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Wootton, Fishbourne and QuarrIsle of Wight |
Old postcards are sometimes poorly produced and grainy, I've done my best to scan them. Please click thumbnails for full size picture. Dates are from the card or my estimate (where possible).
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we soon arrive at FISHBOURNE, a
small collection of small huts at the month of Fishbourne Creek, or, as it
is more commonly called, WOOTTON RIVER.
At high water— for the river is tidal as far as Wootton
Bridge—the scene from this point is by no means devoid of beauty. The
sloping banks are fringed with oak-copses, whose pendent branches are
pleasantly reflected in the lucent waves shimmering beneath; which,
above the causeway, broaden into an ample and tranquil lake.
WOOTTON
(i.e. Wood-town) contains 524 acres. Population in 1861, 79. The rectory,
valued at £240, is in the gift of F. White Popham, Esq.
Black's Guide to the Isle of Wight, 1870
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This colourful picture shows the creek looking towards Wootton Bridge around 1905 |
Wootton Bridge around 1925, the bridge, not shown on the postcard, it is to the right. |
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Described as Wootton 'Silent and clear' dated 1912 |
Wootton Creek looking from Lakeside (now closed) across Wootton Bridge towards the Solent. Dixon card probably from the 1970's |
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Little Canada holiday camp, on the west side of Wootton Creek. As the name suggests, it was themed like Canada, there were log cabins and named after Canadian provinces. It is now a children's activity centre. |
Another view of Little Canada, reflecting the Canadian theme from about 1960. (Valentine) |
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"The village of Fishbourne requires the tide to be in to show it to advantage. It is then still a very pretty spot, though somewhat modernized since the institution of the motor car ferry between here and Portsmouth..... ....slipways enable cars to be conveniently shipped by their own power on to specially constructed boats, obviating the necessity of lifting. Driver and passengers may remain in their car during the crossing. Charges:
Ward Locks Guide to the Isle Wight around 1930 |
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Looking down the slipway at Fishbourne ferry terminal, undated |
An unidentified ferry at Fishbourne ferry terminal, undated |
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Quarr old abbey ruins, probably around 1910 |
The new abbey, Quarr 1936 |
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The inside of Quarr Abbey (described as 'Church of Our Lady of Quarr'), probably from the 1930's |
Not in the Wootton area, this shows the former home of the Quarr community, Appuldurcombe House, near Wroxall then known as St Peter's Abbey. From around 1903. |
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An unusual card showing the entrance to the farm yard at Quarr, postmarked 1909. |
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Quarr
Abbey takes
its name from the once extensively worked quarries in the locality. The
original Abbey, of which a few ruins may still be seen, was founded in 1132
by Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon and Lord of the Island. Here he
and his wife and son, and a number of other distinguished personages,
including the Lady Cicely, second daughter of Edward IV and godmother of
Henry VIII, were buried. The abbey was tenanted by the Cistercians and was
the second house of the kind established in England. By careful
management and successive endowments, the property shortly became the most
valuable in the Island, and the Abbot was a person of so much consequence
that he was appointed Warden or Lord of the Island. In 1340
special licence was obtained to fortify the place against the attacks
of sea-rovers, and the remains of the stone wall, with sea gate and
portcullis, then erected, may still be traced. At the Dissolution of the
Monasteries the property passed into the possession of a prosaic merchant
of Southampton, by name George Mills, who promptly razed most of the
buildings to the ground for the sake of the materials and turned the land
to agricultural uses. Part of the ruins have now been restored and are
used as a farm.
A
quarter of a mile beyond the ruins the visitor turns to the right up the
drive leading to the New Abbey, a remarkable piece of modern architecture
erected in 1904 for the accommodation of a body of Benedictine monks expelled
from France in 1901.
They settled first at Appuldurcombe House, near Wroxall, and then
here. In 1922
they returned to France at the invitation of the French Government.
They, however, left a colony here, open to British as well as to French
recruits, keeping the same rule and life as the large community in France.
The Chapel, in the Byzantine style, is strikingly magnificent with its pointed arches over nave and chancel. The peculiarity of the very short nave and very long chancel is explained by the fact that it is a monks’ chapel.
Ward Locks Guide to the Isle Wight around 1930
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| Binstead, Church of the Holy Cross, around 1910 | A smugglers grave, Binstead |
This picture, above right shows the gravestone of Thomas Sivell in Binstead churchyard. The inscription reads:
To the memory of THOs SIVELL who was cruely fhot on board his floop by fome officers of customs of the Port of Portfmouth on the 15th June 1785 at the age of 64 years leaving a difconfolate widow & family.
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All you that pafs pray look and fee How foon my life was took from me By those officers as you hear They fpilled my Blood that was fo dear But God is Good and juft and true And will reward each to their due |
Note: At this time an 'f' was often used in place of an 's' in the English language
Freshwater | Totland | Alum Bay and the Needles | Yarmouth | Shalfleet | Newtown | Calbourne | Carisbrooke Castle | Newport and Carisbrooke | Cowes and Gurnard | Osborne House | Wootton, Fishbourne and Quarr | Ryde | Seaview | Bembridge | Brading | Sandown | Shanklin | Godshill | Arreton Valley | Ventnor | St Lawrence and the Undercliff | St Catherine's Lighthouse's | Niton | Blackgang Chine | Blackgang and Chale | Brighstone and Shorwell | Mottistone to Compton