As an island, the Isle of Wight maintains a culture close to, but distinct from, that of the south of England. A high proportion of the population are now 'overners' rather than locally born, and so with a few notable exceptions it has more often formed the backdrop for cultural events of wider rather than island-specific significance.
The Island has inspired many creative works. Local people often seek to defend their real or perceived culture, and local politics is often dictated by a desire to preserve the traditions and habits of the Island.
The first creative flowering occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria, under whose patronage the island became a fashionable destination for the gentry.
The Iranian-born poet Mimi Khalvati was educated at Upper Chine School in Shanklin; many of her poems are about the island, especially in the book "The Chine".
Sandown-based author Edward Upward sets part of his book "In the Thirties" on the Isle of Wight.
The 2005 film Fragile was filmed almost entirely on the Isle of Wight, with the exception of a few exterior shots. Prominent locations featured in the film include Ryde's Union Street, the Military Road at Compton Bay, Ryde Pier and Red Funnel's Red Osprey car ferry.
Painting
The "Isle of Wight School" of Romantic painters specialised in views of the South West Coast; prominent were George Morland and J. M. W. Turner.
Photography
Julia Margaret Cameron was a prominent early photographer, who has a museum dedicated to her at Dimbola Lodge in Freshwater. She specialised in portraits of the celebrities who visited her neighbour Lord Tennyson.
Beken of Cowes, established in 1888 by pharmacist Alfred Edward Beken, pioneered yachting photography and is a leading British marine photography company.[3]
Local media
The island was one of the first British regions to get a community television station, with TV 12. In October 2002 the Restricted Service Licence (RSL) for the Isle of Wight (Rowridge transmitter) was awarded to a new not-for-profit local television station, Solent TV, which was the first not-for-profit community television station in the UK. It went into receivership in 2007.
It is an oft-quoted statistic that 92% of islanders read the local newspaper, the Isle of Wight County Press, which is published most Fridays.[4] In the early nineties a local radio station, Isle of Wight Radio, commenced broadcasting on 1242 medium wave, later moving to 107 and 102 FM. This is now also available via the internet, along with social media such as Island Pulse.
Major events
Many events take place each year across the island, all designed to appeal to different groups of people. Many of these take place in the summer, and so attract many tourists visiting the island. A few notable examples include:
A music festival which takes place annually at Seaclose Park in Newport. After three early festivals featuring such acts as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and The Who, the festival was discontinued in 1970; but was revived in a modern format in 2002.
A music festival held in the late summer, at a country park, Robin Hill. The event is considered much more alternative and diverse, which appeals to families. Many people attending wear fancy dress. A few notable acts include The Scissor Sisters and The Pet Shop Boys.
An annually held fundraising event organised until 2006 by the Newchurch Parish Sports & Community Association and since then by the Garlic Festival Ltd.[5] Held on the outskirts of Newchurch near Apse Heath, it has over 250 stallholders selling many locally produced foods such as garlic beer, garlic seafood and garlic ice cream. Music performances take place and the event also has a large central arena for other activities.
White Air was an extreme sports festival held in Yaverland, on the eastern side of the island, near Sandown.[7] The event was in 2009 held in Brighton, due to difficulties between the organisers and the Isle of Wight Council.[8]
The Isle of Wight Walking Festival is the UK's largest annual walking festival which takes place annually on the Isle of Wight each May.
1998–present
Marmotinto
Marmotinto is the art of creating pictures using coloured sand or marble dust. It was first popularised in England at a dinner party given by George III who was taken with a display arranged under glass at his dinner table by a Bavarian named Benjamin Zobel (Memmingen, Germany, 21 September 1762 - London, England, 24 October 1830),[9] a friend of George Morland, a painter prominent in the "Isle of Wight School" . It became popular in Victorian times as the tourist industry began and Alum Bay and Totland were briefly developed as a tourist destination for steamers. There are fine examples at Osborne House.
Although marmotinto with marble and other coloured dust was known in Italy and elsewhere on the continent, marmotinto with coloured sand is an art form possibly unique to the Isle of Wight, due to the availability of the raw materials and to the inherent limitations of the art form.
Music
The Bees (UK band) are a local band who have recently met with some national success.
The Island has a full symphony orchestra, and well as several brass bands, swing and jazz groups.
Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock lived on the island in the late 20th century, and occasionally refers to local geography or uses Wight-specific terms in his lyrics (the song "Let's Go Thundering" refers to "sliding down a mossy chine", for example).
Wet Leg is a British indie rock band from the Isle of Wight, founded in 2019 by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. Their debut single "Chaise Longue" became a viral hit in 2021. Their self-titled debut album (2022) debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, ARIA Albums Chart, and the Irish Albums Chart.
Champs are a UK based band formed of two brothers, Michael and David Champion from Niton. Their first album, Down Like Gold, was released in 2014. Their second album, Vamala, was released in 2015.Their third album, The Hard Interchange, was released in September 2019.[4] The album was created over a span of three years.
Skateboarding
Local skateboarding team 'Wight Trash' and its associated retail brand was launched with the help of Inbiz and a Prince's Trust loan in April 2004.[10] They have featured in skateboarding videos and events.
Views of the Island
The Isle of Wight has traditionally seen as a place for retirees and holiday makers. The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" mentions "every summer we could rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight".
This non-threatening image is also used to comic effect by the Monty Python team in their 1976 sketch Mr Neutron:
Commander: OK. We'll bomb Neutron out. Get me Moscow! Peking! and Shanklin, Isle of Wight!
Cut to stock film of B52s on a bombing raid.
Voice Over: And so the Great Powers and the people of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, drew their net in ever-tightening circles around the most dangerous threat to peace the world has ever faced. They bombed Cairo, Bangkok, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Harrow, Hammersmith, Stepney, Wandsworth and Enfield... But always it was the wrong place.
Today the island maintains this image, while also being seen nationally as a destination for the 'sea and sandcastles' style of family holiday. In an episode of the TV panel game QI, Alan Davies described the Isle of Wight as still stuck in the 1950s.
Paganism
The Isle of Wight has an active branch of the Pagan Federation (many of whom style themselves as "Druids"), and amongst the inmates incarcerated inside Parkhurst Prison paganism makes up the third most popular religion, according to the Isle of Wight County Press.[citation needed]
The Isle of Wight was the last area of English paganism until 686CE when, according to Bede, Cædwalla of Wessex conquered the island, killing its inhabitants and installing Christians in their place.[11] A "sheela-na-gig" is preserved in the gateway to Holy Cross Church in Binstead.
Historically several women were alleged to be witches (such as the nineteenth-century Bembridge woman Molly Downer), although not apparently persecuted. This seems to have been a psychiatric matter rather than religious.
Morris Dancing
The Isle of Wight has many Morris sides, the newest being a mixed-sex side - Guith Morris (Guith being the name of the Island pre Roman/Saxon times); The Men of Wight,[12] a traditional side; Bloodstone Border Morris, who are a mixed-sex border style side, named after Bloodstone Copse on the Island;[13] The Wight Bells, an all women group established over 10 years; The Oyster Girls, who dance wearing clogs; Mr Baker's Dozen, a traditional English side; The Island Cloggies, an all-female group and Moonshine border Morris, a mixed sex group who wear black, purple, blue and green.
Related Research Articles
The Isle of Wight is an island, English county and unitary authority in the English Channel, 2 to 5 miles off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as "The Island" by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire. The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Sandown is a seaside resort town and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Sandown has a population of 11,654 according to the 2021 Census and together with Shanklin and Lake forms a built-up area of around 25,000 inhabitants.
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
Shanklin is a seaside resort town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village and a wooded ravine, Shanklin Chine, are its main attractions. The esplanade along the beach is occupied by hotels and restaurants for the most part, and is one of the most tourist-oriented parts of the town. The other is the Old Village, at the top of Shanklin Chine. Together with Lake and Sandown to the north, Shanklin forms a built up area of around 25,000 inhabitants.
The Isle of Wight Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom; it operated 14 miles of railway line between Ryde and Ventnor. It opened the first section of line from Ryde to Sandown in 1864, later extending to Ventnor in 1866. The Ryde station was at St Johns Road, some distance from the pier where the majority of travellers arrived. A tramway operated on the pier itself, and a street-running tramway later operated from the Pier to St Johns Road. It was not until 1880 that two mainland railways companies jointly extended the railway line to the Pier Head, and IoWR trains ran through, improving the journey arrangements.
Sandown Bay is a broad open bay which stretches for much of the length of the Isle of Wight's southeastern coast. It extends 8+1⁄2 miles (13.7 km) from Culver Down, near Yaverland in the northeast of the Island, to just south of Shanklin, near the village of Luccombe in the southwest. At Luccombe, the bay is separated from The Undercliff by a large headland from which Upper Ventnor sits atop. The towns of Shanklin, Lake and Sandown are on the bay's coast, while Luccombe and Upper Ventnor feature panoramic views across both Sandown Bay to the East and the Undercliff to the southwest. Due to the bay being relatively sheltered from offshore winds it is often used as temporary anchorage point for boats, including large cargo ships, before continuing east towards Continental Europe, or north towards The Solent.
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 parish was administered by the Church Parish Vestry until 1894 when civil matters were passed to the newly formed Parish Council which now forms the second tier of Local Government under the Isle of Wight Council. In 1982 Alverstone was included in the civil parish. The present day parish includes Newchurch Village, Apse Heath, Winford, Whiteley Bank, Alverstone, Alverstone Garden Village, Queen's Bower, Princelett and Mersley.
Sandown-Shanklin was an urban district on the Isle of Wight, England, from 1933. It was created by the merger of Shanklin and Sandown urban districts along with parts of the civil parishes of Brading, Bonchurch and Yaverland from the Isle of Wight Rural District. It was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, to form part of the South Wight district.
Sandown railway station is a railway station serving Sandown on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located on the Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin.
Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway before being nationalised in 1969. In 1987, the company was re-privatised. In July 2005, it became a subsidiary of Go-Ahead Group.
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.
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.
Luccombe is a hamlet a short distance south of Shanklin, on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England.
There are several modes of Transport on the Isle of Wight, an island in the English Channel.
The Isle of Wight Coastal Path is a circular long-distance footpath of 70 miles (113 km) around the Isle of Wight, UK. It follows public footpaths and minor lanes, with some sections along roads.
Burt's Brewery, was an independent regional brewery owned by one family for much of its existence. It was founded in 1840 in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England. Brewing ended at the Ventnor Brewery in 2009, however the Burt's name had not been used since 1998.
Isle of Wight East is a proposed constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it will first be contested at the next general election.
References
↑ page 21, Swinburne: the portrait of a poet, Philip Henderson, Taylor & Francis, 1974
↑ The World's Greatest Books, Volume V., Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton,
↑ The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy, Robert McKenna, McGraw-Hill, 2003, ISBN978-0-07-141950-5.
↑ Findon, Ross (4 December 2009). "Wight Trash is so Valuable Now". Isle of Wight County Press Online. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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