Havenstreet

Originally (Heathenstreet, xiv cent.) may perhaps be identified with Strete, which was held in the 12th century by the de Estur92 family, who granted to Geoffrey Aitard (son of Etard) land there which Geoffrey afterwards gave to the abbey of Montebourg.93 (Matthew son of Herbert gave to the abbey of Montebourg the land of ‘Streta’, which William de Estur gave and Roger de Mandeville confirmed. This he did by the wish of Joan Patrick, his wife.94 this or another estate called Haven Street (Hethene Street) belonged at the end of the 14th cent. to the Raleighs of Walpen in Chale. Thomas Raleigh died seised of it in 1398, and it followed the decent of Walpen until the death of William Raleigh in 1419.95

Haven Street is a hamlet and church district 3 miles south-west of Ryde, mostly in Newchurch parish, partly in Arreton parish. The church of St Peter, Haven Street consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and bell turret with one bell, built in the Early English style erected in 1852 at a cost of £570 raised by subscription.

The ecclestical parish was formed from Arreton and Newchurch in 1853.96 the living is a vicarage in the gift of the Trustees of the Society for the Maintenance of the Faith.

J W Fleming, Esq., gave the site and the chancel was built at the sole expense of the Rev. Frederick Kent M.A., the patron and incumbent of the perpetual curacy, which is valued at only £41 6s. per annum. The church has 130 sittings, all free. The incumbent has a pleasant seat here called ‘Beaulieu’ from its fine prospects.

The Wesleyans have a small chapel in this part of the parish built in 1833.

Haven Street situated largely surrounded by large areas of forestry namely Briddlesford, Firestone, Combley and copses such as Chillingwood and Kittenocks. With the coming of the railway in 1875, so housing commenced.

In 1882 John Rylands, a Lancashire industrialist bought and enlarged a local house (renamed Longford House after his property in Lancashire). He was a benefactor to the village, which he provided with a large community building, the Longford Institute. The former Longford Institute of 1885-6, by Josiah Cutler of Ryde, rears above the houses of the village street. It is red bricked patterned in buff, with tall round-arched windows; the entrance, under a pediment, is in a set-back part of the frontage. Rylands provided a library, recreation rooms and a large hall, but the public uses did not last and the building was converted successively for several different purposes. Temperance Hotel, a base for hired horses and carriages; bus depot; Nursing Home; Guest House; White Owl Restaurant and now used as retirement apartments having been converted from two floors to three.

The main principle building works involved the construction of Longford Hospital originally built by Mr John Rylands, as a retirement home, it eventually became a sanatorium for Island tuberculosis patients, an annexe for children being added in 1957. A Mental Hospital from 1922 to 1970.H06 and then Longford Home of Rest, and now known as Northbrooke House.

Other notable buildings from the 18th century have been the Carpenter’s and Wheelwright’s shop, now used as a car show-room. The village school was built in 1859 by the incumbent at a cost of £200. A Methodist Chapel built in 1869 and demolished in 1959. Hillcrest was originally a bakery with a wood-fired oven, but now a private house.

The libations of the village being provided by the ‘White Hart Inn’, this building has undergone many changes since it construction, although traces of an old stone structure at the back can still be found.

The chief attraction of the village is the old station yard, with the old gas works, closed in 1920s and used for a time as a barn before being reused by the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The collection is most interesting and because it played an important part of the Island’s history. Alongside the entrance to the yard are two cottages originally built for the gas workers, these are now private houses.

Sources:
A History of the County of Hampshire Vol. 5 Victoria County History. Editor William Page 1912
92 William de Estur confirms the gift his mother made, ‘Gaufridofilio Etardi et heredibus suis pro servicio suo de terra de Strete scilicet XXXIII solidates videlicet la Dime et la Forde et la Cumbe sibi et heredibus suis jure hereditario teneddam de me et heredibus meis faciendo inde medietatem sericii Regis quod ego debeo facene de terra mea de Strete’ (Cartul. Montebourg. 662)
93 Ibid. 660
94 Cal. Of Doc. France, 918-1206, p.316. In 1339 John de Blackland granted to the abbey of Quarr the reversion of a messuage and 6 acres of land in ‘la Hethene Stret’ abuttin on the road from Quarr to Newchurch (Antc. D. [P.R.O.] A 10840) This gives the probable derivation – Heath Street.
95 Chan. Inq. P.m. 21 Ric. Il. No. 48, 6 Hen. IV, no. 28; 8 Hen. V. no. 96.
H06/C1 1922 Medical appliances
H06/C2 1970 Correspondence
96 Land. Gaz. 11 Nov 1853 p.3033
William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Hampshire and Isle of Wight (1859)
Isle of Wight by Robin McInnes. Collins 1974
Isle of Wight Village Book by IWFWI 1974
D W Lloyd and N Pevsner, ‘The Building of England: The Isle of Wight’, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p.158-9 (2006)