Isle of Wight mysteries folklore and strange tales

The Bugle is a popular pub name on the Isle of Wight, and story has it that the name comes from the Island’s name for a bull, so instead of the Bull, Isle of Wight pubs were called the Bugle.

Scroll through the gallery of pictures above to see more places with stange tales attached to them...

But what appears to a more credible story is that the image of a bugle ie; the musical instrument was the symbol that was adopted by King Henry I. 

One of the Isle of Wight's many Bugles - The Bugle at Yarmouth. (Image: David White)

Now he was not as you might think, King Henry of England, but King Henry I of the Isle of Wight. Yes the Island had its own king.

It was in 1445 that Henry VI crowned Henry Beauchamp the King of Wight.

Having a king was not too popular with Islanders especially as they never saw him — he never visited his kingdom.

But King Henry had never been what you might call a healthy specimen, so when he died four years later, Henry of Wight was happily forgotten by the Islanders of that era.

There was not to much mourning done on his behalf. So his only legacy is in the name of the Bugle on some Isle of Wight pub signs.

• On St Lawrence Undercliff stands a stone cottage and hidden in the wall is a form of water spout.

Folklore has it that at the time the cottage was a shebeen, (a name for an illegal drinking establishment). 

With all the smuggling that was going on, there was plenty of alcohol and no shortage of people to drink it.

So the story goes as follows: a farmer in Whitwell had lost one of his prize ducks down a well and thus had given it up for lost. 

But two days later while drinkers were happily imbibing outside the shebeen in St Lawrence, to their surprise they heard a noise and from the watercourse popped up the lost duck. 

It had managed to transverse the underground water course from Whitwell to St Lawrence. 

From that day on, the shebeen became known as the Duck.

The Duck at St Lawrence. (Image: David White)

• Also in St Lawrence hidden deep in the woodlands lies the Elephant Hole (see picture in gallery), but why it is called by that name is a mystery. 

The ivy covered opening leads into a tunnel going through the cliff, to eventually emerge a short distance into a large opening. 

Obviously it is man-made, by who or why poses a mystery.

• On the ordnance survey maps there used to be a site near Wroxall marked Cooks Castle (see picture in gallery). 

It was not however a castle as is popularly imagined, but a folly built by Sir Richard Worsley in the 18th Century. 

The idea behind it is that it would help enhance his view from Appuldurcombe House.

Today all that exists is a stone marker with an inscription stating that it was the site of Cooks Castle.

• On the Duver at St Helens there are the remains of an old church (see picture in gallery), although only the tower now exists because the rest has been washed away by constant coastal erosion.

During the days of sail, the Royal Navy used to drop anchor off of Bembridge in order to obtain provisions, as the water obtained from the village was also reputed to have superior storage quality.

While there, some of the crew would take the stones from the old ruined church in order to scrub the sailing ships wooden decks.

This became known as “Holystoning” owing to where the stones came from. 

WATCH: a short film about Holystoning

Keeping to form, the small stones become known as “Prayer Books” whereas the larger stones were called “Bibles”.

As said previously, the Isle of Wight has a wealth of legends, folklore and facts — sometimes sorting out what is what can prove an impossible task, but some of the stories certainly make good reading.

Like reading stories of the Isle of Wight in bygone days?

Click here to visit our Looking Back section for more interesting tales of the Isle of Wight and its characters in days gone by!