In FEBRUARY 1885, a Newport man, signing himself ‘Septuagenarian’ wrote to the County Press describing everyday life in the town in the early 1800s.

His letter, a wonderful piece of social history, includes previously unknown detail recorded nowhere else and includes a sad list of historic buildings that were demolished — cultural vandalism was about even in the 1830s.

Scroll through the gallery above to see more pictures of how Newport looked in the 1880s...

He wrote: “All the streets in the town have been much improved since 1830 but the greatest transformation has taken place in the High Street.

"The greater part of the old-fashioned houses have been pulled down including the old thatched house adjoining the site of Mr. William Gubbins’ shop, Hazard’s House, and more attractive ones now occupy their sites. In 1853 the old St Thomas’s Church was pulled down to give place for the present structure."

Isle of Wight County Press: ’The Market Place’ by Rowlandson. Ironically both Rowlandson sketches can be seen at the Museum of Island History, in the Guildhall, the forerunner of which is seen here. © Isle of Wight Heritage Service.’The Market Place’ by Rowlandson. Ironically both Rowlandson sketches can be seen at the Museum of Island History, in the Guildhall, the forerunner of which is seen here. © Isle of Wight Heritage Service.

“In 1820, many of the inhabitants were supplied with Carisbrooke water brought into the town daily by Mr. Sanders in two large casks, for which customers paid a halfpenny a pail; this continued until the establishment of the Carisbrooke Water Works in 1847.”

Mr Sanders ran a large market garden in the woodland at the junction of Cedar Hill and Carisbrooke High Street. The location is marked as ‘Sanders Corner’ on old borough maps.

In these so called good old times it was not uncommon to see in front of the Town Hall individuals with their feet confined in the stocks; the usual punishment for drunkenness.

“Once I saw there a London pickpocket tied to a cart’s tail, and lashed on his naked back with the ‘cat-o-nine tails’. I saw the effects of the first lash, and the sight was so sickening that I was glad to get away. I believe this was the last punishment of the kind, but the cat was used in private at the gaol in Holyrood Street.

“It was customary in the month of May for the Corporation to walk round the boundaries of the town. A man named Townsend was employed to fully carry out the ceremony, and when they came to Home Mill he had to walk through the stream.

“On reaching Little London, if the tide was up, he had to swim across to the marsh. When they came to Ford Mill Pond, he had to swim across again and when he reached Mr. Pike’s, the watchmaker, he had to borrow a ladder and get over a house. This custom was discontinued in 1832.

“At Michaelmas and the three Saturdays previous, called Bargain Saturdays, the town was more than usually thronged by the numbers of rustic ‘Johns and Marys’ who came to spend their chief holidays in dancing at the public-houses where there was sure to be a fiddler to lead them.

“It was a time of much drunkenness, quarrelling and fighting in the streets. As many as 30 females were often seen standing at what was then called ‘Gapemouth Corner’, now the Eagle Tavern, waiting to be hired by farmers’ wives who came to town for that purpose. This custom has passed away and with it the rioting and drunkenness prevalent at those times.

“I fancy that many of the present generation will be inclined to say with myself, ‘Let old folks boast as much they will of those good times that were; I’ll loudly raise my voice and sing in praise of times that are.’ Septuagenarian. February, 1885.”

In 1890 historic buildings in the High Street were still being demolished although which one is being referred to in this report of July 1890 is not clear,.

“The shop in Newport occupied for many years by Mr. Stone, the saddler, and in later days by Mr. Upton and then Mr. Cheverton, was one of the oldest places in the High Street. Not a vestige of it now remains, but those who pass by the vacant place may reflect that up to a week ago, that site was occupied by a house at whose old fashioned gable front, King Charles I must have often looked in those anxious days when he passed up and down the High Street.”

Just a few weeks previously, the Swan Inn, described as “a famous old hostelry in the High Street,” had been demolished and “the ancient Hare and Hounds in St. James’s Square,” (on the site now occupied by Barclays Bank) was in the process of being demolished.

The 1881 census shows two Chevertons with a business in Newport High Street. One is at the Globe Inn, and the other is a boarding house at 18 High Street. The Swan Inn referred to can be positively identified however; it had stood on the same site, where County Hall now stands, since 1643 and it was this ancient building which was being demolished by its new London owner. A modern building, the Swan Hotel, rose from the ashes and traded for 20 years until it lost its licence in 1910, when it was purchased by the council and demolished.

Finally, the CP reported on the demolition of the Hare and Hounds, “In the work of clearing away the ancient Hare and Hounds in St. James’s Square, a look out is being kept for relics, but up to the present time only one has been found, a halfpenny bearing the date 1740.”

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