Freshwater

Isle of Wight

Old postcards are sometimes poorly produced and grainy, I've done my best to scan them. Please click thumbnails for full size picture.

Dates are from the card or my estimate (where possible). The maker of the card is shown in brackets (where available).

Freshwater is at the Western end of the Isle of Wight, it is where I spent much of my childhood. These pages include cards from my late fathers postcard collection and later additions, but I have also included other pictures/information which I have acknowledged where used.

Freshwater Bay

"The massy cliffs of Freshwater now appear before us. A long declivity conducts us to Freshwater Gate. The village is furnished with a neat Inn; and about a mile distant, at the head of the Warren leading to Alum Bay, is a good boarding house; here, as well as at the Inn, the visitor may be pleasantly accommodated. In the dark and stormy season of the year, the sea sometimes rolls on this coast with such violence, as to break over the cottages and reach to the head of the river Yar."

From The Beauties of the Isle of Wight published by Horsley about 1830

"Our young sea village is as delightful and bracing a spot as one could wish to settle in or near. Casual visitors must not infer from the apparent newness of the scattered villas here and in the neighbourhood generally that they are all the growth of the last few years. The air is so transparently clear, so clear from smoke and grime, that it seems to be a matter of difficulty to tone the houses down to a becoming degree of mellowness. In 1799 the only habitation in the place was a dilapidated in known as the "Cabin" frequently tenanted by George Morland, the famous painter.

The beautiful, though tiny, bay is unlike anything else in the Island. Evidently at one time it was non existent, and the cliffs presented an unbroken front to the ocean. Now the former boundary is marked by huge half sunken rocks, over which, when the wind is in the right quarter, the surf dashes wildly."

From the Ward Lock guide to the Isle of Wight published sometime in the 1920's

The approach to Freshwater Bay showing the white cliffs of

Tennyson Downs in the Background. Note the house in the

middle of the picture, it was demolished in the 30's. (Merwood)

The classic view from the downs looking west towards the Bay. (Dixon)

The Arch and Stag rocks

"In the Bay, formed by the action of the sea upon the huge cliffs of chalk, rises the arched rock, one of two isolated masses of chalk separated from the cliff by natural causes. Long ago, in the dim obscurity of a past which ended, perhaps, before human annals had a beginning. the ceaseless ocean swept away the softer portion of the rock, and fashioned, in all its inimitable beauty, this mighty curiosity -- the Triumphal Arch of the Waters, through which, ever and anon, they roll in grand procession, as if to the sounds of martial music. A similar mass, at no great distance from it, is called the Stag Rock."

From Black's Guide to the Isle of Wight 1870

Unfortunately, the mighty waves did not roll for ever and anon through the Arch rock, it gradually became eroded and fell into the sea a few years ago. Only the stump remains. There is, however a new rock formed about 20 years ago through a rock fall , this is now called the Mermaid rock.

The Stag rock is so called because, it is alleged, a stag jumped from the cliff on to it to escape being chased.

The picture on the left shows a bookmark issued

to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the fall of the Arch Rock

The Arch and Stag rocks 1903. Note the people on the beach

(Butter Bay). The cliff subsequently fell away (see next picture). (J W & S)

The Arch and Stag rock from a 70's Dixon card showing

erosion from the card above. The new rock in the foreground

is Mermaid rock which formed by a cliff fall in 1969. (Dixon)

Some views of the Bay


An artists (A R Quinton) view of the Bay, undated but probably from the 1920's. (Salmon)	View dated 1909, this shows the two hotels, the Albion on the beach and the (then) Freshwater Hotel behind it.

Freshwater Bay, 1904	Looking east about 1910. The building in the centre has been demolished and replaced by modern apartments. (Nigh)

An undated view of the Albion hotel. (Jarrolds)	The SS Carl aground on the east side of the bay in 1915 (although I have also seen a date of 1916). The quality of the original postcard is poor.

A view looking east from 1908. (Misch)	An undated, but unusual view from the rocks on the west side of the bay showing the Albion Hotel and beach

More pictures of Freshwater Bay

Freshwater page 2

Alum Bay and the Needles

Freshwater Features:

The Birth of the Freshwater Fire Brigade

The Freshwater Spectacle Fraud

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13 March 2008