The Isle of Wight : its history, topography and antiquities : with notes upon its principal seats, churches, manoral houses, legendary and poetical associations, geology and picturesque localities ... / by W. H. Davenport Adams.

  • Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport), 1828-1891.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Isle of Wight : its history, topography and antiquities : with notes upon its principal seats, churches, manoral houses, legendary and poetical associations, geology and picturesque localities ... / by W. H. Davenport Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    THE TOURIST'S COMPANION. VOYAGE ROUND THE ISLAND. [Steamers leave Southampton, Cowes, and PtYDE for this excursion two or three times a week during the season; but the tourist will best enjoy it if he hire a stout wherry, and make the voyage at his leisure. If he sail from Eyoe, eastward, he may stop for the night at Niton or Black- (jang, landing in Faith Bay; if he sail westward, his best landing-place will be Freshvjciter Gate. If he sail westward from Ventnor, he may stop at Yar- mouth; if eastward, 2it Freshwater Gate. If he start from CowES, his resting-place should be Sandovra, or Ventnor. But much must, of course, depend upon wind and tide.] To describe the various places which the voyager round the Isle of Wight will suc- cessively observe, would be to repeat, to a considerable extent, the information al- ready given. We shall, therefore, content ourselves with enumerating the objects of interest on the island-coast in the order in which they occur, referring the tourist for details to our preceding pages. Starting from Ryde, westward, we pass— Buckinriham Villa; WcstfieJd, Sir Au- gustus Clifford's seat (p. 174); Hyde House, lying back from the shore in the centre of deep, glossy foliage (p. 175); Bhistead (p. 159), where bright and blooming garden- grounds descend to the very margin of the sea (p. 175); Quarr Abbey, whose wild ruins are clearly discernible (pp. lGO-163); Woot- ton Creek, running inland through a wooded country (p. 163); Kinrjs Key, the small inlet associated by tradition with the memory of Kin:;'.John fp. 101); Barton, and Osborne Woods (p. 100); Osborne, Mith its exquisite terraces and lawn (pp. 100, 101); Norris Castle (p. 102); East C'oi«'S (p. 96); conspicuous on the bluff of the hill. East Cov:es Castle (p. 102); and the broad estuary of the Medina, with West Cocoes on its farther bank, — Messrs. White's dockyard and the Eoyal Yacht Club House (West Cowes Castle) principally attracting the at- tention (pp. 93, 94). From West Cowes we pass on to— Egypt, a picturesquely-situated mansion ; Gurnard Bay (p. 98), and its low, uninterest- ing shore; Piew Street, the point where the old Eomano-Celtic road across the island terminated (p. 95). The cliffs here are com- posed of alternating beds of clay and lime- stone, the latter abounding in fresh-water shells and gyrogonites. In Thorney B((y [which we next reach] similar strata are ex- posed, with layers of blue clay and sand, containing marine shells. Newton River, and Harnpstead Ledge, consisting of cal- careous marls, where fluviatile shells are abundantly found, are next gained, and sweeping along a low, wooded coast, we soon arrive at Yarwovth, and the mouth of the river Yar (p. 223). From Yabbiouth we proceed to— The headland formerly crowned by Wors- ley's Tower (p. 43) and Carey's Sconce (p. 47), observing the new defences, which, in con- junction with Hurst Castle on the mainland, command the passage of the Needles. Next we enter Colwell Bay (p. 236), where marine and fresh-water strata are alternated; and in the fissure called Bramble Chine a thick bed of oyster-shells is exposed, apparently in its original state, the valves being in con-