Yarmouth

"YARMOUTH, a parish, seaport, and market town in the liberty of West Medina, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 10 miles W. of Newport, 12 S.W. of Cowes, and 6 by steamer across the Solent to Lymington. This place, anciently called Eremuth, and now occasionally South Yarmouth, to distinguish it from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, derives its name from its situation at the mouth of the river Yar, which falls into the Solent, and is here crossed by a bridge, just constructed, connecting the town with the neighbouring parish of Freshwater. It is a coast-guard station and sub-port to Cowes, being the first port within the Needles passage. In ancient times it appears to have been of much greater extent and importance than it is at present, as proved by the "town field," which, though now destitute of buildings, is laid out regularly at right angles, marking the lines of the ancient streets. Its decadence is attributed to the French, by whom it was, in the reign of Richard II., pillaged and entirely burned, and on two subsequent occasions it was nearly destroyed by them."

[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]