Yarmouth, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Yarmouth, a small town and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The town stands at the month of the rivulet Yar, at the ferry to Lymington, with a station on the Yarmouth and Newport railway, 97 miles from London, and 10 W of Newport, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. It was anciently known as Eremouth, was twice visited by John Lackland on his way to France, was burnt by the French in 1277 and 1524, and sent two members to Parliament from the time of Elizabeth till disfranchised in 1832. It presents an old-fashioned yet pleasant and considerably improved appearance, and has two hotels, lodging-houses, a market-place, a town-hall, a quay and steamboat pier, a bridge over the river Yar, a small castle of the time of Henry VIII., and a pier 700 feet in length, erected in 1876. The parish comprises 58 acres; population, 903. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester; net value, £230 with residence. The church is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, containing some handsome monuments and memorials, and has been well restored. There are Wesleyan, Bible Christian, Baptist, and Plymouth Brethren chapels.

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 Yarmouth from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Yarmouth 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.