Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 49

FEATURE

Above: Saint George's Church, Arreton

Lady Emily Tennyson, the poet's wife.
Go and visit the church to see this lovely
Victoriana. If you can’t make the trip,
the church's website offers a virtual
tour that includes these windows.

Saint George's Church, Arreton
Arreton is one of the original seven parishes
on the Island. Although most of the church
that stands today was built after the Norman
conquest of 1066, some of the original
Saxon building has survived. A stone
tower built in the 13th Century enclosed
the original external Saxon wall on the
west end, which consequently became an
internal, protected wall. This has survived,
along with a Saxon doorway and window.
In the 14th Century, the walls of the
church were covered with murals. After
the Reformation, these were plastered
over. In 1865, the plaster was removed,
but the paintings had faded beyond
recognition, although traces of one
mural were visible until recently.
The church has served as a place of
refuge. In the 12th Century, monks locked
themselves inside to avoid paying tithes
to collectors. The church has also come
under attack. Huge buttresses to support
the church tower were built after the
steeple was struck by lightning in about
1500. In 1948, repairs to war-damaged
windows in the chancel were made using
tinted green glass from Quarr Abbey.

life

Above: Saint Boniface Church, Bonchurch

St. Boniface, a Saxon Saint linked with
Bonchurch, who is supposed to have
preached to Island fishermen from the
place still known as Pulpit Rock.
The old church was replaced in 1848
by the new church of Saint Boniface,
although parts of the old building remain.
The south door, made of wooden planks
studded with nails, is an example of
early Norman architecture. On Saint
Boniface Day, 5th June, a special
candle-lit service is held at the church.
The Island has links with many great
British poets, including Tennyson and
Keats, but at Bonchurch lies the grave of
a man called Charlie Wilcox. Wilcox, the
godson of Lewis Carroll, suffered from TB.
While Carroll was nursing him, he wrote the
poem 'The Hunting of the Snark'. Wilcox
moved to the Island to recover from his
illness but died in 1874 at the age of 22.
Look out for his grave at the Old Church.

All Saints' Church, Godshill
This beautiful church, looking down
from its hill-top location on the village
of Godshill, is one of the most popular
on the Island, and one of only a few
churches in England to receive more
than 100,000 visitors each year.
Like its namesake in Freshwater, All
Saints was mentioned in the Domesday
Book. Shortly after the Norman invasion,
it was given by William FitzOsbern,
Lord of the Wight and friend of William
the Conqueror, to the Abbey of Lyre in
Normandy, along with a number of other
churches, including those at Arreton and
Freshwater. The church that stands at
Godshill today is the fourth on the site,
and dates back to the 14th Century.
It contains a number of memorials to
the Worsleys, one of the Island’s preeminent families. Elizabeth Wallbridge,
subject of the story of The Dairyman’s
Daughter, is buried in the churchyard.

Photo: All Saints Church, Godshill

Saint Boniface Church,
Bonchurch
Saint Boniface Church is the second
smallest on the Island, and at 48 feet by
12 feet, it has room for only 80 people.
It is a Norman church, probably built
by monks who sailed to the Island from
Normandy in the 11th Century. They landed
in Monks Bay and are believed to have
discovered a ruined Saxon church. In
thanks for a safe crossing of the channel,
they rebuilt the church, dedicating it to

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