Bembridge, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Bembridge, a village and a chapelry in Brading parish, Isle of Wight. The village stands on the E side of Brading Harbour, 2½ miles ENE of Brading. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Brading (R.S.O.) Population, 1024. It is a coastguard station. The Bembridge and Brading railway has a station here, and the village is much resorted to as a watering-place. The Brading Harbour Company have carried out extensive alterations. In 1882 they erected the Royal Spithead Hotel, established extensive oyster breeding beds, and placed many acres of reclaimed iand under cultivation. There is a golf club and also a yacht club, which holds regattas fortnightly in the season. The chapelry was constituted in 1827. The tract of 2½ miles by 1¼ between Brading Harbour and the Channel bears the name of Isle of Bembridge, and the termination of it on the NE is called Bembridge Point. A ridge of hill across its neck, called Bembridge Down, has an altitude of 855 feet, commands a very gorgeous view, was the scene of a rebuff of the French in 1546, and is crowned by a granite obelisk 70 feet high, erected in 1849 to the memory of the late Lord Yarborough. The rocks present a fine study to the geologist, and lignite, fuller's earth, and red ochre are found. The Bembridge Ledge and other ledges run off from the E coast into shoals, and the Nab and Warner lightships are situated to the ENE. An important masked battery, known as the Steyne battery, has been erected at Bembridge, and is armed with heavy guns. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; gross value, £98 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Brading. The church was built in 1845, is in the Early English style, and has been much enriched with stained glass windows, marble steps, and good brass work.

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 Bembridge from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Bembridge 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.