Shalfleet

SHALFLEET, a parish, in the liberty of West Medina, Isle of Wight division of the county of Southampton; containing 1218 inhabitants. The parish extends across the island from Hamstead Ledge on the north to Hulverstone on the southern shore, and stretches along the northern coast from the town of Yarmouth to Newton bay. It comprises by measurement 6200 acres of land, of which the soil varies greatly in quality, but is generally strong, producing good crops of wheat and beans. A stream abounding with trout intersects the parish. The river Newton is navigable with the tide nearly to the village; and in the bay is a quay accessible to ships of considerable burthen, at which coal is imported, and bricks, tiles, and pottery, made at the Hamstead kiln, are shipped. The substratum contains stone, of which there are some quarries at Dodpits, worked chiefly for building purposes. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £18. 12. 1., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £127; impropriators, Sir Richard Simeon, Bart., and Miss Kirkland. The church is partly Norman and partly of later date, with a low massive embattled tower surmounted by a spire of more recent erection, and a remarkable Norman doorway having a rudely-sculptured impost or lintel filling up the head of the arch, said to represent a bishop, the arms of the figure being extended, and the hands resting on animals resembling griffins. The interior of the church is spacious, and the south aisle is separated from the nave by a series of columns of Purbeck marble. There is a place of worship for Baptists.