored for pedestrians and cyclists via a footbridge, the lack of through motorised traffic making this stretch of road much safer and quieter for walkers and cyclists than before. Due to the road closure, St Lawrence is now only served by local bus Number 31, operated by Minibus Plus.com on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ventnor</span> Town on the Isle of Wight, England

Ventnor is a seaside resort town 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 is 5,567 according to the 2021 Census

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niton</span> Human settlement in England

Niton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Niton and Whitwell, on the Isle of Wight, England. It is 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.

The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset. All arose from slump of harder strata over softer clay, giving rise to irregular landscapes of peaks, gullies and slipped blocks, that have become densely vegetated due to their isolation and change of land use. The Kent coast at Folkestone and Sandgate also has similar undercliff areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitwell, Isle of Wight</span> Human settlement in England

Whitwell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Niton and Whitwell, on the south of the Isle of Wight, England, approximately 5 kilometres north-west of Ventnor, the village's nearest town. In addition to this, it is about five minutes away from its neighbouring small villages of Godshill and Niton. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chale</span> Human settlement in England

Chale is a village and civil parish 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. The village of Chale lies at the foot of St. Catherine's Down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonchurch</span> Human settlement in England

Bonchurch is a small village in the civil parish of Ventnor, to the east of the town of Ventnor, now largely connected to the latter by suburban development, on the southern part of the Isle of Wight, England. One of the oldest settlements on the Isle of Wight, it is situated on The Undercliff adjacent to the Bonchurch Landslips Site of Special Scientific Interest. The main village is backed by a cliff to the north, with the Upper Bonchurch section on the clifftop halfway up St Boniface Down on the main A3055 road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A3055 road</span> Road on the Isle of Wight

The A3055 is an A-Class Road on the Isle of Wight in Southern England. It forms the Southern portion of the circular around-the-Island A-class loop, the northern section being the A3054. The stretch along the south-west coast of the Island is formed by the Military Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackgang</span> Human settlement in England

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitwell Halt railway station</span> Former railway station in Isle of Wight, UK

Whitwell Station, on the Ventnor West branch of the Isle of Wight Central Railway, was opened on 20 July 1897 along with the other stations on the branch. It was equipped with a passing loop, two platforms, a signal box and a substantial station building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godshill railway station</span> Former railway station in Isle of Wight, UK

Godshill station was at Godshill on the Isle of Wight on the Newport, Godshill & St Lawrence Railway, later the Isle of Wight Central Railway.

The Ventnor West Branch was the final addition to the Isle of Wight railway network, and used an earlier scheme to run a railway from Shanklin to the railwayless south-west part of the island.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonchurch Landslips</span>

Bonchurch Landslips is a 28.2-hectare (70-acre) site of special scientific interest which is located north-east of Ventnor, Isle of Wight. A wooded coastal landslip zone, the site was notified in 1977 for both its biological and geological features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binnel Bay</span> Human settlement in England

Binnel Bay is a bay on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies between the villages of St. Lawrence and Niton. It faces south towards the English Channel, and is just under one mile (1.6 km) in length. It stretches from Binnel Point in the east to Puckaster Cove in the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devil's Chimney (Isle of Wight)</span>

The Devil's Chimney is a scenic rock cleft with steps that descended into the Bonchurch Landslips between Bonchurch and Luccombe, 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. ↑ "St Lawrence, Isle of Wight" (Map). Google Maps . 3 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "St Lawrence area acres". A vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS, University of Portsmouth . Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Population statistics St Lawrence CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time . Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "Relationships and changes St Lawrence CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 "St Lawrence Hampshire". A vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS, University of Portsmouth . Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Parishes: St Lawrence". British History Online .
  7. 1 2 "Old Church of St Lawrence". visitisleofwight.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "St Lawrence Population". A vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS, University of Portsmouth . Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "RAF St. Lawrence - Chain Home Remote Reserve". Subterranea Britannica. 2004.
  10. ↑ "RAF St Lawrence Radar Station". Imperial War Museum.
  11. ↑ Lake House Design: William Spindler

Notes

1. ^ Published in Worsley, Sir Richard, History of the Isle of Wight, London, 1781
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