ISLE OF WIGHT. 



and in the pits where it is dug for that purpofe, are found 

 numerous echini, (harks' teeth, and ammonia. Thefe foffils 

 are particularly abundant in the range of cliffs which forms 

 the fouthern fhore ; together with bivalve and turbinated 

 fliells of various defcriptions : the cornua ammonis are of all 

 fizcs, from one inch to eighteen inches in diameter. A ftra- 

 tum of coal difcovers itVelf at the foot of Bimbridge cliff, 

 and runs through the fout])ern part of the ifle, appearing 

 again at Warden Ledge, in Frefhwater parilh. On the north 

 fide of this ftratum lies a vein of white fand, and another of 

 fuUer's-earth ; and on th.e fouth fide is a vein of red ochre. 



The foils of the iflai.d are of various kinds ; but the mod 

 prevailing is a ftrong loamy earth, well adapted for agricul- 

 tural purpofes, and extremely fertile. Tlie quantity of 

 grain annually raifed here, is computed to amount to feven or 

 eight times as much as fufficient for all the inhabitants. The 

 medium produce of wheat, throughout the ifland, is about 

 twenty-one bulhels per acre ; of barley and oats about thirty 

 buihels ; and of beans and peas about tvventy-eiglit bufliels : 

 potatoes are very produftive, though not greatly in efteem, 

 and turnips alfo yield a rich increafe. The meadow lands 

 are. extremely fine, and produce from one to three tons of 

 hay per acre. The elevated trails are mollly appropriated 

 to pafturing ftieep ; tlie number annually fiiorn is about 

 40,oco ; the wool is of the fuiell quality,' and in much re- 

 pute ; the breed in general ufe is the Dorfetfhire : about 

 5000 lambs are fold annually. 



The climate is extremely falubriaus, and highly favourable 

 to vegetation : its genial qualities, and near approximation, 

 in mildnefs, to more fouthern regions, may be ijillanccd by 

 the profufion of myrtles, and by the flourifhing Hate of a 

 vine-plantation at Appuldercombe. Tlie central parts of 

 the i(le are fubjeft to frequent rains ; the high range of hills 

 proving a co.f.ltant fource of attraction to the vapours, and, 

 in the winter month.^, involving all beneath them in gloom 

 and humidity. The general fertility, however, is fo little 

 affedled, and the vegetation is fo abundant, that this ifland 

 has often been (lyled the " Garden of England ;" an appel- 

 lation, perhaps, that is partly fuggefted to the mind by the 

 innumerable plants and llowers which grow every where in 

 wild luxuriance ; among them are the ophrys apifera, or bee- 

 orchis ; the digitalis, or fox-glove ; and the cnthmum mari- 

 timum, or rock-famphire. 



The contiguity of the Portfmouth, and other dock-yards 

 for (hip-building, has operated to deprive the Ifle of Wight 

 of much of its timber; and even Tarkhurft, or Carilbrooke 

 foreft, which includes about 3000 acres of good land, is al- 

 moll deftitute of trees of any value. The woods of Swain- 

 fton are of confiderable extent ; and thofe of AVooten and 

 Quarr cover a fuperticies of nearly 1 100 acres : the oak and 

 the :r'm are the moll fiouriir.ing trees. 



Great variety of iifl; is found on the coaft, and in confi- 

 derabk abundance : thofe of the cruftaceous kinds are parti- 

 cularly numerous on the fouthern (hores. The lobiler and 

 crab are of uncommon fize, and peculiar quality ; fome of 

 the former are often taken upwards of fix pounds weight ; 

 the latter fo abundant on a particular part of the coatl, that 

 a neighbouring village has obtained the name of Crab-Niton 

 irom thiscircumftance. Cockles are in high eftimation ; the 

 land-ecl is alfo very plentiful. 



The trade of the Ifle of Wight is flourilhing ; the harbour 

 ♦f Cowcs is particularly convenient for fliipping and un- 

 fliipping mercliandize. The chief imports are coals, tim- 

 ber, deals, iron, wine, hemp, and fruits : the principal ex- 

 ports are v..nc-.i. flour, barley, malt, and fait. The chief 

 manafaftures a:- thofe of (larch, hair-powder, and fait ; and 

 latterly the nwki.ig of wooUcBf, Tasking, &c, has been 



carried to fome extent in the Houfe of Indudry near New- 

 port. 



Several chalybeate fprings have been difcovercd in different 

 carts of the ifland ; one of them, at B'ack Gang, under 

 Chale cliff, is very flrong : about half a mile from this, at 

 Pitland, is a fpring, impregnated with fidphur ; and at 

 Shankin is a fpring, the waters of which arc flightly tinftured 

 with alum. Springs of clear water are very numerous, and 

 in general extremely pure and tranfparent, from the natural 

 percolation which they undergo through the lime-ftone 

 itrata. 



The principal rivers are the Medina, the Yar, and the 

 Wooten. The Medina, anciently called the Mede, rifes 

 near tlie bottom of St. Catherine's Down, and flowing di- 

 re5',ly north^vnrd, divides the ifland into two nearly equ.il 

 parts ; gradually widening in its courfc, it paffes to the call 

 of Newport, and in Cowes harbour unites its waters with tlie 

 ocean. Niunerous fmf.ller ftreams alfo exiil ; and varioxts 

 cre.'ks and bays nm up from the fea. The two diviifons of 

 the iflnnd are called the hundreds, or liberties, of Ea(t and 

 Wed Medina, from their relative fituations to that river. 

 They contain thirty pariflics, in which are comprehended the 

 following boroughs and towns; Brading, Newport, New- 

 town, and Yarmouth ; the three latter of which return fix 

 members to parliament. 



Tlie ancient hiftory of this illand has been a fubjeifl of 

 much controverfy with topographical writers. Whitaker> 

 in iris Hilloi-y of Manchefler, contends that it was formerly 

 connedled witli the main land ; and that it is the Iclis of 

 Diodorus Sieulus. At this port, according to the latter 

 writer, the Britons fiiippcd their tin for Gaul ; but the ori,. 

 ginal tin (laple of Britain was certainly the Cafliterides^ 

 or Scilly iflands. (See Borlafe and Heath's Accounts cf 

 thefe Iliands. ) During the Anglo-Roman dynady this 

 ifland was called Vtdis ; but it does not appear that the 

 Romans had any dation or fettlement here; though they 

 liad two or three confiderable dations on the oppofite coad ; 

 one at Claufentum, near Southampton, and another at 

 Port-cheder. Suetonius, the firll of the Roman authors, 

 who notices the ifland under confideration, dates, that it was 

 fiibdued in A.D. 43 by Vefpafian. Cerdic, a Saxon chieftain 

 and founder of the kingdom of Weffex, made a fecond con- 

 quell of the ifle, and appointed his nephews Sterff and With- 

 gar to govern the inhabitants. In the year 661 it was again 

 fubdued by Wulphure, king of Mercia, but this monarch 

 was difpoHeffed of this trait of land within tlie fpace of i J 

 years. Tlie Danifh marauders afterwards vifited, and took 

 poffeflion of this ifland ; and preferving a port here, they 

 made frequent defcents on the coads of Hampfhn-e, Do:v 

 fetfhire, and Suifex. After the Norman conqueil, tlie ifland 

 was annexed to the crown, and was frequently granted, in 

 trud, to the favourites of different monarchs. 



A lid oi' the different noblemen who were governors, cr 

 lords of the ifland, with the conditions on which it was held, 

 are fully narrated in fir Richard Worfiey's Hidory of the 

 Ifle of Wight. The fituation of this ifland has rendered it 

 liable to invafions in the time of warfare, and particiilajly 

 when France has been at war with England, and many in- 

 dances arc recorded of delcents on tbib coall. To protect 

 the ifland, a large and drong fortrefs, called Carilbrooke 

 cadle, was condrufted at an early period, and has been prc- 

 ferved as a place of refuge and Itrengih even to the prefent 

 time. Here a military goveTor occaiionally refides. Other 

 forts were condrufled on ditt .ent p:rts of the coad ; but 

 the great fortifications at Portfmoutii, uad at other places on 

 the Hamplhire coad, ferve to gu.id tlie ifland. The 

 fouthern (hore is alfo naturally protected by rocks. The 

 1 o* il]an(i 



