Arreton or Atherton, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Arreton or Atherton, a village and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The village stands 2½ miles SE of Newport; consists of a long straggling street, leading down to the river Main; and has a post office under Newport, which is the money order and telegraph office. The parish contains also the hamlet of Briddlesford. Acreage, 9192; population of the civil parish, 1903; of the ecclesiastical, 1722. Arreton Down, adjacent to the NW end of the village, forms part of the range of chalk hills extending from Culver Cliff to the Needles, commands an extensive and very brilliant view, and is crowned by two barrows. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; value, £280. The church stands in a vale at the foot of the Down, at the head of the village; is an ancient structure, in mixed Norman and Early English, with a low tower of Perpendicular date, and contains some fine monuments of the family of Hohnes, and a curious brass of a knight of 1430. It was one of the six churches given by Fitz-Osborne, soon after the Conquest, to the abbey of Lire in Normandy; it was completely restored in 1886. There are chapels for Bible Christians and Wesleyans. Elizabeth Wallbridge, the "Dairyman's Daughter" of the Rev. Legh Richmond's well-known narrative, was a native. Her father's cottage is on the right of the road to Sandown, and her grave is in the churchyard, marked by a headstone.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Arreton or Atherton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Arreton (St. George))

Maps

Online maps of Arreton or Atherton are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hampshire, 1530, 1575, & 1622-34 is available to view on the Heraldry page.