Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (/waɪt/ WYTE) is an island, English county and unitary authority in the English Channel, 2 to 5 miles (3 to 8 kilometres) off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as "The Island" by residents,[5] the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire.[6] The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
For other places with the same name, see Isle of Wight (disambiguation).
Isle of Wight
Susan Sheldon[2]
Graham Biss (2024/25)
380 km2 (150 sq mi)
140,794
371/km2 (960/sq mi)
380 km2 (150 sq mi)
140,794
371/km2 (960/sq mi)
GB-IOW
E06000046
UKJ34
The island has been home to the poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Queen Victoria built her summer residence and final home, Osborne House, at East Cowes on the Isle. It has a maritime and industrial tradition of boat-building, sail-making, the manufacture of flying boats, hovercraft, and Britain's space rockets. The island hosts annual music festivals, including the Isle of Wight Festival, which in 1970 was the largest rock music event ever held.[7] It has well-conserved wildlife and some of Europe's richest cliffs and quarries of dinosaur fossils.
The island has played an essential part in the defence of the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth and has been near the front line of conflicts through the ages, having faced the Spanish Armada and weathered the Battle of Britain. Being rural for most of its history, its Victorian fashionability and the growing affordability of holidays led to significant urban development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The island became a separate administrative county in 1890, independent of Hampshire. It continued to share the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire until 1974, when it was made a ceremonial county in its own right. The island no longer has administrative links to Hampshire. However, the two counties share their police force and fire and rescue service, and the island's Anglican churches belong to the Diocese of Portsmouth (originally Winchester). A combined local authority with Portsmouth and Southampton was considered[8] as part of a regional devolution package but was subsequently rejected by the UK government in 2018.[9]
The quickest public transport link to the mainland is the hovercraft (Hovertravel) from Ryde to Southsea. Three vehicle ferries and two catamaran services cross the Solent to Southampton, Lymington, and Portsmouth via the island's largest ferry operator, Wightlink, and the island's second-largest ferry company, Red Funnel. Tourism is the largest industry on the island.
Name[edit]
The oldest records that give a name for the Isle of Wight are from the Roman Empire. It was called Vectis or Vecta in Latin and Iktis or Ouiktis in Greek. Latin Vecta, Old English Wiht, and Old Welsh Gueid and Guith were recorded from the Anglo-Saxon period. The Domesday Book called the island Wit. The modern Welsh name is Ynys Wyth (ynys meaning island). These are all variants of the same name, possibly sharing a Celtic origin[10][11] with Welsh gwaith 'work', a cognate of both Latin vectis ("lever," or literally "the act of lifting") and Old English wiht ("weight").[12] It may mean 'place of the division,' since the island divides the two arms of the Solent.[13]
In Old English, inhabitants of the Isle were known as Wihtware.[14]
Geological map of the island
The Isle of Wight has 489 miles (787 km) of roadway. It does not have a motorway, although there is a short stretch of dual carriageway towards the north of Newport near the hospital and prison.
A comprehensive bus network operated by Southern Vectis links most settlements, with Newport as its central hub.[148]
Journeys away from the island involve a ferry journey. Car ferry and passenger catamaran services are run by Wightlink and Red Funnel, and a hovercraft passenger service (the only such remaining in the world)[149] by Hovertravel.
The island formerly had its own railway network of over 55 miles (89 km), but only one line remains in regular use. The Island Line is part of the United Kingdom's National Rail network, running a little under 9 miles (14 km) from Shanklin to Ryde Pier Head, where there is a connecting ferry service to Portsmouth Harbour station on the mainland network. The line was opened by the Isle of Wight Railway in 1864, and from 1996 to 2007 was run by the smallest train operating company on the network, Island Line Trains. It is notable for utilising old ex-London Underground rolling stock, due to the small size of its tunnels and unmodernised signalling. Branching off the Island Line at Smallbrook Junction is the heritage Isle of Wight Steam Railway, which runs for 5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) to the outskirts of Wootton on the former line to Newport.[150]
There are two airfields for general aviation, Isle of Wight Airport at Sandown and Bembridge Airport.
The island has over 200 miles (322 km) of cycleways, many of which can be enjoyed off-road. The principal trails are:[151]
Prisons[edit]
The Isle of Wight is near the densely populated south of England, yet separated from the mainland. This position led to it hosting three prisons: Albany, Camp Hill and Parkhurst, all located outside Newport near the main road to Cowes. Albany and Parkhurst were among the few Category A prisons in the UK until they were downgraded in the 1990s.[152] The downgrading of Parkhurst was precipitated by a major escape: three prisoners (two murderers and a blackmailer) escaped from the prison on 3 January 1995 for four days, before being recaptured.[153] Parkhurst enjoyed notoriety as one of the toughest jails in the United Kingdom, and housed many notable inmates including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, New Zealand drug lord Terry Clark and the Kray twins.
Camp Hill is located adjacent but to the west of Albany and Parkhurst, on the very edge of Parkhurst Forest, having been converted first to a borstal and later to a Category C prison. It was built on the site of an army camp (both Albany and Parkhurst were barracks); there is a small estate of tree-lined roads with the former officers' quarters (now privately owned) to the south and east. Camp Hill closed as a prison in March 2013.
The management of all three prisons was merged into a single administration, under HMP Isle of Wight in April 2009.
The Isle of Wight has given names to many parts of former colonies, most notably Isle of Wight County in Virginia founded by settlers from the island in the 17th century. Its county seat is a town named Isle of Wight.
Other notable examples include: