Wootton

Kelly’s Directory 1895

Wootton is a village with a station on the Ryde, Newport and Cowes Railway, the station is about 1 mile away at the top of the village, Ryde or Newport are about 4 miles distant. The village is in the rural deanery of West Wight, archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and diocese of Winchester.

It has a Motherbank on the north and an inlet of the sea on the east, the later crossed by a causeway on the high road from Newport to Ryde. The church of St Edmund is an old Gothic stone building, with a Norman doorway; it consists of chancel and nave without isles, and contains marble tablets to the White and Shute families. This interesting church has been restored and repaired at a cost of about £500 from plans prepared by Mr.J.Middleton. A new roof has been put on, the nave reseated and the chancel fitted with stalls and an oak lectern has been presented to the church. Still more recently a western bell turret of handsome proportions has been added [Admiral Denison 1886] and a Sunday school erected. Several handsome gifts were presented in 1893 including the building of an organ chamber and the erection of an organ, a polished brass alter desk, stained window in the chancel and some chancel lamps and lamps for the body of the church. There is accommodation within the church for 130 people and the register dates back to the year 1765. There is a rectory, average tithe rent charge £84, gross yearly value £300, net £210. The is 176 acres of glebe and residence in the gift of Francis White-Popham and held since 1883 by the Rev. William Hobday Colman B.A. LL.D., of St Mary Hall, Oxford.

There is an iron church on Wootton Common, called St. Michael and All Angels, with a school room adjoining and is surrounded by a burial ground consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester on the 10th December 1893. The church was provided by Mrs Harvey of Shanklin; Rev Mills Robins has been curate-in-charge since 1892 and lives in Arreton.

The village is remarkably clean and neat, the houses rising on each side of Fishbourne Creek; on one side the banks of the river are irregular and clothed from the very water’s edge with flourishing oak woods. This forest scene is contrasted on the other side by the grounds of Fern Hill, owned by Fredrick Brodie who’s mansion stands at the head of a wide-spreading park, sloping to the creek which is fringed by trees and plantations.

Mrs Mary Harvey of Shanklin is the Lady of the Manor; other principal landowners are Capt. Holford, Frederick Brodie and Thomas Chatfeild-Clarke. The soil is loam and clay, sub soil clay and gravel, the chief crops being wheat, beans and oats.

The area is 1075 acres of land with 282 acres of water and foreshore. The civil parish was divided in 1894 between the parishes of Whippingham and Gatcombe. Wootton Bridge is a pretty village adjoining this parish but is situated in the parishes of Arreton and Binstead.

There are two Wesleyan churches in the village and the main road from Newport to Ryde passes through the village, the parish Clerk is Josiah Cooper.

Post; Express delivery, Annuity and Insurance office—Wootton Bridge Railway Sub Office. Letters should have R.S.O [Regional sub office?] Isle of Wight; John Newbury Postmaster. Letters arrive at 4.10 AM and 1.45 PM, despatched at 12 noon and 8.35 PM.

National school, New Road; Built in 1867 for 140 children and since enlarged; average attendance 130 pupils, Edmund Brading headmaster, miss Mary Andrews mistress.

Wootton Railway Station; James George Coombes, Station Master.

Note:- For people wanting to carry out additional research there are a number of these reference books for different years held in Isle of Wight County Records Office, Newport.

Source: Isle of Wight County Records Office, Newport