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Castles & Monuments

The fortifications of the Isle of Wight provide an historic insight into the Island’s strategic role throughout history

Carisbrooke Castle dates from Norman times and brings history alive to many thousands of visitors each year. Yarmouth Castle, the Needles Old Battery and Fort Victoria, will be of interest to the military historian as well as the casual visitor

Hilltop monuments such as the Yarborough Monument on Culver Down and the Tennyson Monument on Tennyson Down await discovery by the walker

Upon St Catherine’s Down, you will find the imposing Russian-style Hoy Monument and St Catherines Oratory, the original 14th century lighthouse known locally as the “Pepperpot”

Manor Houses & Royal Residence

Osborne, on the north of the Isle of Wight, was the holiday residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This royal stamp of approval brought many famous Victorians to visit and settle on the Island

Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll and John Keats are just a few of the historical greats who were inspired by this “Enchanted Isle”

There are a number of manor houses on the Island with fine furniture and beautiful artefacts that are open to the public. Some manor grounds are historic landscapes in their own right, many containing walled gardens, fine plant collections and buildings of local and national significance

Ancient Burial Grounds

Overlooking Freshwater Bay lies an earthen long barrow (an ancient tomb), called Headon Warren,  left to us by the Stone Age community which lived there. 

Above the pretty village of Mottistone in West Wight lies the most ambitious of the prehistoric tombs. At the eastern end of the long mound, facing a rising sun, is the Longstone. This great stone pillar is a lasting testimony of Stone Age engineering skills and as a statement of faith in the rising of new life. Bronze Age Islanders crowned their hilltops with bold round burial mounds, now named tumuli

Each tumulus honoured a dead leader and proclaimed, from its position in the landscape, the family territory. Strung out along the tops of the downs, barrows like those on Brook Down and Headon Warren are there for you to find