Isle of Wight date stones offer insight into history

It would make a fascinating study.

Perhaps one of the largest can be seen in East Cowes.

When the Columbine Shed was erected, in which to build flying boats in the 1930s, it was built with some Art Deco style embellishments.

It was opened in 1935 and the plane of that period built by Saunders Roe was the “London”.

Several of these were supplied to the Royal Air Force.

The style of the numbers on the date stone is true to the period.

Westminster Mill, Newport (Image: Contributed)

Britain was trying to come out of recession and companies endeavoured to provide work.

Hopefully soup kitchens set up during the depression only a couple of years earlier to provide families with their main meal of the day could be closed.

Compare the size of these numbers with another industrial building – Westminster Mill in Newport. 

Merrie Gardens, Lake (Image: Contributed)

Here, the numbers on the date stone look old to us, a type of font that was used in 1773. 

Westminster Mill utilised the Lukely Brook to grind grain for flour.

The building was heightened in 1894, and the white painted lucam was added then.

East Cowes Town Hall (Image: Contributed)

The lucam is the wooden dormer cover over the sack hoist, still visible today next to the date stone.

A much simpler date stone, or rather brick, was the date carved into the brick above the doorway at Daffodil Farm, Alverstone. 

The initials of the owner were also carved in the brick, which was moved when the building was demolished.

Daffodil Farm date stone moved indoors when the original building was demolished (Image: Contributed)

Merrie Gardens at Lake is even older.

It has the date stone 1684 set in the brickwork, and again initials of the owner at that time.

The old-style font is most noticeable. People were proud of their work and of their achievements in being able to build such a building. 

Columbine Shed, East Cowes (Image: Contributed)

Many churches and public buildings have date stones, sometimes laid by prominent people.

Prince Albert laid the foundation stone for the Minster church of Saints Thomas in Newport. 

Both he and Queen Victoria are named on the stone they laid when St Mildred’s church was being upgraded at Whippingham.

Alexander Keller gave the land for Sandown Library (Image: Contributed)

As Princess Victoria, she had laid the foundation stone for St James church in East Cowes.

Sadly, carelessly, this was lost when the church was being extended later in her reign.

Buildings such as town halls and libraries often have a longer dedication on their foundation stone.

Mrs Amy White, wife of the shipbuilder J S White, raised the money for the town hall in East Cowes.

Sandown Library was funded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 on land given by Alexander Keller.

Andrew Carnegie was a rich Scottish-American industrialist who died in 1919.

He is best known for his gifts of free public library buildings, and Sandown is just one of many.

Perhaps every local Heritage Group could undertake a detailed study of the old, and also new, date stones in their area.

The stones show the pride of the owners and reveal the history of the building.

They should be recorded before they are lost!