Arreton Village Website - History and Places of Interest

Here there will be anything to do with the history of Arreton (sample below) including the church and notable people.

Such as the Brass Rubbing Centre, The Barns and local walking/cycling trails. Link to map(s).

This will include local manor houses, the War Memorial and all the major local listed properties.

Below is a short history of the Parish, courtesy of Pat Phillips.

Arreton has always been a very rural parish. Originally a medieval ecclesiastical parish, it stretched from Wootton creek in the North to Moor Farm, Godshill in the South. Most of the work has always been agricultural and the various manor farms in the parish employed many men and women. The villages also had a carpenter, a blacksmith and a mason, and some of these employed men from the parish. The men were mainly farm labourers and the women domestic servants. The name “Arreton” is sometimes written as “Adrington” in ancient manuscripts. It is thought that this was either a corruption of Adrian’s Town or a translation from Anglo-Saxon meaning “the clearing in the wood”.

Famous and infamous people have lived within its boundaries. Princess Cicely, daughter of Edward IV lived a quiet life at East Standen with her second husband Thomas Kymbe. This marriage was not recognised by the King and when she died in 1507 she was buried in the church of Quarr Abbey, Mrs Dowsabel Mills lived at Heasley around 1560, and kept a school for young ladies who, it is said, used Shepherd’s Lane as a dancing area!! She was also the mistress of the Captain of the Isle of Wight, Sir Edward Horsey, who unfortunately died of the plague while at Heasley Manor. It is hoped that this was before she kept a school!! Dowsabel was buried in Arreton Church in 1603.

Elizabeth Wallbridge the “Dairyman’s Daughter” lived at Hale Common and was immortalised in Legh Richmond’s book “Annals of the Poor”. She was a pious girl who lived a godly life and died of consumption at the age of 31 in 1808. Her tombstone with its long epitaph can still be seen in the churchyard. Michael Morey was arrested and hanged for murder in 1737. He lived at Sullens on St. George’s Down and was arrested by the Overseers of the parish for murdering his grandson James Dove. He was taken to Winchester to be tried, hanged there, and his body brought back to be hung in chains on Arreton Down, thus giving rise to the following rhyme which children of earlier generations learned at school:

Michael Morey he is dead
For chopping off his grandson’s head;
He is hanged on Arreton Down
For rooks and ravens to peck down.

Michael Morey’s grandson was buried in the churchyard in 1737 when his body was found after a hue and cry raised by the overseers. There is an account in the Overseers’ book of the expenses incurred in sending witnesses to Winchester for Michael Morey’s trial.

In the 19th century, James Ruffin Blake who lived at Birchmore and then at Stone farm Blackwater kept a daily diary from the 1850’s until his death in 1900. This gives a good picture of a yeoman farmer’s life during those years. He was a churchwarden at St George’s church, cared about his workmen and his house servants, was an enthusiastic advocate for the opening of the railway between Newport and Sandown, and became the 1st County Councillor for Arreton in 1892. He was secretary to the School managers of Arreton CE School for many years.

There has been a school in the parish since the 17th century. It began as a Charity school funded by a bequest from John Mann of Merstone and in 1833 the school was registered as Arreton National School under the care of the Vicar and churchwardens, but the salary of the master and mistress was still paid from the charity fund. This continued until 1874 when the Education Act, which brought free schooling to all, came into being. Until the 1944 Education Act, the school had pupils from age 5 to 14 years except for those who passed the scholarship exam and went to the Secondary Schools at Newport or Sandown The age range then changed from 5 – 11 years and those over 11 went either to a grammar School, or a secondary Modern School. Now Arreton is a Primary School catering for children from age 5 – 9 years, has over 80 pupils and is called Arreton St George’s CE Primary School.

Arreton Parish Council came into being in 1894, and was then called South Arreton as the part of the parish to the north of the Downs was North Arreton with a separate Parish Council. However in 1904, North Arreton was amalgamated with the Borough of Newport and Arreton continued to be known as South Arreton until the 1960’s when this prefix was dropped. There were six parish councillors elected every three years by show of hands at the Annual Parish Meeting. In 1945, Arreton Parish was the first parish in the island to demand to elect its councillors by Poll. Today there are eight parish councillors elected for a four-year term. All Parish Council meetings are open to the public with a time set aside at the beginning for public participation. The Parish Council belongs to the Island branch of the National Association of Local Councils of which it was a founder member in 1945.

The present parish consists of the villages of Arreton, Merstone and Blackwater with boundaries stretching from Downend in the North to just South of Merstone and adjoining the parishes of Newchurch, Godshill and Rookley. Arreton continues to be a rural parish and agriculture still plays a part in the work of the parish, but it is also joined by large glasshouses where tomatoes and cucumbers are grown as the Arreton Valley apparently has some of the best light levels in Europe for these fruits to be grown commercially. There are several tourist attractions in the parish. Arreton Manor is open to the public, and The Barns Craft Centre and the Brass Rubbing Centre get many visitors during the year.