Ventnor & District Local History History Articles from 2015
[Not all articles are publicly available here yet – this is work in progress]

A – E

Albert Street School 1: Victorian Schooldays [First published October 2015]
In the 1820s the Hadfield family started a Sunday school in a building in Albert Street to teach reading and writing to the poor people of Ventnor. In The first proper school was built in Albert Street in 1837; it cost £720, paid for by John Hambrough of Steephill Castle, who also appointed the Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress. Twenty years later Albert Hambrough contributed to the cost of rebuilding the school which opened in January 1880 as Ventnor National School.
Read the article here: Albert Street School 1: Victorian Schooldays 

Albert Street School 2: From 1901 to D-Day [First published October 2015]
Ventnor National School provided free elementary education for the children of Ventnor. During WW2 the school was evacuated to The Rugen by Ventnor Park to avoid the bombing, returning to Albert street in 1944 .
Read the article here: Albert Street School 2: From 1901 to D Day

Albert Street School 3: The 1950s – the final years [First published October 2015]
By the 1950s the old school was no longer fit to be used, and in 1956 the Junior School moved to the building in Leeson Road that had been the Secondary School. Albert Street School closed for ever, and the building was demolished. One of the pupils summed up the move many years later: From outdoor toilets to sheer luxury – and we had a playing field, and swimming lessons at Sandown open-air pool!
Read the article here: Albert Street School 3: The 1950s – the final years

Are You Being Served?  Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 1 [First published July 2015]
Sharpe’s department store in Ventnor High Street was established in the 1890s at Clarence Buildings, 16 and 18 High Street, later taking over the former Chocolate Shop at 20 High Street. In two articles Jenny Nigh (later Gardner) and Margaret Longbottom (later Davidson) recall working there in the 1960s, when they were teenagers, and the owners were Peter and Sybil White. In part one Jenny describes working in the store.
Read the article here: Are You Being Served: Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 1

Are You Being Served?  Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 2 [First published July 2015]
In part two of this story, Margaret Longbottom (later Davidson) recalls working in Sharpe’s in Ventnor in Ventnor the 1960s
Read the article here: Are You Being Served: Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 2

The Cascade, Ventnor [First published October 2015]
The story of the Cascade, constructed in 1902-3 by the then town surveyor, Edgar James Harvey.
Read the article here: The Cascade, Ventnor 

Coach, Horse and Slipper [First published November 2015]
Coaches on the roads in Ventnor in the nineteenth century needed to use a brake shoe, or brake slipper, to prevent accidents on the steep hills of the town.
Read the article here: Coach, Horse, and Slipper

F – G

Far from Ventnor: John Frederick Bligh Livesay [First published May 2015]
John Frederick Bligh Livesay, known as ‘Fred’, (1875-1944) was one of the sons of Ventnor architect  John Gillatt Livesay,  The family lived in Madeira Road in a house (Cromartie) built by his father. Fred emigrated to Canada where he became a successful journalist.
Read the article here: Far from Ventnor: John Frederick Bligh Livesay

Frederick Livesay – A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s: Part 1 [First published November 2015]
John Frederick Bligh Livesay’s memories of his family and his childhood growing up in Ventnor.
Read the article here: Frederick Livesay  – A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s: Part 1

Frederick Livesay – A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s: Part 2 [First published November 2015]
John Frederick Bligh Frederick Livesay’s memories of his family and his childhood growing up in Ventnor.
Read the article here: Frederick Livesay – A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s:   Part 2 [First published November 2015]

From Florist to Calves Foot Jelly [First published October 2015]
The story of St John’s House, at the top end of Madeira Road/Trinity Road, built 1850, and run for many years a shop. Shopkeepers and other occupants have included B C Stuart Mackenzie, a florist and seedsman trading in 1867, W Y Brown, an Estate Agent, who had settled in Ventnor in the 1860s to be a teacher at the Literary and Scientific Institution, George Amis and family, T H Loosemore, T Hamilton Urry (a Solicitor) and Frank Parker and his three unwed sisters. Later renamed The Corner House, Miss Margaret Milne Parker was living there in 1951, and the shop was run by Mrs F Scott Mr and Mrs T.H. Lewis in 1958. From 1989 onwards it was sold off or auctioned as separate flats or maisonettes.
Read the article here: From Florist to Calves Foot Jelly

Furnishing your home: Sharpe’s in Spring Hill [First published December 2015]
Read the article here: Furnishing your home: Sharpe’s in Spring Hill

Growing up in Whitwell: Part 1 – the 1930s [First published November 2015]
Read the article here: Growing up in Whitwell: Part 1 – the 1930s

Growing up in Whitwell: Part 1 – the 1940s [First published November 2015]
Read the article here: Growing up in Whitwell: Part 2 – the 1940s

H – O

John (‘Jack’) Jenkins of the IOW Rifles [First published August 2015]
Read the article here: John (‘Jack’) Jenkins of the IOW Rifles

Longdown Infants Part 1 [First published August 2015]
Read the article here: Longdown Infants Part 1

Longdown Infants Part 2 – Coronation Day 1953 [First published September 2015]
Read the article here: Longdown Infants Part 2 – Coronation Day 1953

Mark Norman – Geologist, Diarist, Politician, Fishmonger, Parent . . . [First published 2015]
The life of Mark Norman, one of Ventnor’s most interesting residents.
Read the article here: Mark Norman – Geologist, Diarist, Politician, Fishmonger, Parent . . .

A New Harbour for Ventnor 1: 1863 – Ventnor Celebrates [First published July 2015]
The opening of the western section of Ventnor’s new refuge harbour on Monday 29th June 1863, and the story of the wreck of the paddle steamer Chancellor there two days later.
Read the article here: A New Harbour for Ventnor 1: 1863 – Ventnor Celebrates

A New Harbour for Ventnor 2: 1864 – Tugboat to Littlehampton [First published August 2015]
By the late spring of 1864 Ventnor’s new refuge harbour was almost finished. Goods and merchandise could be shipped in, and on 10 May 1864 a converted steam tug, Antagonist started running a passenger service to Littlehampton and back. But with no proper accommodation on board Antagonist for passengers,  who had to share deck space shared with cargo, the Harbour Company directors were soon planning to build two fast steamers to handle passenger traffic to mainland ports.
Read the article here: A New Harbour for Ventnor 2: 1864 – Tugboat to Littlehampton

P – S

Pound Lane celebrates VJ-Day [First published August 2015]

School Days: Ventnor Secondary Modern School 1953-4 [First published July 2015]

Sharpe’s Christmas Bazaar – December 1909 [First published December 2015]
Read the article here: Sharpe’s Christmas Bazaar – December 1909

Shipwrecks 1: HMS Eurydice [First published April 2015]
The story of the wreck of HMS Euryice off Ventnor.
Read the article here: Shipwrecks 1 HMS Eurydice

Shipwrecks 2: The Clarendon [First published April 2015]
Read the article here: Shipwrecks 2: The Clarendon

Shipwrecks 3: The Underley [First published May 2015]
Read the article here: Shipwrecks 3: The Underley

W – Z

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 1: Home Life [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This is the first of three articles using her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor, and mentions home and school life during the war, and Vivian Yorke’s part in the rescue of a Wellington Bomber crew adrift off Ventnor.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 1: Home Life

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 2: Raids on Ventnor [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This second  of three articles using her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor, and mentions home life and the disruption and damage caused by air raids at Ventnor, the fortifications on Ventnor beach to prevent invasion, and school days at Ryde High School.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 2: Raids over Ventnor

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 3: In the Country [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This is the final article  of three based on her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor. It mentions the family moving to the country (St Lawrence) to escape the Ventnor bombing, the anti-aircraft battery on the cliffs, using a  Morrison shelter in the home,  secondary school at Steephill Castle,  and D Day.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 3: In the Country

 

The 2015 articles below are not yet on the public website –  they’ll be available soon

H – N

Hillside Hotel Part 1: Origins and Ownership [First published April 2015]

Hillside Hotel Part 2: the Mitchells and later ownership [First published April 2015]

The Local Government of Ventnor [First published June 2015]

T – V

A Tale of Two Shops 1: Trueman – Tailor and Hatter [First published September 2015]

A Tale of Two Shops 2: ‘Fitze Modes’ [First published September 2015]

Ventnor & Bonchurch Literary and Scientific Institution in 1910 [First published May 2015]

Ventnor Esplanade in the 1860s [First published February 2015]

Ventnor Families: The Field Family – Waving a Last Goodbye [First published March 2015]

Ventnor’s Fire Brigade from the 1920s [First published 1 October 2015]

W – Z

The Wednesday Junior Football Team [First published March 2015]

Were you there when the Pier re-opened in the summer of 1955? [First published May 2015]

Were you there when Ventnor was bombed? [First published June 2015]