Carisbrooke is a village on the south-western outskirts of Newport, in the civil parish of Newport and Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, England. It is best known as the site of Carisbrooke Castle. It also has a medieval parish church, St Mary's Church (overlooking the High Street, with views to the castle), which began as part of a Benedictine priory established by French monks c. 1150. The priory was dissolved by King Henry V of England in 1415, during the Hundred Years' War. In 1907, the church was restored. It has a 14th-century tower rising in five stages with a turret at one corner and a battlemented and pinnacled crown.

A Roman Villa was discovered in the Victorian era on the site of the old vicarage.

Name

The name might mean 'the brook called Cary', from Cary (lost Celtic river-name, identical with the River Cary, Somerset, perhaps meaning 'pleasant stream') and Old English brōc. If the previous meaning is incorrect, Cary may have been the old name of Lukely Brook, a stream running through the village. An older name of Carisbrooke may have been Wihtwaraburh, meaning 'the stronghold of the people of Wight', from Wight (Modern English version), -ware and burh, perhaps referring to an ancient fort on the site of Carisbrooke Castle. This always appears in 6th century sources Wihtgaraburh, probably being associated with Wihtgār, a Jutish chieftain mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

12th century: Caresbroc, Caresbroke, Karesbrok, Karisbroch

1324: Carisbrok

1393: Casebroke It was served by nearby Carisbrooke railway station until the line from Newport to Freshwater closed in 1953. It is the starting point of the Tennyson Trail, leading to Alum Bay and the Needles.

Local amenities

thumb|left|View of the village from the castle ramparts

Carisbrooke has two pubs – the Waverley and the Eight Bells – a café, an Italian restaurant and a motorcycle dealership. There are several shops on the High Street. The village has four schools, three of which are located along Wellington Road. These are Carisbrooke CE Primary School, Christ the King College (formerly Archbishop King Roman Catholic Middle and Trinity CE Middle Schools) and Carisbrooke College. The fourth school is St Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic Primary School, which is on Carisbrooke High Street next to the doctors' surgery. There are allotments next to the ford in Castle Street.

History

thumb|right|Carisbrooke Church

Carisbrooke was for centuries the island's capital. It is not mentioned in Domesday Book, however, which names Bowcombe as the largest and most populous manor on the Isle of Wight. The latter name now applies to a hamlet about a mile to the south-west of Carisbrooke but is inferred to be the name of the village at the time of the Great Survey of 1086. The 18th-century antiquarian Sir Richard Worsley, in The History of the Isle of Wight, conjectured that Boucombe, or Beaucombe, means “pleasant valley”; however, modern place-name dictionaries propose “Bofa's valley” or “above the valley” as alternative interpretations.

In 1086, the manor of Bowcombe was held by William the Conqueror, having previously belonged to Edward the Confessor. There were 60 households, with land for 15 ploughs, 8 acres of meadow, and woodland for five swine. There were also two mills and a church held by the monks of Lyre Abbey. The annual value of manor was £24. On 1 April 1933, the parish was abolished and merged with Newport.

Carisbrooke Castle

Carisbrooke Castle was originally a Roman fort, which was built on the site an ancient fort. In a letter to John Hamilton Reynolds, he wrote, “I see Carisbrooke Castle from my window, and have found several delightful wood-alleys, and copses, and quick freshes”. Finding Carisbrooke to be cheaper than Shanklin, and more convenient for exploring the Island on foot, Keats observed an abundance of primroses and described a view of the mainland “from a little hill nearby”. He started work on Endymion at Carisbrooke.

Carisbrooke appears as "Chalkburne" in the 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland by Maxwell Gray. It is also an important location in John Meade Falkner's novel Moonfleet.

Notable people

  • William Bromley, (born 1769), an engraver
  • Louisa Murray (born 1818), poet and writer
  • Albert Midlane (born 1825), poet
  • Gertrude Fenton (died 1884), novelist and editor of The Carisbrooke Magazine
  • Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, lived at Carisbrooke Castle as Governor of the Isle of Wight

References

  • Carisbrooke Church from Blacks Guide to the Isle of Wight, 1870
  • Carisbrooke Priory website