Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2015 | Page 46

OUT & ABOUT

A manor
full of history

H

istoric Isle of Wight has many
attractions to offer, but none of
which surpasses Arreton Manor.
The Manor House is pleasantly situated
in rural surroundings sited comfortably
at the foot of Arreton Down, but standing
sufficiently far from the main roads to
give one the sense of the quietude of a
bygone age. The rebuilding of the Manor
House was carried out between 15951612, replacing a much older dwelling
but retaining a part of a 14th century
building, and to the visitor a feeling of
antiquity is sensed throughout. The
time-mellowed stone walls gladden the
eye and warm the heart of all who love
the past.
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Arreton Manor is listed as a building of
special architectural and historic merit.
Several crowned heads of Europe have
visited the Manor, inclu ding Queen
Victoria and the late Queen Mary.
Queen Victoria often visited the Manor,
accompanied on occasions by Empress
Frederick, Duke of Albany and Princess
Beatrice. Indeed, Queen Victoria planted
the conifer tree Cupressus Sempervirens
growing in the lower south lawn.
The Manor of Arreton belonged to
Alfred the Great. He left the Manor
to his younger son, Ethelward. This is
mentioned in King Alfred’s will made
between A.D. 872 and A.D. 885.
The present house was built in late

Elizabethan-early Jacobean times.
The east wing, though much altered,
is - considered to be an early Manor
House (14th century) with a flight of
stone steps to reach the upper storey.
Remains of these steps at the low level
have been uncovered in recent years.
The stone used for the building was
quarried from Ventnor and Binstead. In
the time of Edward the Confessor the
Manor was held by the King, when its
boundaries included Horringford Mill. In
the Domesday Book the name is given
as “Adrintone” in the possession of the
Crown, owing to the escheat of Count
Roger. At that time it was rated at four
hides, the Dane-gelt valuation..