Mottiston or Motteston, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Mottiston or Motteston, a village and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The village stands on the S skirt of Mottiston Down, 1 mile from the coast, 1½ WNW of Brightone, and 5 miles SE of Yarmouth. The name in Domesday is Modrestan, and in the later Episcopal Registers Moterston. It now consists of a picturesque and scattered group of cottages. The parish contains also the hamlet of Fernfield and part of Cbilton. Post town, Newport; money order and telegraph office, Brighstone. Acreage, 1100; population, 128. The property belonged formerly to the Lisles, the Chekes, and the Leighs, and belongs now to the Seely family. The manor house is a fine picturesque building of two blocks at right angles-the E part was built by the Cheke family in the first half of the 16th century, and the house was enlarged in 1567, the date being over the porch. Sir John Cheke, the tutor of Edward VI., was a member of this family, but there is no evidence that he ever lived here. Mottiston Down rises to an altitude of 698 feet, and has on its S side two Druidical stones-the one 13 feet high, 6½ broad, 20 in girth, and little less than 30 tons in weight; the other recumbent, 9½ feet long and 4 broad. The living is a rectory, united with the vicarage of Shorwell, in the diocese of Winchester; value, £240 with residence. Patron, Hertford College, Oxford. The church is a quaint and beautiful little building of tower, nave, aisles, and chancel, with a chantry chapel connected by a pretty arcade of Late Perpendicular work. It is mostly of the 15th century, but with earlier traces on the pillars, and has an Early English font, a Jacobean pulpit, and an altar-tomb of Jane, Lady Dillington, 1674. In the lych-gate is an ancient stoup.

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 Mottiston or Motteston from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Mottiston (St. Peter and St. Paul))

Visitations Heraldic

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