Ventnor Heritage Centre

"To make the past present, to bring the distant near . . . to call up our ancestors before us with all their peculiarities of language, manners, and garb, to show us over their houses, to seat us at their tables, to rummage their old-fashioned ward-robes, to explain the uses of their ponderous furniture . . . " Thomas Babington Macaulay describing what the study of history can do (written in 1828)

Local History Walks |
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Local History Walks

Guided walks:

We provide occasional guided walks; details are given here when we have one planned.

Trails  to walk on your own:

‘Ventnor Town Trails’: a series of printed ‘Ventnor Town Trails’ are  available  in the Heritage Museum.

‘Ventnor Heritage Trail’: this is series of trail boards around the town, established by the Ventnor & Undercliff Heritage Partnership in 2016.  The first of the boards is located outside the Museum, and copies of the trail leaflet are available in the Museum, or can be downloaded here.

‘St Lawrence Village Trail’ and  ‘St Lawrence Coastal Trail’ (both produced by the Ventnor & Undercliff Heritage Partnership), and the ‘Ventnor Historic (Beer) Walk’ are specially written local history trails visitors can follow by themselves, to explore the fascinating history of our town. They are available to download from this page – click on the images below:

Ventnor Historic (Beer) Walk: An historic stroll through the social history of Ventnor in the early 19th Century (click image to download):

St Lawrence Coastal Trail : (click image to download):

St Lawrence Village Trail  (click image to download):

 

 

 

Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage used to stand overlooking Ventnor Cascade.  It was bought by the Ventnor Urban District Council in 1929 for public use, and renamed the 'Winter Gardens'.  The upper floor served refreshments, and entertainments included open air concerts and dances. In 1936 the Vicarage was demolished and replaced with a new art deco building, which was run by the Council and periodically let to tenants. The new dance hall/concert hall had a magnificent sprung floor which could accommodate a thousand dancers, and many of the biggest bands of the time played at the 'Ventnor Winter Gardens', which at one time was known as 'Cascadia'.  

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