Island Flag Coat of Arms
The Isle of Wight is an English Island and county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of Hampshire. It is part of the United Kingdom.Popular from Victorian times as a holiday resort, the Isle of Wight is known for its natural beauty and as home to the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes, a town that hosts a world famous annual regatta. Colloquially, it is known as "The Island" by its residents.
It possesses a rich and varied history, including being home to poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and as Queen Victorias much loved summer residence and final home at Osborne House.
Its maritime history encompasses boat building and sail making through to the manufacture of flying boats and the world's first hovercraft. Its space history includes the launch of the Black Arrow and Black Knight space rockets. It is home to the Isle of Wight Festival, which, in 1970, was one of the largest rock music events ever held, with estimates reaching 600,000 attendees,(even though only 50,000 tickets were sold), overtaking the record set at Woodstock a year earlier. This event was Jimi Hendrix`s last public appearance.
In 686 AD, it became the last part of the British Isles to convert to Christainity, almost a century after the rest of Great Britain.
Geography and wildlife :
Isle of Wight is approximately diamond in shape and covers an area of 147 square miles (380 square km). Slightly more than half of the island, mainly in the west of the island, is designated as the Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The island has 99.6 square miles of farmland, 20 square miles of developed areas, and 57 miles of coastline. The landscape of the island is remarkably diverse, leading to its oft-quoted description of "England in Miniature". The West Wight is predominantly rural, with dramatic coastlines dominated by the famous chalk downland ridge, running across the whole island and ending in The Needles stacks - perhaps the most photographed aspect of the Isle of Wight. The highest point on the island is St Boniface Down, at 241m/791ft.
The rest of the island landscape also has great diversity, with perhaps the most notable habitats being the soft cliffs and sea ledges, which are spectacular features as well as being very important for wildlife, and are internationally protected. Island wildlife is remarkable, thought to be the only place in England where the red squirrel is flourishing, with a stable population.
Unlike the rest of England, no grey squirrels are to be found on the island nor are there any wild deer but, instead, rare and protected species, such as the doormouse and many rare bats can be found.
History :
Much of the land now making up the Isle of Wight was deposited during the late Cretaceous, at times part of a large river valley complex which consisted of much of the current southern coast of England. The swamps and ponds of the region at that time made the island excellent for the preservation of fossils, which means that it is now one of the richest locations for finding dinosaurs in Europe.
The island was part of the Celtic British Isles and, known to the Romans as Vectis, was captured by Vespasianin the Roman invasion. After the Roman era, the Isle of Wight was settled by the Jutes, a Germanic tribe, in the early stages of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The latter's corruption of Vectis into Wiht (the Latin v was pronounced [w]) is the root of the island's name. Later, in 686, the island was conquered by the West Saxons, who brought Christianity with them. This bloody episode was recorded by the Northumbrian scholar Bede.
The Norman Conquest created the position of Lord of the Isle of Wight. Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of Carisbrooke Castle were founded. The island did not come under full control of the crown until it was sold by the dying last Norman Lord, Lady Isabella de Fortibus, to Edward I in 1293. The Lordship thereafter became a Royal appointment, with a brief interruption when Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick was crowned King of the Isle of Wight, King Henry VI assisting in person at the ceremony, placing the crown on his head. He died in 1445, aged 22. With no male heir, his regal title expired with him.
Henry VIII, who developed the Royal Navy and its permanent base at Portsmouth, fortified the island at Yarmouth, East & West Cowes and Sandown, sometimes re-using stone from dissolved monasteries as building material. Sir Richard Worsley, Captain of the island at this time, successfully commanded the resistance to the last of the French attacks in 1545. Much later on, after the Spanish Armada in 1588, the threat of Spanish attacks remained, and the outer fortifications of Carisbrooke Castle were built, between 1597 and 1602. During the English Civil War KingCharles fled to the Isle of Wight, believing he would receive sympathy from the governor, Robert Hammond. Hammond was appalled at this, and incarcerated the king in Carisbrooke Castle.
Queen Victoria made Osborne House on the Isle of Wight her summer home for many years and, as a result, it became a major holiday resort for members of European royalty. Queen Victoria died at Osbourne House in 1901. During her reign, in 1897, the World's first radio station was set up by Marconi, at the Needles battery, at the western tip of the island.
Language and dialect:
The distinctive Isle of Wight accent is a somewhat stronger version of the traditional Hampshire dialect, featuring the dropping of some consonants and an emphasis on longer vowels. This is similar to the West Country drawl heard in south-western England. In common with many other English regional dialects and accents, a strong island accent is not now commonly heard, and as speakers tend to be older, this decline is likely to continue.
The island also has its own local and regional words. Some words, including grockle (visitor) and nipper/nips (a younger person) are still commonly used and are shared with neighbouring areas. A few are unique to the island, for example overner (a mainlander who has settled on the island) and caulkhead (someone born on the island or, for sticklers, those born there from long-established island stock). Other words are more obscure and used now mainly for comic emphasis, such as mallishag (meaning caterpillar) and nammit ("noon-meat", meaning food). Some other words are "Gurt" as in large, also "Gallybagger" as in scarecrow.