Stone Age During
Pleistocene glacial periods sea levels were lower than at present, and the area that today forms the Solent was part of the valley of the now extinct
Solent River. The river flowed eastward from Dorset, following the course of the modern Solent strait. The river travelled east of the Isle of Wight before flowing southwest towards the major Channel River system. At these times, extensive gravel terraces associated with the Solent River and the forerunners of the island's modern rivers were deposited. During warmer interglacial periods, silts, beach gravels, clays, and muds of marine and estuarine origin were deposited due to higher sea levels, suggesting similar marine or estuary conditions to those experienced today. from the
Paleolithic,
BP, found on the island in 2010. The earliest clear evidence of
Lower Palaeolithic archaic human occupation on what is now the Isle of Wight is found close to
Priory Bay. More than 300
acheulean handaxes have been recovered from the beach and cliff slopes, originating from a sequence of Pleistocene gravels dating approximately to
MIS 11-
MIS 9 (424,000–374,000 years ago). Reworked and abraded artefacts found at the site may be considerably older however, closer to 500,000 years old. The identity of the hominids who produced these tools is unknown. However, sites and fossils of the same age range in Europe are often attributed to
Homo heidelbergensis or early populations of
Neanderthals. A
Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian flint assemblage, consisting of 50 handaxes and debitage, has been recovered from Great Pan Farm in the Medina Valley near Newport. Gravel sequences at the site have been dated to the
MIS 3 interstadial during the
last glacial period ( ago). These tools are associated with the late Neanderthal occupation, and evidence of late Neanderthal presence is seen across Britain at this time. No significant evidence of
Upper Palaeolithic activity exists on the Isle of Wight. This period is associated with the expansion and establishment of populations of
modern human (
Homo sapiens)
hunter-gatherers in Europe, beginning around 45,000 years ago. However, evidence of late Upper Palaeolithic activity has been found at nearby sites on the mainland, notably
Hengistbury Head in Dorset, dating to just before the onset of the
Holocene and the end of the last glacial period ago. arrowhead from
BCE, found on the island in 2011 Evidence of
Mesolithic hunter-gatherer occupation on the island is generally found along the river valleys, particularly along the Solent coastline of the island and in the former catchment of the western Yar. Other key terrestrial sites are found at Newtown Creek, Werrar, and Wootton-Quarr. A submerged escarpment below sea level off
Bouldnor Cliff on the island's Solent coastline has yielded an internationally significant mesolithic archaeological site. The Bouldnor Cliff site exhibits evidence of seasonal occupation by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers dating to . Finds include flint tools, burnt flint, worked timbers, wooden platforms, and pits. The worked wood shows evidence of splitting large planks from oak trunks, interpreted as being intended for use as dug-out canoes. DNA analysis of sediments at the site yielded
wheat DNA, not found in Britain until 2,000 years after the occupation at Bouldnor Cliff. It has been suggested this is evidence of wide-reaching trade in Mesolithic Europe; however, the contemporaneity of the wheat with the Mesolithic occupation has been contested. Owing to lower sea levels during the Mesolithic the hunter-gatherer site was located on a river bank surrounded by wetlands and woodland. As sea levels rose throughout the early Holocene the Solent flooded, submerging the site. From ago migrations of farming populations to Britain from northwest Europe brought the onset of the
Neolithic, largely replacing and assimilating previous mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations. On the Isle of Wight Neolithic occupation is attested to by flint tool finds, pottery and monuments. The Isle of Wight's neolithic communities were agriculturalists, farming livestock and crops. The Isle of Wight's most recognisable neolithic site is the Longstone at
Mottistone, the remains of an early Neolithic
long barrow. Initially constructed with two standing stones at the entrance, only one remains upright today. The site would have likely served as a communal tomb and ritual site for nearby farming communities. A Neolithic mortuary enclosure has also been identified on
Tennyson Down near
Freshwater.
Bronze Age and Iron Age From ago Britain experienced a new wave of migrations from continental Europe, linked to the
Bell Beaker Culture. Bell beaker migrants are typically thought to have introduced metal-working to Britain marking the beginning of the
Bronze Age. Evidence of early Bronze Age occupation on the Isle of Wight include distinctive bell beaker pots, flint tools, occupation sites and finds of bronze weapons and tools, occurring either individually or in
hoard deposits such as the famous
Arreton hoard. Highly visible evidence of early Bronze Age activity on the Isle of Wight comes in the form of the
barrow monuments present across the island's chalk downland. It is likely these barrows were high-status burial sites, and often occur in 'cemeteries' a notable example being Five Barrows near
Brook. axehead from
BCE, found on the island in 2011
Bronze Age Britain had large tin reserves in Cornwall and Devon areas, which was necessary to
smelt bronze. At that time, the sea level was much lower, and carts of tin were brought across the
Solent at low tide suggests that a shortage of tin, as a part of the
Bronze Age Collapse and trade disruptions in the Mediterranean around 1300 BC, forced metalworkers to seek an alternative to bronze. From the 7th century BC, during the
Late Iron Age, the Isle of Wight, like the rest of Great Britain, was occupied by the
Celtic Britons, in the form of the
Durotriges tribe, as attested by finds of their coins, for example, the South Wight Hoard, and the Shalfleet Hoard. The island was known as
Ynys Weith in
Brittonic Celtic. Southeastern Britain experienced significant immigration, which is reflected in the current residents' genetic makeup. As the
Iron Age began, tin value likely dropped sharply, greatly changing the Isle of Wight's economy. Trade, however, continued, as evidenced by the local abundance of European Iron Age coins.
Roman period Julius Caesar reported that the
Belgae took the Isle of Wight in about 85 BC, and recognised the culture of this general region as "Belgic" but made no reference to Vectis. The Roman historian
Suetonius mentions that the island was captured by the commander
Vespasian. The Romans built no towns on the island, but the remains of at least seven
Roman villas have been found, indicating the prosperity of local agriculture. First-century exports were principally hides, enslaved people, hunting dogs, grain, cattle, silver, gold, and iron. There are indications that the island had vast trading links, with a port at
Bouldnor, evidence of Bronze Age tin trading, and finds of
Late Iron Age coins. Starting in AD 449, the 5th and 6th centuries saw groups of
Germanic-speaking peoples from Northern Europe crossing the English Channel and gradually set about conquering the region. During the
Early Middle Ages, the island was settled by
Jutes as the
heathen kingdom of the
Wihtwara. In
Asser’s
Life of Alfred, he states that the
West Saxon kings Cerdic and
Cynric granted lordship of the Isle of Wight to two brothers, Stuf and Wihtgar, said to be of Jutish and
Gothic origin and cousins of Cynric. The brothers then set about exterminating the native
Britons, either killing them or driving them into exile. According to
Bede, in 685, the Isle of Wight was invaded by King
Cædwalla of
Wessex, who attempted to violently replace the Jutish inhabitants with his own followers. In 686, the native King
Arwald was killed in battle, and the island became the last part of English lands to be
converted to Christianity. It suffered especially from
Viking raids and was often used as a winter base by Viking raiders when they could not reach Normandy. Later, both
Earl Tostig and his brother
Harold Godwinson (who became King Harold II) held manors on the island.
Norman Conquest to 18th century The Norman Conquest of 1066 created the position of
Lord of the Isle of Wight; the island was given by
William the Conqueror to his kinsman
William FitzOsbern.
Carisbrooke Priory and the fort of
Carisbrooke Castle were then founded. Allegiance was sworn to FitzOsbern rather than the king; the Lordship was subsequently granted to the
de Redvers family by Henry I after his succession in 1100. of
Edward I, minted 1300–1305, found on the island in 2011 For nearly 200 years the island was a semi-independent feudal fiefdom, with the de Redvers family ruling from Carisbrooke. The final private owner was the Countess
Isabella de Fortibus, who, on her deathbed in 1293, was persuaded to sell it to
Edward I. Subsequently, the island was under the control of the English Crown and its Lordship a royal appointment. The island continued to be attacked from the continent: it was raided in 1374 by the fleet of
Castile and in 1377 by French raiders who burned several towns, including
Newtown. Under
Henry VIII, who developed the
Royal Navy and its
Portsmouth base, the island was fortified at
Yarmouth, Cowes, East Cowes, and
Sandown. The
French invasion on 21 July 1545 (famous for the sinking of the
Mary Rose on the 19th) was repulsed by local
militia. On 1 May 1647, Swedish and English ships clashed in a
brief skirmish off the island, ending in the Swedish fleet being able to escape. During the
English Civil War,
King Charles I fled to the Isle of Wight, believing he would receive sympathy from Governor
Robert Hammond. Still, Hammond imprisoned the king in Carisbrooke Castle. and its grounds are now open to the public. on the Isle of Wight'', 1875 painting by
Berthe Morisot During the
Seven Years' War, the island was a staging post for British troops departing on expeditions against the French coast, such as the
Raid on Rochefort. During 1759, with a
planned French invasion imminent, a large force of soldiers was stationed there. The French called off their invasion following the
Battle of Quiberon Bay.
19th century In the spring of 1817, the twenty-one year old
John Keats spent time in Carisbrooke and Shanklin, where he found inspiration in the countryside and coast, and worked on his long poem
Endymion. In the mid-1840s,
potato blight was first found in the UK on the island, having arrived from Belgium. It was later transmitted to Ireland. In the 1860s, what remains in real terms the most expensive ever government spending project saw fortifications built on the island and in the Solent, as well as elsewhere along the south coast, including the
Palmerston Forts,
The Needles Batteries, and
Fort Victoria, because of fears about possible French invasion. The future
Queen Victoria spent childhood holidays on the island and became fond of it. When she became queen, she made
Osborne House her winter home. Subsequently, the island became a fashionable holiday resort for many, including
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Julia Margaret Cameron, and
Charles Dickens (who wrote much of
David Copperfield there), as well as the French painter
Berthe Morisot and members of European royalty. , preserved at Queen Victoria's Beach east of
Osborne House Until the queen's example, the island had been rural, with most people employed in farming, fishing, or boat-building. The boom in tourism, spurred by growing wealth and leisure time and by Victoria's presence, led to the significant urban development of the island's coastal resorts. As one report summarises, "The Queen's regular presence on the island helped put the Isle of Wight 'on the map' as a Victorian holiday and wellness destination ... and her former residence Osborne House is now one of the most visited attractions on the island." While on the island, the queen used a
bathing machine that could be wheeled into the water on Osborne Beach; inside the small wooden hut, she could undress and then bathe, without being visible to others. Her machine had a changing room and a WC with plumbing. The refurbished machine is now displayed at the beach. On 14 January 1878,
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated an early version of the telephone to the queen, placing calls to Cowes, Southampton, and London. These were the first publicly-witnessed long-distance telephone calls in the
UK. The queen tried the device and considered the process to be "quite extraordinary" although the sound was "rather faint". She later asked to buy the equipment that was used, but Bell offered to make "a set of telephones" specifically for her. The world's first radio station was set up by
Guglielmo Marconi in 1897, during her reign, at
the Needles Battery, at the western tip of the island. A high mast was erected near the Royal Needles Hotel as part of an experiment on communicating with ships at sea. That location is now the site of the Marconi Monument. In 1898 the first paid wireless telegram (called a "Marconigram") was sent from this station, and the island was for some time the home of the National Wireless Museum near Ryde. Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on 22 January 1901 at 81.
20th century and later During the
Second World War, the island was frequently bombed. With its proximity to German-occupied France, the island hosted observation stations, transmitters, and the
RAF radar station at Ventnor.
Adolf Hitler personally suggested an invasion of the Isle of Wight as a supplementary operation for
Operation Sealion, and the possibility of an invasion was incorporated into
Fuhrer Directive 16. Field Marshal
Alan Brooke, in charge of defending the UK during 1940, was sceptical about being able to hold the island in the face of an invasion, instead considering that British forces would retreat to the western side of the island rather than commit forces against what might be a diversionary landing. In the end no invasion of the island was carried out as German naval commanders feared any invasion force might be cut off by British naval forces, particularly Royal Navy submarines. The island was the starting point for one of the earlier
Operation Pluto pipelines to feed fuel to Europe after the
Normandy landings. The
Needles Battery was used to develop and test the
Black Arrow and
Black Knight space rockets, which were subsequently launched from
Woomera, Australia. outside Dimbola Lodge The
Isle of Wight Festival was a large
rock festival near
Afton Down, West Wight, in August 1970, following two smaller events in 1968
and 1969. The 1970 show was one of the last public performances by
Jimi Hendrix and attracted somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 attendees. The festival was revived in 2002 in a different format and is now an annual event. On 26 October 2020, an oil tanker, the
Nave Andromeda, suspected to have been
hijacked by Nigerian stowaways, was stormed southeast of the island by the
Special Boat Service. Seven people believed to be Nigerians seeking UK asylum were handed over to Hampshire Police. == Governance ==