CARISBROOKE Priory echoed with Queen Victoria's footsteps as the Isle of Wight's High Sheriff, Gioia Minghella-Giddens, and her husband, Richard, joined over 40 people to remember the Queen's visit on January 27, 1869.

In a truly ecumenical service of worship and thanksgiving held one day short of the 150th anniversary, talks about the history and current work of the Priory were given.

Father Jonathan Redvers-Harris shared a message of continuing progress towards church unity, and he joined with the Revd. James Cook, a Trustee of the Priory, to bless those gathered.

Queen Victoria's visit was remarkable because she, the head of the Church of England, was visiting the first Catholic monastic institution to be established on the Island since the reformation, St. Dominic's Priory.

Such was the sense of occasion that most people stayed on for refreshments in the Priory's Tea Room.