Ventnor Heritage Centre

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Local History Articles 2020 |
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Local History Articles 2020

Ventnor & District Local History History Articles from 2020

Articles are listed in alphabetical order by title.
(No articles published from mid-March until early July due to the  Covid 19 pandemic)

A-B

Annie Bucket’s [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 10 December 2020].
Read the article here: Annie Bucket’s

Barque Catalina [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 19 November 2020]
Read the article here: Barque Catalina 

Belgrave Road subsidence [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 30 Jan 2020]
Belgrave Road is closed due to subsidence.  Heavy rain has fallen since August 2019 and January has seen torrential rain. A landslip occurred in front of the Marine Hotel about 1850. The Hotel had cellars and a photo shows William ‘Tusker’ Weeks sitting in the Royal Marine Tap in one of the cellars. By Michael Freeman.
Read the article here: Belgrave Road subsidence

Before they were famous: the Winter Gardens summer 1965 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 10 September 2020]
Read the article here: Before they were famous: the Winter Gardens summer 1965 

Bonchurch Shops a Century Ago [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 15 October 2020]
Read the article here: Bonchurch Shops a Century Ago

Bowling in Ventnor 1 – 1886-1926 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 30 July 2020]
Read the article here: Bowling in Ventnor 1 – 1886-1926 

Bowling in Ventnor 2 – 1927 – 2020 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 6 August 2020]
Read the article here: Bowling in Ventnor 2 – 1927 – 2020

Building the Eastern Esplanade [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 13 August 2020]
Read the article here: Building the Eastern Esplanade

C-G

The Cambronne and the German Sea Eagle[first published in the South Wight Chronicle 6 Feb 2020]
Photograph of the sailing ship Cambronne off Ventnor coast in 1913, prompting the story of her capture by the German SMS Seeadler (Sea Eagle) commanded by Count Felix von Luckner. By Lesley Telford
Read the article here: The Cambronne and the German Sea Eagle

Christmas Week 1950 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 24 December 2020]
Read the article here: Christmas Week 1950

Cook’s Castle – Gone but not forgotten [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 9 July 2020]
Read the article here: Cook’s Castle – Gone but not forgotten

The Earliest Maps of Ventnor [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 12 March 2020]
Describing some of the earliest maps we have of Ventnor.  The earliest map of Ventnor dates from 1729, and the first published Ordnance Survey map of the town from 1862. But other useful sources are a map made by 1793 by the Ordnance Survey when looking at potential landing areas for French troops, and the Newchurch Parish Tithe Map of 1841. By Dr Jeffrey Mazo
Read the article here: The Earliest Maps of Ventnor

Green with seasickness on the Dandie Dinmont [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 27 August 2020]
Read the article here: Green with seasickness on the Dandie Dinmont

H-L

Happy memories – Ventnor putting greens in the 1960s [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 2 July 2020]
Read the article here: Happy memories – Ventnor putting greens in the 1960s

Henry de Vere Stacpoole [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 3 December 2020]
Read the article here: Henry de Vere StacpooleInnell Jolliffe – Newspaper Owner [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 1 October 2020]
Read the article here: Innell Jolliffe – Newspaper OwnerThe Island’s first super cinema [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 3 September 2020]
Read the article here: The Island’s first super cinemaThe Landslip Tea Tent [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 27 Feb 2020]
In the early 1920’s Luccombe Common Tea Gardens (‘The Landslip Refreshment Tent’) was owned by the Channing family. Between the wars the Channings had various tea rooms and this one became the Smugglers Haven. By Colin Beavis.
Read the article here: The Landslip Tea Tent The Lowtherville Tunnel [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 9 Jan 2020]
Many houses were being built in Lowtherville at the end of the nineteenth century and the lie of the land prompted the Ventnor Urban District Council to construct a sewage tunnel with a downward slope. Mentions the foreman George Bucket and shows his daughter, Annie Bucket, outside her house on the corner of Newport Road close to Steephill Down Road.  By Colin Beavis.
Read the article here: The Lowtherville Tunnel

M-R

Michael Hoy (pt 1) [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 29 October 2020]
Read the article here: Michael Hoy (pt 1)

Michael Hoy (pt 2) [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 5 November 2020]
Read the article here: Michael Hoy (pt 2)

Mill Street in 1867 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 12 November 2020]
Read the article here: Mill Street in 1867

Morant’s Café and Terrace [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 23 July 2020]
Read the article here: Morant’s Café and Terrace

A mystery picture [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 13 Feb 2020]
Among the many thousands of photographs in the Society’s archive, there are some for which there is little identification as to either place or to person. This one dates from the 1920s, so nearly one hundred years ago. shows a young lad sitting on a stone footbridge across a stream holding a length of string attached to his toy sailing boat – there is a note on the back of the image stating that it might be Stenbury, but it might be Southford or Ford Farm, or possibly even Roud. By Michael Freeman.
Read the article here: A mystery picture

On Ventnor Beach in the 1860s [first published in the South Wight Chronicle January 2020]
Victorian rules of behaviour were very specific on how men and women should behave in mixed society, which meant that managing mixed bathing at the seaside was a nightmare.  By Lesley Telford (Includes extracts from an article by Fay Brown published in the South Wight Chronicle in June 2000.)
Read the article here: On Ventnor Beach in the 1860s

A picture of the past: Belgrave Road as it once was [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 23 Jan 2020]
A picture of Belgrave Road and the Royal Marine Hotel as it was in 1908 when it was one of Ventnor’s premier hotel. owned by William Mew Judd. Built in the late 1830s it was enlarged several times and was patronised by royalty, including Queen Victoria, and by celebrities such as Ellen Terry and Henry Irving.  Also mentions Gothic Villa in Belgrave road.  By Lesley Telford
Read the article here: A picture of the past: Belgrave Road as it once was

Pier Destruction of 1881 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 26 November 2020]
Read the article here: Pier Destruction of 1881

S-Z

Sea Cote, Madeira Road [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 8 October 2020]
Read the article here: Sea Cote, Madeira Road

Sir James Clark (1788-1870)  [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 5 March 2020]
Clark’s book The influence of climate in the prevention and cure of chronic diseases (1830) led to Ventnor becoming a winter sanatorium for invalids with tuberculosis. Describes the career of Clark, who became physician to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. By Richard Downing and Michael Freeman.
Read the article here: Sir James Clark (1788-1870)

Snowed in on High Street Dec 1950 [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 17 December 2020]
Read the article here: Snowed in on High Street Dec 1950

Thomas Hawkins FGS   [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 17 September 2020]
Read the article here: Thomas Hawkins FGS

Ventnor’s ‘Umbrella Surgeon’ [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 24 September 2020]
Read the article here: Ventnor’s ‘Umbrella Surgeon’

Water Carts on Ventnor’s streets [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 16 July 2020]
Read the article here: Water Carts on Ventnor’s streets

William John (Billy) Flint [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 6 Feb 2020]
Billy Flint had a confectionery, tobacconist and newsagents shop in Ventnor High Street. He was involved with the Wardenettes and founded the ‘Ventucky Minstrels’ a popular local variety troupe. In retirement he worked for the RSPCA and had a sanctuary in St Lawrence. By Colin Beavis
Read the article here: William John (Billy) Flint

Wood’s First Class Toilet Saloon [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 22 October 2020]
Read the article here: Wood’s First Class Toilet Saloon

Wyatt’s Stores : the village shop that survived [first published in the South Wight Chronicle 20 August 2020]
Read the article here: Wyatt’s Stores : the village shop that survived

Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

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