Yaverland
From Yaverland Hill, below Culver Cliff, the view to the south embraces the magnificent sweep of Sandown Bay to Dunnose, whilst inland lie the gentle downland slopes. Thus it was when the first Lord of the Manor came to Yaverland in the 12th century to make his home amongst the woodlands and farm the fertile red earth of the area, known then as Evreland, or the land of the boars.
There were then scarcely any inhabitants of Sandon (Sandown), except possibly a few fishermen, so the retainers of the de Aula family at the manor formed the population of the village. The area would have been completely cut off at high tides, for a sea inlet reached from St. Helens to the river Yar; and even now the sea-wall between Yaverland and Sandown scarcely retains the sea at its wildest.
In 1300 Sir William Russell, then Lord of the Manor and Warden of the Island under Edward II, built the causeway at Yarbridge for easier access to Brading, and the people were thus able to go to Brading to worship at the Church festival times. A small family chapel had been endowed in the 12th century, and still stands beside the manor-house which had passed into the Russell family by the marriage of Eleanor de Aula to Sir William Russell.
The manor was rebuilt as it stands today by the Richards family in 1620; a fine example of Jacobean architecture, it has been occupied, and has remained the centre of local agriculture, since that time. In the mid-1400s the chapel was enlarged to become a Parish Church, and then restored completely in 1889. Still to be seen are the Norman arches above the south door, and between the nave and chancel.
In 1870 the population numbered about 100, mostly farm-workers, and soldiers from the forts at Redcliff, Culver Parade and Bembridge Down, which formed part of the defence system built up against the French – since known as Palmerston's Folly. Troops had used Yaverland as their Garrison Church from the days of Henry 'VIII, when Sandham Castle was built further along the coast. This fort has long since disappeared, but the barracks and fortifications at Redcliff were in use during the last war, and the sites of some of the anti-aircraft gun emplacements remain. The PLUTO pipeline began at Yaverland, on the village boundary at Brown's golf-course, where the ice-cream plant was used as a pumping station for the oil supply for the Allied forces during the Normandy landings.
The fort on Bembridge Down has more peaceful uses now, and is preserved by the National Trust.
