Godshill, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Godshill, a village and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The village stands near the Medina river, 5½ miles SSE of Newport, is a pretty place, and has a post and money order office under Wroxall (R.S.O.); telegraph office, Wroxall. The parish includes also Appuldurcombe, Stenbury, Road, Sandford, and Rookley, and extends to the town of Ventnor, including Steephill Castle. Acreage, 6628; population of the civil parish, 1480; of the ecclesiastical, 1004. The surface is diversified, comprises much fine scenery, and includes vantage-grounds, one of them the churchyard, commanding brilliant views. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; value, £160. The church is large, cruciform, and partly Decorated English, has a western pinnacled tower in Perpendicular English, and contains a rich altar-tomb to Sir J. Leigh of the time of Henry VIII., and several handsome monuments to the Worsley family. There is also a church dedicated to St Alban, erected in 1894, and Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels. Dean Cole, a persecutor in the time of Mary, was a native. Appuldurcombe, formerly the residence of the Earl of Yarborough, is now an educational establishment.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Godshill from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Godshill 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.