In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Bembridge like this:
BEMBRIDGE, a village and a chapelry in Brading parish, Isle of Wight. The village stands on the E side of Brading harbour, 2½ miles ENE of Brading. It has a post office under Ryde, and is a coastguard station. It rose from obscurity about 1826; acquired some handsome houses and a hotel; and made strong claims to become a fashionable watering-place; but has not met so much favour as its situation and other advantages deserve. ...
The chapelry was constituted in 1827. Acres, not separately returned. Real property, £3,788. Pop., 783. Houses, 179. The tract of 2½ miles by 1 ½, between Brading harbour and the Channel, bears the name of Isle of Bembridge; and the termination of it on the NE is called Bembridge Point. A ridge of hill, across its neck, called Bembridge Down, has an altitude of 355 feet, commands a very gorgeous view, was the scene of a rebuff of the French in 1546, and is crowned by a granite obelisk, 70 feet high, erected in 1849 to the memory of the late Lord Yarborough. The rocks present a fine study to the geologist; and lignite, fuller's earth, and red ochre are found. The Bembridge ledge, and other ledges run off from the E coast into shoals; and the Bembridge floating lights are situated to the ENE, and show two lights 18 and 25 feet above deck and 43 feet apart. A railway, 2 miles long, was authorised, in 1864, to be formed from Yar Bridge to Bembridge Point, with pier and landing-place. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £100.* Patron, the Vicar of Brading. The church was built in 1845, and is in the early English style.
Bembridge through time
Bembridge is now part of the Isle of Wight district. Click here for graphs and data of how the Isle of Wight has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Bembridge itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Bembridge, in The the Isle of Wight and Hampshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/2794
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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