life
ISLAND HISTORY
Photo: Brighstone 'Thatched Cottages'
Brighstone - The Village
“If ever thou desirest to live plentifully,
out of debt, worshipfully and with
the respect of thy neighbours and the
inhabitants, settle thyself to live in the
island and roam not out of it.”
Sir John Oglander (1585-1655)
Sir John was a civil servant involved
in administering the Isle of Wight in
the first half of the 17th century and
his writings – he was a great scribbler paint a remarkable picture of the Island
during his lifetime. So let’s have a look
at the island he loved and ‘roam’ through
some of the towns and villages to catch a
glimpse of life here centuries later.
It’s February and pockets of snow linger
on the downs but the afternoon sky is
blue and the sun warm enough to sit in
the churchyard of St. Mary the Virgin in
Brighstone. Snowdrops, tiny daffodils,
purple, yellow and white crocuses peep
up between the grave stones, an enduring
memorial to the two Misses Preston who
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Article by June Elford
planted them years ago.
Brighstone, according to Helge Kökeritz,
originates from the Saxon name of
‘Beorhtwig’s Farm’; other suggestions are
that the name comes from ‘Ecbright’s or
‘Egbert’s town’. The village used to be
included with Calbourne but separated in
the 13th century and between 1399 and
1781, Brighstone appeared on old deeds as
‘Brixton’.
Today the coastal parish of Brighstone
covers 25 square kilometres including
Brook, Mottistone, Limerstone and
Hulverstone and is part of the Isle of
Wight Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty (AONB). Brighstone Parish has
the largest network of footpaths and
bridleways on the Isle of Wight and has
won the ‘Best Kept Village’ award several
times.
The village nestles below Brighstone
Down and Row Down and is a mixture
of buildings with some of the modern
houses, like the ones on the site of the old
tea rooms, sympathetically designed to
compliment old thatched cottages. Like
many places on the Island, Brighstone
has a high elderly population but don’t
imagine for a second there’s nothing going
on here, this is a thriving community. As
Lyn Thompson, the Local Coordinator at
the library told me, “We have everything
we need here.”
True, during my walk round the village
I’d found a pub called ‘The Three
Bishops’, a parish church, two village
stores, a hairdresser, the tea rooms and the
Wilberforce Hall, a post office, National
Trust shop and museum, a GP’s’ surgery
and pharmacy. I’d seen the primary
school, the recreation ground with a play
area and tennis courts, the Scouts and
Guides Community Centre, the Reading
Room and Recreation Room, the library
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