Freshwater is famous for its geology and coastal rock formations that have resulted from centuries of
coastal erosion. Arch Rock was a well-known local landmark that collapsed on 25 October 1992. The neighbouring Stag Rock is so named because supposedly a stag leapt to the rock from the cliff to escape during a hunt. Another huge slab fell off the cliff face in 1968, and is now known as the Mermaid Rock. Immediately behind Mermaid Rock lies a small
sea cave that cuts several metres into the new cliff. Freshwater's
beach is very popular with tourists and locals. It is mostly pebbles, but it is also covered in chalk from the nearby cliffs, which is frequently gathered by tourists as souvenirs. Freshwater features an excellent example of a surviving
Victorian Beach hotel, The Albion. It was built around the time Freshwater became well-regarded as a coastal resort and is still popular today. Frequent repair work and repainting are undertaken on the building's seafront exterior walls, due to strong storms which often batter rocks, and other debris, against it. The hills above Freshwater are named after Tennyson. On the nearby
Tennyson Down is a
Cornish granite cross erected in 1897 in tribute to Tennyson, "by the people of Freshwater, and other friends in England and America." There is also a hill in the area called Hooke Hill, named after Robert Hooke. The Anglican
All Saints' Church, Freshwater is one of the oldest churches on the Isle of Wight, and it was listed in the
Domesday survey of 1086. All Saints is in the
Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth. A primary school associated with the church is nearby. There is a marble memorial commemorating Tennyson in All Saints Church. Tennyson's wife Emily and other family members are buried in the church cemetery. The church is also the site of a memorial to Tennyson's son, Lionel Tennyson, who died of
malaria in 1886.
Dimbola Lodge, the home of
Julia Margaret Cameron and now a photographic museum, is in the village of Freshwater Bay, which is part of Freshwater. Tennyson's son,
Hallam, donated land for a new church in Freshwater Bay. Hallam's wife
Audrey Tennyson suggested that the church be named for
St. Agnes.
St. Agnes' Church, Freshwater was consecrated on 12 August 1908. It is the only thatched church on the Isle of Wight. Freshwater was the site of the largest station on the
Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway that operated from 20 July 1889 to 21 September 1953. A supermarket and garden centre now occupies the location of the former station. Freshwater is near the source of the
Western Yar, a river whose estuary runs north to
Yarmouth. Freshwater Marshes are a
Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a large part of the Marshes is also a
Local Nature Reserve called Afton Marshes. At the western end of Freshwater Bay on a
bluff are the remains of
Fort Redoubt, also known as Fort Freshwater or Freshwater Redoubt, a
Palmerston Fort. Fort Redoubt was built in 1855–1856 to protect Freshwater Bay and was in use until the early 20th century; it was sold by the military in 1928. A doorway carved into the cliff below the fort was the main access to the building from the beach, although most of the iron stairway that formerly gave access has broken up due to rust and the action of the sea. Two unusual structures that have been described as
ice houses, pottery kilns or crematoria are found on Moons Hill in Freshwater. Robert Walker was the first to excavate these features in the 1890s, and he thought they were evidence of a
Phoenician settlement in Freshwater. Chemical analyses suggest that they were most likely lime kilns. ==Notable residents==