By the early 1960s, Ventnor Station was rather ‘down at heel’. The ‘Southern Railway’ signage, a relic of railway ownership before ‘British Railways’ took over in 1948, had not been replaced, perhaps an ominous portent. The solution offered to the problems of the ailing rail network was drastic pruning under the ‘Beeching Plan’, including all… read more »
Wollescote occupied a very large land plot on the north side of Spring Hill and was built sometime in the 1860s for a Mr. Thomas Pargeter who came to Ventnor for his health. He figures in the 1871 Census, along with his unmarried 34-year-old sister, Caroline, the house then described as Wollescote Villa. They employed… read more »
At the end of the Second World War, Lowtherville (or Upper Ventnor as it is known today) was less than half the size it is now with just a few roads. There wasn’t a lot for children to do, with very little in the way of entertainment. In 1946 an organisation called ‘The Upper Ventnor Childrens Fund’… read more »
Margaret Dick lived at Madeira Hall where she was attended upon, probably up to her death in March 1879, by Dr. James Mann Williamson who was a doctor who had come to the Royal National Hospital in 1868 and later set up practice in Ventnor in 1876. He prescribed various medication for her, whilst also… read more »
On Sunday 10th December 1911 a severe gale struck Ventnor. The seas were mountainous, breaking over the pier and washing the sea wall from end to end. Repairs to the landing stage had been underway for some weeks and the contractor suffered severe losses with piles stacked ready for driving washed into the sea, some… read more »
Just a quick reminder to all our members of our first 2023 meeting which is today, Friday 27 January. The speaker will be Alex Peaker, Collections Officer, Dinosaur Island Museum, on ‘The Geology and Paleontology of the Isle of Wight’. The meeting / talk is at the Masonic Hall on Grove Road at 7:30 pm…. read more »
Bill Bates was born in Birmingham in 1898 and came with his family to Ventnor in 1911. His parents had taken on the Globe Hotel in the High Street and Bill became an apprentice with Martins, the local coachbuilders. Returning from the War in 1920, he started up a road carrier business, running motor lorries… read more »
The west end of Ventnor’s Esplanade was a popular place for the middle-classes to promenade in the 1860s and 1870s. Walkers on the esplanade would have had clear views of Danebury House on the bend of Bath Road with just beyond it, but facing seaward, three further buildings: Landsdowne House, Brooklyn Villa and Milanese Villa, all… read more »
Cecil Stanley Dennes (known as Tommy), was born in South Street, Ventnor in 1896 and began his working life as a fruiterer’s porter, according to the 1911 Census. A few years later, he had become a butcher, before enlisting in the 8th Btn Hampshire Regiment as a Rifleman in January 1914. He served for 3… read more »
Fred was born at 80 Albert Street in 1910 and attended the National School on that street, taught by F J J Macey. He was the son of Frederick Nobbs, a ‘four-in-hand’ coachman. Driving in some shape or form seems to have been in the blood, for the young Fred started driving a motor vehicle… read more »