National Gazetteer (1868) - Whippingham

WHIPPINGHAM, a parish in the liberty of East Medina, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 3 miles N.E. of Newport. It lies on the E. side of the navigable river Medina, and is bounded on the N.E. by the Motherbank. It contains the village and ecclesiastical district of East Cowes, the ecclesiastical district of Barton St. Paul's, near Newport, and Coombley, Fairlee, and Osborne, the marine palace of her Majesty, Queen Victoria. Although the population of the parish in 1861 was 3,915, that of the village of Whippingham was only 500, the greater portion of the inhabitants residing at East Cowes. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Winchester, value £780, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mildred, was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1855, when two aisles were added, at the expense of her Majesty, for the accommodation of herself and household. There are also churches at Barton and East Cowes.

BARTON, (or Burton) a village and chapelry in the parish of Whippingham, liberty of East Medina, in the Isle of Wight, in the county of Southampton, 2 miles to the N. of Newport. A priory cell for Augustine monks was founded here in the 13th century by John do Insula, and was conferred on Winchester College by Henry VI. There are still some remains of the building. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Winchester, value £190, in the patronage of the Rector of Whippingham.

COOMBLY, a hamlet in the parish of Whippingham, Isle of Wight, in the county of Hants, 3 miles N.E. of Newport.

GREAT and LITTLE PANN, two small hamlets on Pann Down, in the parish of Whippingham, Isle of Wight, county Hants, 1 mile E. by S. of Newport.

NORRIS CASTLE, a seat in the parish of Whippingham, Isle of Wight, county Hants, near Cowes. It was built by Wyatt, and commands an extensive view of the Solent.

OSBORNE, the private demesne of her Majesty Queen Victoria in the Isle of Wight, in the parish of Whippingham, county Hants, 1 mile S.E. of Cowes. It is an Italian marine villa with a campanile tower, commanding a view of the island, and of the shipping at Spithead. It has been almost wholly rebuilt by Cubitt on the site of the old seat of the Mann family, and has in its grounds an alcove and the ruins of Barton Priory, now partially restored.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]