Niton, Isle of Wight
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| Niton | |
| Civil parish | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Parish |
| Population: | |
| Administration | |
| Primary council: | Isle of Wight |
| Politics | |
Niton is a village on the Isle of Wight, near Ventnor with a thriving population of approximately 3000 supporting two pubs, several churches, a butcher, a pharmacy and 3 local shops including a post office.
St Catherine's Lighthouse was bombed in World War II, receiving a direct hit on the boiler house that killed three lighthouse keepers. The lighthouse itself was only slightly damaged, its lens only being chipped; the same lens is still used today.
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[edit] Geography
Niton village is split into two halves by a break in the inner cliff large enough to house the main road through Niton. Upper Niton lies in a hollow and is set around a crossroads. The lower part of the village, below the inner cliff is often known as Niton Undercliff, and was a small fishing hamlet until the 19th Century. This part of Niton flourished in Victorian times due to the popularity of Ventnor as a health resort, and many mansions and holiday cottages were built here. The road on the Undercliff continues east from Niton towards Ventnor. The Undercliff at Niton includes the most southerly point of the Isle of Wight, St. Catherine's Point and St. Catherine's Lighthouse.
The source of the Eastern Yar is in the parish, a little to the north of the village.
Together with Whitwell, Niton composes a civil parish.[1]
[edit] Niton Church
Niton church has a sixteenth-century tower and squat spire. The church has both Norman and mediaeval walls. The 15th century chancel is of the "Decorated Period", and has a rich modern reredos. There is a porch from the 14th century and the large Norman font that has a band of moulding and pointed arches on round pillars is about 700 years old.
On the wall can be found a memorial portrait by John Flaxman, depicting a woman holding pelicans in her hand in relief.
The registers, which date from 1560, show the following entry:
July the 1st, Anno Domini 1675. Charles II, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, etc., came safely ashore at Puckaster, after he had endured a great and dangerous storm at sea.."[2]
In front of the porch is a modern Celtic cross inserted in the four steps of the old churchyard cross. Near the Celtic cross a marble monument covers the grave of Edward Edwards, (1812- 1886) the pioneer of the public library movement.
[edit] History
Marconi used Knowles Farm in Niton as a location for radio experiments when he was living on the Isle of Wight in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In January 1901, he transmitted radio signals a record 186 miles from his transmitter station at Knowles Farm at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight to his Lizard Radio Telegraph Station at the southern tip of Cornwall. There is a stone at Knowles Farm into which is cut the inscription, "This is to commemorate that Marconi set up a wireless experimental station here in A.D. 1900". While in Niton, Marconi stayed at the Royal Sandrock Hotel[3] in Undercliff.
[edit] Transport
Southern Vectis bus route 6 serves the village on its way between Newport and Ventnor, including intermediate towns.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ English Parishes & Welsh Communities N&C 2004
- ^ WARD LOCK & Co's Illustrated Guide Book to the Isle of Wight, 1848
- ^ The Royal Sandrock Hotel no longer exists.
- ^ Southern Vectis - bus route 6. www.islandbuses.info (2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
[edit] External links
