History of the Isle of Wight

[4] This flooded the former river valley of the Solent to the north, and the future English Channel to the south, and cut Wight off from the island of Britain.

The island has no visible Paleolithic or Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) sites, but flints from these periods have been found and are on display at Carisbrooke Castle.

[12] The variety of origin of the coins found locally is more marked than elsewhere in Britain and suggests that the island may have had a degree of political separation.

At that time the sea level was much lower, and so tin for export could be brought across the Solent at low tide on carts,[14][15] or possibly on boats such as those found at Ferriby.

This might suggest that the meaning is something like "daughter island" or "little companion"; however if Germanic languages were not widely spoken in Britain during the Roman era, as has been the consensus, then they would be an unlikely source for the Latin Vectis.

[9] It is very likely indeed that the Romans grew vines, as the climate was then warmer than it is now, and on this basis nearby Adgestone Vineyard claims to be the oldest in Britain.

[20] It is believed that the island became a Jutish kingdom ruled by King Stuf and his successors, until 661 when it was invaded by Wulfhere of Mercia and forcibly converted to Christianity.

He writes: "After Caedwalla had obtained possession of the kingdom of the Gewissae, he took also the Isle of Wight, which till then was entirely given over to idolatry, and by merciless slaughter, endeavoured to destroy all the inhabitants thereof, and to place in their stead people from his own province; binding himself by a vow, though it is said that he was not yet regenerated in Christ, to give the fourth part of the land and of the spoil to the Lord, if he took the Island.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells how Wiht-land suffered from Viking raids: "And then another time they lay in the Isle of Wight, and meanwhile ate out of Hampshire and of Sussex".

During the second wave of Viking attacks in the reign of Ethelred the Unready (975-1014) the island was often used by them as a temporary winter base, when they were unable to shelter with their 'cousins' in Normandy.

[34] After Ethelred himself died, England came under Danish rule, and the island continued to be a base for their fleets as recorded by the Chronicle in 1022: "Here King Cnut went out with his ships to Wight."

Thereafter allegiance on the island was sworn to FitzOsbern as 'Lord' rather than the king, a role subsequently granted to the de Redvers family by Henry I after his succession in 1100.

The final private owner was the Norman Countess Isabella de Fortibus, who inherited it aged 25 after her brother died suddenly.

[9] Newport was laid out in the late 12th Century as the 'new port' for Carisbrooke Castle, the town designed on a grid system, unusual for its time.

Peter de Heynoe, Lord of Stenbury, is said to have killed the French commander with a crossbow shot aimed through an arrow slit still visible in the castle's west wall.

The island continued to be governed by a Lordship, but this was now a royal appointment (the position evolving over the years into a Captaincy and eventually a Governorship).

English ships engaged the French navy;[44] two days earlier, the Mary Rose had sunk, apparently without damage.

[45] In 1587 two Catholic missionaries Anderton and Marsden, originally from Lancashire but trained in France, returned to England in disguise, heading for Dover.

Fellow passengers had overheard them praying and they were reported on arrival to Governor Carey, taken to London for trial, then executed by hanging, drawing and quartering in Cowes.

[citation needed] On 23 July 1588 some of the decisive action in the naval battle against the Spanish Armada took place within sight of the island, off Portland.

Towards the end of the English Civil War in November 1647, Charles I rode out from London to avoid capture by the army, hoping to escape to Jersey.

He also had letters smuggled out, most of which were intercepted, which he signed 'J' to disguise his identity (donkeys operating the castle's water-well have subsequently been given names beginning with 'J').

His position as the local vice-admiral entitled him to two-thirds of the value of any prizes captured in home waters, and he preyed enthusiastically on foreign ships that happened to sail nearby.

[48] During the Seven Years' War, the island was used as a staging post for British troops departing on expeditions against the French coast, such as the Raid on Rochefort.

When Queen she made Osborne House her winter home, and so the island became a fashionable holiday resort for many Victorians, including Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Charles Dickens (who wrote much of David Copperfield there), as well as the French painter Berthe Morisot and members of European royalty (many of whom were family relations).

During her reign, the world's first radio station was set up by Marconi in 1897 at the Needles Battery, at the western tip of the island.

[51][52] In 1898 the first paid telegram (called a 'Marconigram' at the time) was sent from this station, and the island is now the home of the National Wireless Museum, near Ryde.

[20] In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, a sizeable network of railways was built on the island, notable for its punishing gradients and numerous tunnels, particularly to reach the town of Ventnor.

The Act also disenfranchised the borough of Yarmouth and replaced the four lost seats with the first MP for the whole Isle of Wight; Newport also retained its two MPs, though these were reduced to one in 1868 and eventually abolished completely in 1885.

However, since there was no provision made in the Local Government Act 1972 for unitary authorities, the Island had to retain a two-tier structure, with a county council and two boroughs, Medina and South Wight.