Spiritual & Artistic Wight

…with our Island expert

There are ghost tours and ghost tours. Many are intended to thrill and scare. That is NOT the kind that we are offering. Our partner Marc Tuckey and his team lead tours all over the Island and you will have a lot to choose from.  We will liaise with you as to which tour will best suit you personally and fit in well with your itinerary. He is an Island historian who is both highly entertaining and informative. He will introduce you to many Island characters – both real and fictional and the inclusion of some Island folklore will be a given. Will you see a ghost? Well, you just might – that’s if you are open to the idea but they certainly won’t be of the scary variety. 

You will meet Marc again on our ‘Gardens & Villages’ page. Simply contact us and we will talk you through all the options and take things from there.

Back of the Wight’ – South-West

As local legend has it, St. Catherine and the devil had a competition to determine who would control the Isle of Wight. This would be decided by throwing a stone from the nearby St. Catherine’s Down and whoever’s stone reached the furthest would be the winner. Sure enough, St. Catherine won! The devil’s smaller stone stands next to it.

The stone marks the entrance to a Neolithic long barrow – where the dead were once buried. People almost certainly worshipped the sun and moon here, making this an incredibly old site of huge spiritual significance to many. Even today, some locals still gather to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes and other occasions besides.

4,000 years after it was built (i.e. in Saxon times), ‘mootstones’ were places where people would meet and where judicial and administrative affairs were carried out. 

The Longstone was probably used as a ‘mootstone’ (which gave its name to the village of Mottistone). The Stone is situated in a magnificent area of rolling downlands and is reached via an off the beaten track pathway from the village of Mottistone itself. This is a wonderful walk but not too far for those of you who don’t have time or aren’t able to do a longer one – we can thoroughly recommend this!  

It is also right next to Mottistone Manor – which we recommend you might well like to combine with your walk up to the Longstone. Immediately opposite is the church of St. Peter and Paul – also well worth a visit.  If you combine this with a stop at the nearby Sun Inn for refreshmment then continue on to St. Catherine’s Oratory – (also taking a peep at the beautiful St. Catherine’s lighthouse) you will indeed have an idyllic stand-alone tour in itself – combining beautiful land- and seascapes!

South-West

Mottistone Manor (National Trust) is a listed building which was mentioned as far back as 1086 in the Domesday Book.
The house has been added to over time but the main part of it is 15th century.

It isn’t generally open to the public but is best known for its Gardens. It has been home to the well-known Seely family for generations.

The most well-known member of the family was Jack Seely, friend of Winston Churchill, and famous as much as anything else for going both TO WWI and returning FROM it on his beloved horse Warrior.

Today, clients are also very much interested in the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch and wife Sophie Hunter (a descendent of the Seely family) held their wedding reception here in 2015.

St. Peter and St. Paul Church, where the Cumberbatch wedding took place, is a grade I medieval listed building dating from the 12th century although much of the present one is from the 15th. Its chancel was reroofed in 1862 using timbers from the Bermudan barque ‘Cedrene’ which was wrecked nearby when it was only 16 days old! It was later restored by the Victorians in 1863.

South-East

Known by locals affectionately as ‘the Pepperpot’ – because this is what it resembles! One of the oldest monuments on the Island, it stands on one of the highest parts of it.

The area was once the site of a prehistoric burial mound and of a small medieval oratory (chapel), the west tower of which is thought to have been used as a lighthouse.

It seems that it was erected by Walter de Godeton, a local landowner who was punished by the Church for stealing wine from a shipwreck of 1314 in the nearby Chale Bay. The ship was laden with wine heading for a monastery in Picardy.

The building of the oratory (and lighthouse) was an act of penance to avoid excommunication from the Church.
The light was maintained by a priest who had to pray for souls lost at sea.

This practice seemingly continued until the dissolution of the monasteries and Reformation in the 16th century.

South-East

This beautiful white lighthouse was built in 1838 to replace the Oratory and guide ships into the English Channel. Although the building of a lighthouse was attempted in 1785, the project was abandoned due to frequent fog. The fog also affected the initial building of the current one – requiring the tower to be lowered in 1875, as it was too high and the light couldn’t be seen in foggy conditions. The lighthouse was automated in 1997. It is situated on St. Catherine’s Point at the southernmost tip of the Island. Its tower has 94 steps leading to the lantern.

West

Headon Warren is an area of national maritime importance, located at the extreme western tip of the Island.

It is at its most spectacular when covered with its extensive heather bloom in late summer and autumn.
The combination of heather and gorse provide not only spectacular colour but also a rich habitat for rare species of wildlife.

The area also affords the most breathtaking views of the Needles rocks and lighthouse that you could imagine!
The whole experience of walking up there and descending down to Alum Bay is simply stunning.

Nowhere better springs to mind for those seeking the opportunity to truly feel at one with nature.

As for its history, in Neolithic times, namely 5,000 years ago, trees were cleared to allow the grazing of sheep and cattle.
In the 15th century, rabbits were farmed here for their fur and for food. Now rabbits are allowed to graze the site as part of its management plan.

A Bronze Age barrow, 3,500 years old, was excavated in the 13th century during the reign of Henry III.
It had been believed that a local chieftain was buried inside, with jewellery, ornaments and weapons, but nothing was found during the excavation.

The Dairyman’s Daughter and Little Jane of Brading – the Isle of Wight as a site of Christian pilgrimage (Central)

Elizabeth Wallbridge (The Dairyman’s Daughter) was born in 1771 and grew up and died in the small village of Arreton.

The Reverend Legh Richmond was a religious writer and curate of the church at Brading. He was inspired to write a book about her and she in turn became an inspiration to others.

She came from a poor but upright family had seemingly led a somewhat wilful life up until the age of 26 but ‘found religion’ after listening to a particular sermon.
Thereafter she became a devout Biblical student, all the more so after becoming sick, eventually dying at the age of 31.

It was his discussions with her leading up to her death that prompted him to write the book in 1828.
14 years later, its circulation exceeded four million copies written in 19 languages.

This led many to make a pilgrimage to her grave, including Queen Victoria.

If visiting her grave in the churchyard of St. George’s is of interest to you, it is immediately next to Arreton Barns – a place where you can visit several local craft shops.
There is also a nice pub there to take some refreshment called, unsurprisingly, ‘The Dairyman’s Daughter’.

Richmond also writes about ‘Little Jane’ – in his book entitled ‘Annals of the Poor’.

Jane Squibb was born into poverty and attended his Bible classes in St. Mary’s Church, Brading starting around 1797.

She too became increasingly religious – inspired by the inscription on a tombstone in the churchyard.
She too became severely ill at the mere age of 14 and the reverend gentleman also visiting her at her bedside for a long while until her own premature death in 1799.

As with Elizabeth not so very long before, he was more than impressed by her piety and religious understanding.

If you wish, you can look at both her grave and pretty thatched cottage (a Grade II listed building) in the attractive village of Brading.

This is a lovely church in a beautiful setting.

Strangely, several of our clients have visited this place with me when tracing their family history.
This particular area – full as it is of beautiful old farmhouses, has proved to be the end of the line for quite a few of our clients’ ancestry searches.

We have brought both Australian and American clients here.
On this photograph, two of our clients are searching the headstones to find their own ancestors. Were they successful? Yes, they were!

Meanwhile, inside the church – something very mysterious and fascinating once happened – or did it?

True, we now know it to be a fabricated story – but this makes it none the less appealing and wonderfully constructed and is very much part of Island folklore.

Are we going to tell you the story here? Of course not!
Come and hear it for yourselves from us where it took place.

It involves a 14th century knight and a beautiful 19th century girl – oh, and a horse. And that’s as much as you are going to get for now!

Central

This was originally the home of an order of Dominican nuns who belonged to the Order of Preachers, founded in southern France by the Spaniard Dominic of Guzman at the beginning of the 13th century.
It was then called St. Dominic’s Priory.

In 1865 it became the home of the Lady Countess of Clare, a devout Catholic convert.

The Priory has a distinctly Pugin-influenced style with a heavy Gothic style and many of its features, both those of the main building and also its gateway have contributed to its Grade II listing.

Queen Victoria herself counts among the visitors to the Priory.

It is now a registered charity and can be visited and admired, including its simple but wonderful coffee shop.
Its garden is also truly beautiful and the whole place exudes peace and yes, spirituality.

If you walk to the bottom of the garden you will find the nuns’ cemetery – again, simple but somehow awe-inspiring.

We will be very happy to take you there to show you this wonderful place – one which is often overlooked.