Ventnor Heritage Centre

"To Collect, Record and preserve the rich heritage and history of Ventnor and surrounding villages, and share it with local and wider communities"

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Ventnor Heritage Centre

Heritage Centre Opening Times January – April 2025:

  • January 2025:
    The Heritage Centre will be closed to visitors throughout January for major reorganisation of the archive room, but  you can contact us by email – and our online shop is open as usual.
  • 8 February – 5 April 2025:
    Heritage Centre is open Saturday mornings only, 10 am – 1 pm
  • 7 April 2025 – October 2025:
    Heritage Summer opening resumes (days and times to be announced)

Please note that when the Heritage Centre is closed to visitors our Online Shop is still working as normal, and you can also contact us as usual by email or by using the form here:  How to contact us.

Visiting the Ventnor Heritage Centre: 
Location and information for visitors

Monthly Meetings:
31 Jan 2025: Francis Quinn St Catherine’s Lighthouse – From Medieval to Modern
28 Feb 2025: Jo Thornton and Steve Berden The Lost Houses of the Undercliff
28 Mar 2025: Society AGM
Meetings are held a the Yarborough Masonic Hall, Grove road, Ventnor, 7.30-9.30 pm
All Welcome: admission free for History Society members, £2 for non-members.

New exhibitions and publications for  2025 will be announced shortly.

News:
Click here for our News page with information about Society events, publications and exhibitions, and to read our weekly local history article.

Ventnor Heritage Newsletter:
If you are interested in the history of our area and would like news of new publications, talks, and events – click here to sign up for our newsletter.

About the Local History Society:

Ventnor & District Local History Society was established in 1980 to record and preserve the history of our area. In 1987 the Society bought 11  Spring Hill and established the Ventnor Heritage Centre,  with space for a museum as well as room to store our collection of photographs, documents and artefacts.   We undertake research, publish books on the local history of our area, and hold popular monthly meetings.  Click here to see more about the Society, or use the menu on the left of the page to find out more about what we do. If you are interested in joining the Society please get in touch –  we welcome new members.

[The Society is a Registered Charity No 286848]

Donations:

Ventnor and District Local History Society and the Heritage Centre are entirely managed and run by volunteers.  We welcome gifts of objects, photographs and documents of local interest which can be added to our collection (please contact us if you have items to donate).  We are always grateful for financial donations – you can use the Donate button below.

If you are a UK taxpayer you can boost your donation by 25p of Gift Aid for every £1 you donate by completing this form Charity Gift Aid Declaration.



 

Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

Olivia: Portrait of a Life

Olivia Parkes (1881-1962) was born in Walsall in the Midlands, but for many years lived a solitary life in a wooden hut in Myrtle Bay in Ventnor, where local people referred to her as ‘Britannia’, and her life has been a constant source of fascination to local people and visitors. This new exhibition for 2024, inspired in part by the ‘Olivia’ art installation by Teresa Grimaldi and Sarah Vardy shown at Ventnor Fringe Festival in 2023, features a model of Olivia’s home (Britannia’s Hut) and is accompanied by an extensive board display. A new book, 'Britannia, The Extraordinary Life of Olivia Parkes' is available to buy in the Ventnor Heritage Centre, or by post from our Online Shop.  

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