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)

Ventnor Heritage Centre Monthly Meetings |
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Ventnor Heritage Centre Monthly Meetings

The speakers cover a wide range of topics and focus on the history of Ventnor, surrounding area and the Isle of Wight. Meetings are very well attended and are held at the Masonic Hall in Grove Road, Ventnor, starting at 7.30 pm.  Entry is free to members of the Society,  visitors are very welcome, entrance is £2.00

Upcoming Meetings for 2019:

25th January              Robin McInnes                       The Most Painted Place – Bonchurch and the Isle of Wight School of Artists

22nd February           Susan Weeks                          At Home With the Spartali Family

29th March                 Annual General Meeting        Filmshow to be confirmed

26th April                    Brian Greening                      Island Life 100 Years Ago

31st May                     Delian  Backhouse-Fry          The Archaeology of the Undercliff

28th June                    John Medland                        The Island in the Domesday Book

26th July                     Donna Needham                    Around the Island in 115(ish) Churches

27th September          Richard Downing                   Ventnor Breweries

25th October                Andy Butler                           Title to be confirmed

29th November            Mark Earp                              Queen Victoria on the IOW. Tales of the expected and unexpected

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our past guest speakers for sharing their time and knowledge with us.

A Society Meeting

Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

Old Park, St Lawrence is thought to date back to 900 AD, and  may have been a hunting lodge. The present house was built in 1740. In 1865 a new wing was added to the house;  Sir John Cheape  installed central heating and plumbing: there were three taps in bathroom - one labelled 'Hot', one 'Cold' and one 'Rainwater'. When Walter Spindler owned the house in the 1880s he imported and planted a million trees on the Old Park Estate  and had water pumps  erected in Whitwell for the people living there to use. Actress Sarah Bernhardt visited – she had a liaison with Mr Spindler, who painted her portrait. In its latter days Old Park was owned by Thornton Family, and the 'Bird Park' and Glass making factory were on the estate.

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