Bonchurch
Bonchurch is a small village in the civil parish of Ventnor, to the east of the town of Ventnor, now largely connected to the latter by suburban development, on the southern part of the Isle of Wight, England. One of the oldest settlements on the Isle of Wight,[1][2] it is situated on The Undercliff adjacent to the Bonchurch Landslips (or "The Landslip") Site of Special Scientific Interest. The main village is backed by a cliff to the north, with the Upper Bonchurch section on the clifftop halfway up St Boniface Down on the main A3055 road.
Geography
Bonchurch is situated on a stable section of former landslip, its main street (Bonchurch Village Road) running east–west in a valley sheltered to the north by cliffs, and to the south by The Mount, a ridge of slipped rock. Bonchurch Village Road has an adjacent landscaped pond, fed by a spring, on the site of former withy beds. The Shanklin-Ventnor route originally passed through Bonchurch, descending the cliff by the steep Bonchurch Shute; now it is bypassed by the clifftop A3055 Leeson Road.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Old_St_Boniface_Church%2C_Bonchurch%2C_IW%2C_UK.jpg/220px-Old_St_Boniface_Church%2C_Bonchurch%2C_IW%2C_UK.jpg)
The presence of a water spring known locally as 'The Source' behind the southern wall of the old church, is believed to be the reason why humans first settled in the area where present-day Bonchurch is located.
The Saxon
The first documented proof of the existence of Bonchurch is found in the Domesday Book.[1][2][3] In the Domesday Book, the settlement was called Bonecerce.[3] 'Cerce' is Anglo-Saxon for 'church', whilst 'Bone' is presumed to have been derived from St. Boniface.[3]
Bonchurch has two churches.
In July 1545, the
Soon after the battle, a number of men from the French fleet which had retreated from the
In the late 1830s and onward, the hitherto rural Bonchurch was developed for private villas, following land acquisition and sale by the Reverend James White.[
The Swinburne family residence East Dene is on the Shute running down to the Old Church; Admiral and Lady Swinburne's son, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne spent part of his boyhood in Bonchurch, at East Dene, and was buried in 1909 at the Parish New Church, his grave being the subject of a poem by Thomas Hardy. His funeral, attended by crowds of people, aroused controversy as Algernon Swinburne was an atheist and his friends attempted to disrupt the funeral believing it should have no religious content.[6]
In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 502.[7] On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Ventnor, part also went to form Sandown Shanklin.[8]
Pop culture
In the 2006 TV
The village is also the setting of Graham Masterton's supernatural horror novel Prey.
Bonchurch, and its church is featured in the Commodore 64 videogame Spirit of the Stones, in which the game itself is set on the Isle of Wight itself.
Notable residents
The engineer Thomas Rumble retired to Bonchurch for health reasons and died there in 1883. He is buried in the New Churchyard there.[9]
In 1891, American chemists Arthur Michael and Helen Abbott Michael, lived and conducted research in Bonchurch in their private, self-equipped laboratory.[10]
"Pastor" William Edward Rowlands, well known
Tony Bristow had a studio pottery in Bonchurch from 1961 to 1967 and in 1974 his son, Andrew, began production in Bonchurch. The pieces are often signed 'Bonchurch' on the base.[12]
Trevor Duncan (27 February 1924 – 17 December 2005) was an English composer, particularly noted for his light music compositions. Wrote the theme tune to Dr.Finlay's Casebook and longer compositions including St.Boniface Down.[13]
Charles Dickens, author, lived in Bonchurch for 3 months in 1849.
Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet, East Dene, Bonchurch.
Revd James White, editor of
Joan Wolfenden, author and owner of the first Country House Hotel in Bonchurch, Peacock Vane. [15]
Elisabeth Sewell, pioneer of girls' education, author and prolific letter-writer.
Birthplace of Admiral Sir Thomas Hopsonn.[16]
Transport
Southern Vectis route 3 is the main bus service through the upper part of the village, to Newport, Ryde, Sandown and Shanklin.
Sources
- Goodwin, John. Bonchurch from A-Z. Bonchurch: The Bonchurch Trading Company, 1992. ISBN 1-873009-00-3
- Brett, Peter. Bonchurch. Bonchurch: Bonchurch Parochial Church Council.
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Goodwin, Bonchurch from A-Z, 8.
- ^ a b c d e WightStay, retrieved 10 February 2008
- ^ a b c Brett, Bonchurch, 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Goodwin, Bonchurch from A-Z, 7.
- ^ An Act to enable the Reverend James White and the Persons for the Time being entitled to certain Estates situate in the Parish of Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight in the County of Southampton, devised by the will of Charles Fitzmaurice Hill, Esquire, deceased, to grant Building Leases, 21 June 1836
- ^ "The Algernon Charles Swinburne Project".
- A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Bonchurch AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ Finley, Thomas K.; Siegel, Patricia J.; Grinstein, Louise S.; Rose, Rose K; Rafailovich, Miriam H. (1993), "Helen Cecilia DeSilver Abbott Micael", Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook, Westport, CT: Greenwood, pp. 405–409
- ^ Padre Rowlands of Ceylon
- ^ "Bristow Pottery or 'Tony Got Around!'". Retro Mojo. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ n.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_the_Isle_of_Wight
- ^ "25th January the Most Painted Place – Bonchurch and the Isle of Wight School of Artists".
- ^ "OBITUARY : Joan Wolfenden". 23 October 2011.
- ^ "Parishes: Bonchurch | British History Online".